Research benefits flowing

By Nathan Maddock. This article first appeared in Issue Four 2018 of Fire Australia.

Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research is making a difference—saving lives and reducing disaster-related costs. Read on to find out more about the impact of research on fire modelling, emergency warnings, community engagement, youth-led disaster risk reduction, policy development, volunteering, and emergency planning for animals.

Better fire danger ratings

The latest fire science, including CRC research, has been used to develop the pilot National Fire Danger Rating System. Currently underway is the first major update to the system since it was devised in the 1960s. The new National Fire Danger Rating System prototype was trialled by the NSW Rural Fire Service over summer 2017–18 to better incorporate extreme fire behaviour. In coming years, when the revised system is in operation around Australia, all fire agencies will be able to better predict bushfire danger. This will improve warnings and increase community safety. The CRC has contributed contemporary science on fire weather, vegetation conditions (fuel), fire behaviour, ignition likelihood, fire suppression, fire impact, communicating risk, urban planning, decision-making and mitigation.

The trial of the prototype is a significant demonstration of the successful use of CRC research in the sector: CRC partners AFAC and the NSW Rural Fire Service now own the research outputs. As the new system is piloted and integrated into the sector, the CRC will continue to play a critical role, providing vital science and evidence that underpins the new system.

Improved warnings to ensure action

CRC research is shaping Australian public warnings and information campaigns that prepare and protect communities from flood, fire, heatwave and other natural hazards. Insights have combined to equip emergency service agencies around Australia with better targeted, long-term public safety campaigns, as well as urgent warning messages delivered to at-risk populations in the face of imminent emergencies.

In the past, intuition, experience, anecdotal information and market research have shaped the design of public risk communication and education campaigns, both in Australia and around the world. However, this lack of rigour has potentially limited effectiveness.

State-based emergency service agencies have drawn from CRC research led by Professor Vivienne Tippett (Queensland University of Technology) and collaborated at the national level on their insights and experiences in their testing phases. Their aim is to determine a style and structure for their official public messages and information campaigns. Local councils, water authorities and the media are also benefiting, with Bundaberg Regional Council, Seqwater and ABC local radio in Wide Bay, Queensland, all changing their warnings and broadcast of warnings based on the research.

The investigation of flood fatalities to inform community safety campaigns has seen close collaboration between operational emergency services staff and CRC researchers, headed by Macquarie University’s Dr Katharine Haynes. This has helped the NSW State Emergency Service develop statewide education campaigns on flood warnings. The research findings have also enabled agencies to better target their warning messages to high-risk groups and highrisk behaviours based on evidence from more than a century of fatalities, injuries and building losses. Public information campaigns have also been improved by incorporating messages from the research.

The CRC research has also supported broader initiatives in emergency communications and warnings—for both individual organisations and those at the national level—by providing reviews and assisting with the development of evidence-based warning guidelines for all emergency service agencies. It has also contributed significantly to investigations by the Prevention of Flood Related Fatalities Working Group, which is part of the Community Engagement Sub-committee of the Australia and New Zealand Emergency Management Committee (ANZEMC).

Disaster-resilience education for young people

The importance of educating children and youth about disaster risk reduction and resilience is now front and centre around Australia, based on CRC research led by Professor Kevin Ronan (CQUniversity) and Dr Briony Towers (RMIT University). This change is based on research that identified the valuable role that children play in the safety of their household and their community.

The research has looked at how well disaster risk-reduction and resilience programs in Australian primary and secondary schools contribute to the mitigation and prevention of disaster impacts. Alongside this, the project team has been co-evaluating the reliability and outcomes of disaster-resilience education programs to ensure that the intended outcomes are being achieved.

Collaboration is at the heart of this research at every stage—with researchers, emergency managers and educators involved in all aspects of the study.

‘What if?’ questions drive future policies

What if an earthquake hit central Adelaide? Or the Yarra River flooded Melbourne? And what if a bushfire on the slopes of Mount Wellington threatened Hobart?

‘What if?’ scenario modelling by the CRC is helping government, planning authorities and emergency service agencies think through the costs and consequences of various options when preparing for the effects of major disasters on urban infrastructure and natural environments, and how these might change into the future.

The research, headed up by Professor Holger Maier at the University of Adelaide, is based on the premise that an integrated approach is needed to reduce the risk and cost of natural disasters—an approach that considers multiple hazards and a range of mitigation options.

Taking into account future changes in demographics, land use, economics and climate, the modelling:

• analyses areas of risk both now and into the future
• tests risk-reduction options
• identifies mitigation portfolios that provide the best outcomes for a given budget
• considers single or multiple types of risk-reduction options, such as land use planning, structural measures and community education.

Case studies have modelled the expected impacts of hazards in Adelaide, Melbourne and Tasmania from 2015 to 2050, with an annual time step under different plausible future scenarios, showing the change in risks in different localities. Agencies will be able to use the system to help allocate budgets, demonstrating that they are using the best available science to inform decision-making.

A new model for helping

CRC research has highlighted that the nature of volunteering and community involvement in disaster management is fundamentally changing. The research, led by Dr Blythe McLennan (RMIT University), has provided strategies that emergency service agencies can employ to help them adapt to this change. Guides and advice that inform policies on volunteering and spontaneous volunteering have also been developed.

Key national programs have been influenced by the study, with findings used extensively for the development of the National Spontaneous Volunteer Strategy by the ANZEMC.

The strategy provides advice to emergency service agencies about what they need to be aware of, and what they need to consider and plan for when working with spontaneous volunteers. Important issues, such as legal obligations and social media, are also covered.

Building on this strategy, the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience drew directly on the research when developing their 2017 handbook on spontaneous volunteer management.

The handbook provides important guidance for organisations on how to incorporate the principles of the National Spontaneous Volunteer Strategy—and the most recent research on spontaneous volunteering—into their own plans and procedures.

Emergency services are also using the research, with the NSW State Emergency Service using the findings to shape how the organisation will recruit volunteers. Their latest volunteering strategy was informed extensively by CRC research findings.

In WA, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services has used CRC research to develop new directions in volunteering, while SA’s Department of Communities and Social Inclusion, Volunteering ACT and Volunteering Victoria have also been influenced by the work in developing polices and guides to volunteer management—both during emergencies and in recovery.

Be Ready Warrandyte, a community group in one of Melbourne’s high bushfire-risk suburbs, has drawn extensively on the research to help educate and support its local community.

Emergency planning for animals

Australians love their pets—and this influences how people behave during an emergency. Emergency services are incorporating findings from CRC research to influence their plans and policies during disasters.

Under the direction of Dr Mel Taylor (Macquarie University) the research identified best practice approaches to animal emergency management. This has provided emergency management agencies with the data they need to make better informed decisions on planning and targeting of resources.

Working with the Blue Mountains Animal Ready Community, a range of resources has been developed to highlight the importance of planning for animals during emergencies.

To date, 23 NSW Rural Fire Service brigades across the Blue Mountains have used the resources, as have the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre and the Mountains Community Resource Network.

In Tasmania, animal populations have been mapped in partnership with the Tasmania Fire Service and the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. This has informed evacuation planning, traffic management plans and capacity planning.

RSPCA Queensland has used the research to inform its polices, while in Victoria, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning has used the findings to inform its risk assessment processes. HorseSA used the research to support its emergency planning and gain funding for appropriate equipment.

Nationally, the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience drew on the research to develop a section on animal management in its updated evacuation planning handbook, published in 2017.

In consultation with the CRC research team, state animal emergency management plans have also been revised at three primary industry departments—the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources; WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development; and SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions.