Red tape fire risk

By CASEY NEILL
NEW fire siren guidelines could see high-risk areas in the Dandenongs stay without access to the crucial bushfire warning tool.
The Mail last week reported that Fires Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley and the CFA had developed and released the Use of Sirens for Brigade and Community Alerting policy.
Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan said it meant CFA sirens would be used to alert the community to “all-hazards and all-emergencies” before the next bushfire season.
But Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group (DRCBG) secretary Mel Gajdek told the Mail the policy made it more difficult to have new emergency sirens installed in high-risk areas currently without coverage.
“This policy puts it entirely back on the community with no legal responsibility falling on state or local government to assist,” she said.
“What has to be done to tick the box in the new policy is extraordinary.
“The author seems to be, disappointingly, a master bureaucrat.”
In August 2010, a DRGBG survey on using fire station sirens as a community alert tool received 97 per cent positive responses from more than 3300 Dandenong Ranges residents.
“Allowing CFA sirens to be used for community emergency alerting is great and we are proud to have been involved in this outcome,” Ms Gajdek said.
“But part two is identifying additional need or high-risk areas that could benefit from an emergency siren.”
The group has asked Mr Lapsley for help to develop maps showing overlays, vegetation and population density, and poor mobile coverage areas that could prevent residents receiving an emergency text message.
“To pinpoint which areas would benefit most, we’d like to encourage community members who don’t currently hear a CFA siren to email us,” Ms Gajdek said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Lapsley, Natalie Staaks, said the policy was about using existing CFA infrastructure.
There are about 600 fixed CFA brigade sirens that could be used to alert Victorian communities to emergencies including bushfires, storms and floods, she said.
“This includes fire stations with sirens that are not currently being used – this is the point of the policy.”
However, she said not all CFA brigade sirens would be appropriate or in a useful location to alert the community.
“The new policy also covers community alert sirens and it includes simplified guidelines for establishing a new community or additional community alert siren,” she said.
“There must be demonstrated support for a siren in the community, and the need for a siren must be endorsed by the municipal emergency management planning committee.”
Mr Lapsley is currently working with the CFA to determine where brigade sirens are appropriate.
“That will provide a guide to whether more sirens are necessary or whether there are other more appropriate community warning systems for particular communities,” Ms Staaks said.
“In some communities, sirens won’t be an effective warning tool because of topography or weather conditions.”
Email melgajdek@y7mail.com to contact the Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group.