2013-14 Fire Season Compliance Report

All hazards

Risks spanning across multiple hazard types and across the emergency management system.

Biosecurity

Exotic animal and plant disease outbreaks and pest incursions can have significant economic, community and environmental impacts.

Bushfire and other fires

Bushfire and other fires have potential consequences including loss of life and property, and damage to infrastructure and environment.

Climate change

Risks include more days of extreme heat, harsher fire weather, less rainfall and rising sea levels.

Communications disruption

Communications services are crucial in keeping communities safe, connected and informed before, during and after emergencies.

Cyber security and ICT systems failure

Risks relating to the confidentiality, availability, integrity of information and data and disruption of services.

Energy supply disruption

Reliable energy supplies are critical to many social and economic activities.

Flood

Major flood events have occurred in Victoria every 10 to 20 years, with much of the increasing risk created by human settlement.

Hazardous material incident

Potential risks relate to many places where Victoria’s hazardous materials are manufactured, stored, transported, used and disposed.

Heatwave

Heatwaves are considered to be the ‘silent killer’ of extreme weather events and are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Australia.

Public health emergency

Risks may relate to the delivery of public health services, with impacts on community health and wellbeing and potential for loss of life.

Supply chain disruption

Geopolitical, environmental, economic, societal and infrastructure-related shocks can expose supply chains to wide ranging consequences.

Terrorism and extremism

Attacks carried out by individuals or non-state groups with ideological, political or religious goals can result in loss of life, severe injury and/or material damage.

Water supply disruption

Risks include collection, storage, treatment, delivery, availability and allocation of water for consumption and environmental, recreation and cultural uses.

Workforce and resourcing

Risks may relate to human resource supply and skills to support emergency management operations.

The 2013-14 fire season in Victoria was one of significance, challenging both emergency management organisations and communities. Among 78 significant fires were the Goongerah-Deddick Trail and the Mt Ray-Boundary Track fires in East Gippsland.

In response to community concerns and as part of established debriefing and observation collection processes, the Emergency Management Commissioner and the emergency management sector compiled or contributed to the following three reports related to the 2013-14 fire season:

Post Season Operations Review Fire Danger Period 2013-14 (Post Season Operations Review)
Goongerah-Deddick Trail Fire January-March 2014 Community Report
Mt Ray-Boundary Track Fire January-March 2014 Community Report.

All three reports identified opportunities for improvement through specific actions for the emergency management sector.

On 4 August 2014, government requested that the Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM) investigate and prepare a compliance report on the progress and implementation of identified actions from the 2013-14 fire season reports. The identified actions related to:

road traffic management
community involvement in fire preparedness, response and recovery
initial attack and utilisation of resources
cross border fire arrangements
other systemic issues identified from the 2013-14 fire season reports.

As part of the process, agencies and organisations were requested to provide IGEM with evidence to substantiate progress made in implementing the actions. Relevant stakeholders within the sector and communities in East Gippsland were consulted prior to finalisation of the report.

IGEM wishes to acknowledge the participation and assistance of communities in East Gippsland, the Country Fire Authority, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, East Gippsland Shire Council, Emergency Management Victoria, Municipal Association of Victoria, NSW Rural Fire Service and Victoria Police in the preparation of this report.

The 2013-14 Fire Season Compliance Report was published on 13 October 2014.

The 2013-14 Fire Season Compliance Report and the 2013-14 Fire Season Compliance Report - Executive Summary are available below.

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