South Australia’s inaugural bushfire management plan is now complete, providing another step toward bushfire resilience and safety.
Entitled the State Bushfire Management Plan 2021-2025, (SBMP), the plan has been prepared by the State Bushfire Coordination Committee (SBCC), which consists of representatives of fire and land management, allied agencies and stakeholder organisations, with help from the community and in accordance with the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005.
Minister for Emergency Services, Vincent Tarzia said the development of the SBMP was one of 15 recommendations made by former Commissioner for the Australian Federal Police, Mick Keelty as part of his Independent Review into the tragic 2019/20 bushfire season.
Mr Tarzia said key actions over the four-year life of the SBMP included developing the second generation of Bushfire Management Area Plans for the State supported by an online treatment reporting system as per the Keelty Review; and developing clear guidelines for fuel management and property preparation to assist local government and private landholders.
“The SBMP builds the foundation for a collaborative approach to bushfire management and will engage and build understanding of shared responsibility for bushfire management in the community,” he said.
Acting Chair of the SBCC and Acting Chief Officer of the Country Fire Service, Georgie Cornish, said all landholders and community members had a part to play in managing bushfire risk.
“It’s only through collaboration and joint effort that we’ll be able to reduce the impact of large-scale bushfires in the future,” Ms Cornish said.
“We now have a clear roadmap for the way forward, and we’ll be commissioning high level research on behalf of the Committee to help identify major risks and identify the areas where we are most vulnerable as a State.”
She said the Plan would help identify major bushfire risks in the State with a focus on understanding those risks from a strategic level; establish principles to support appropriate levels of hazard reduction; support strategic coordination of bushfire management activities among fire and land managers and allied agencies; and establish requirements for preparation and implementation of Bushfire Management Area Plans to detect landscape risk on a regional scale.
SBMP’s 53-page plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
