Supporting Communities in the 3799 Postcode

Project Summary

This project supports communities in the 3799 postcode area (Yarra Ranges Municipality; Millgrove, Warburton, East Warburton, Reefton, McMahons Creek, Big Pats Creek) to develop community led, emergency management plans which reflect local needs and priorities. Plans will enable communities to work through each of the stages of planning, preparedness, response and recovery, building self-reliance and capacity to respond to emergencies that directly or indirectly affect their local area.

Background and Situation Context

The connection between community and municipal planning has been identified by both state and local authorities as underdeveloped. The Yarra Ranges Municipal Recovery Evaluation from the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires highlighted the need for better connection with local communities in preparation for emergencies, to assist in effective recovery occurring. The communities within 3799 not only feature the highest bushfire risk in the country and reside on natural water courses and in close proximity to man-made water catchments. They are also over-represented in the social disadvantage rating system (SIEFA).

The project works with communities in the 3799 postcode to develop unique emergency management plans tailored to their specific needs. In the process of developing the plans, communities are supported to consider local risks, demographics, geography and capacity to plan for, respond to and recover from emergencies. This allows communities to self-determine their own community safety and emergency management objectives and initiatives, greatly contributing to enhancing community connectedness and resilience. The project provides much needed connections between local communities and local agencies, therefore enhancing their chances of survival, and recovery from a significant event.

The process for this project was supported by Yarra Ranges Council, along with emergency service and relevant agencies. A diverse range of community participation and involvement has been fundamental to the process. This will enhance the planning process and ultimate success of the emergency management plans being adopted by communities.

Activities

Planning started with an introduction into emergency management, followed by a risk assessment based on the process of the Community Emergency Risk Assessment (CERA) tool for each of the local communities, working towards a transparent and mature conversation about the local needs and requirements for each community. Council utilised a broad range of corporate resources to support this initiative, including, but not limited to, the following departments: Social and Economic Development, Risk, Emergency and Community Safety, Environment, Planning, Local Laws, and Urban Design. This broad level of support, along with the agency specialist skills and knowledge aims to ensure that the aspirations for community led planning is bolstered by science, statistics and evidence.

The process allowed for the partnering up of the following: CFA, SES, DEPI, Victoria Police, Melbourne Water, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Upper Yarra Community House, Chambers of Commerce, Traders Groups, Service Groups, schools, other groups as identified, and the communities located in the postcode area of 3799.This project included the following factors within the Project

• 15 community events, including large scale open community consultation events
• focused workshops, and subject specific forums, and
• significant and high profile advocacy to rectify communication blackspots led by the community and supported widely by Yarra Ranges Council staff.

Project 3799 actively pursued five townships in the highest bushfire risk area of the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges to embark on Community Emergency Management Planning journey. The townships had a varying degree of engagement in emergency management thinking and planning, which provided a great opportunity to refresh local thinking.

The project team undertook the following activities

• engaged community leaders from each of the townships
• met and shared the new research with groups from each township
• supported the design of locally relevant plans to share the knowledge with the local communities, using a presence at community festivals, events and community markets. Five separate sessions were hosted throughout the region in the lead-up to the 2014/15 Fire Danger Period, and
• drawing on the level of interest from the local community, the increased connection between emergency service agencies and community leaders, continue to facilitate meetings that address the needs identified by the community in the pursuit of community disaster resilience building.

Results

The communities who participated were placed at the centre of the project. Using a community development approach to drive the project meant that the needs and priorities of the communities involved were self-identified and supported with evidence. This process lead to greater community empowerment and broad based community support. It also involved local champions in the project, ensuring that project outcomes and outputs were relevant to each community’s context. The very real risk of bushfire and other risks to this part of the world also assisted with a call to action for the local community who face the imminent risk of property loss, isolation for protracted periods as a result of limited access and egress, as well as poor telecommunications infrastructure.

The project supported the following local successes

• Millgrove - increasing knowledge of fire behaviour and local community levels of preparedness which dovetailed nicely with the community engagement relating to the establishment of a community fire refuge in the centre of town, which already had in place a partnership with government and all agencies, along with key community leaders, church and school groups.
• Warburton – shifting of old thinking habits centred on a printed shelf document as a Plan, and onto a more dynamic system which involves the whole of the community. Including the development of a website, a community education video to played at local cinemas, the support and establishment of a Neighbourhood Safer Place in the Community, along with multiple community workshops in and around the community to gather data and share disaster related knowledge.
• East Warburton - enabled the momentum from the community consultation from the recently designated Community Fire Refuge in East Warburton to broaden and continue. This meant that the group could address the telecommunications blackspot, which is a significant problem for the area, and directly relates to the community level of resilience. The community group, along with council, state and federal government members were able to lobby for this particular blackspot to be addressed, leveraging on recently released federal funding. This was a significant win for the community and greatly contributes to their ability to make plans and timely decisions.

Reflection

The real value in Community Emergency Management Planning is in the process of planning. The outcomes and outputs are without doubt beneficial and ought to be strived for, however it is through the planning process that evidence is gathered, shared learning occurs, and crucial relationships and connections are built. It is with the knowledge, along with these elements that contribute to community disaster resilience.

Challenges Faced and Solutions

The key challenge for this project, in a rapidly evolving sector is the limited understanding of the subjective nature of disaster resilience. There are many communities undertaking community emergency planning across Victoria, and with varied success. The challenge with this project is that the project managers were learning as they worked, which is best described as an organic approach. This was important to attain the right mix of industry / government led (based on cutting-edge research and knowledge) work, along with a deep determination for community owned programs and projects (based on the said research and practice).

Other challenges that will always face pilot based projects like these, are largely linked to the short term nature of the funding. As it takes quite some time to establish community rapport, build knowledge about the inherent risks and set about embarking on a journey of community led, community disaster resilience planning and activity, there was always a risk that the time frames would be too short to effectively embed sustained cultural change within a community that is based on a sound understanding of the risk. One of the key lessons from the pilot project revealed that this type of work requires a long term vision and a sustained effort, along with a clear understanding of the measures of success.

Sustainability and potential for replication in other settings

This project has provided a new level of clarity for Yarra Ranges and will inform future projects of this nature. This will also support other activities being undertaken by council which contribute to broader community resilience.