The bushfire preparedness of households in high-risk areas has been captured by the Country Fire Authority (CFA) in its latest annual community post-season survey.
Releasing its annual results, the CFA said its findings highlighted some of the ongoing challenges for engagement, but also some of the very positive outcomes that were being seen across Victoria.
“They also reveal opportunities to enhance existing approaches based on new and emerging insights,” the CFA said.
It said the 2022 post-season survey involved 600 residents living in a variety of high-risk environments in Victoria, providing an annual snapshot of attitudes, behaviours, preparations and expectations about key aspects of bushfire safety.
“The findings in 2022 reflect a quiet fire season with a softening of community concern about bushfires over the summer months,” the Authority said.
“There has also been a decline in the perception of the preparedness levels of the emergency services,” it said.
“Despite this, levels of trust in CFA remain very high.”
The CFA said the results highlighted the high level of engagement with the Authority and partner agencies by households in bushfire-prone areas, with nearly early 60 per cent of those surveyed interacting with CFA over the summer months, and many participating in traditional CFA education programs.
It said the survey findings had a wide range of uses, including the provision of data about community information, engagement and education programs which contributed to the evaluation of current approaches and the development of new initiatives.
