A statement from Minister Lisa Neville and Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley regarding the appointment of an expert panel to review bushfire risk management in Wye River and Separation Creek:
The Victorian Government is committed to continuing to work with the Wye River and Separation Creek communities through the planning and rebuilding process.
The planning decisions process has been streamlined to support rebuilding in Wye River and Separation Creek. This will integrate and simplify the planning scheme requirements and fast track construction and reconstruction.
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley has put together a panel of technical fire and building experts who, with Government and agencies, will work with the fire impacted communities to progress resettlement.
The panel will review the bushfire risk management at Wye River and Separation Creek based on the existing regulatory and policy framework.
The expert panel has already convened and a member has been invited to attend the community only meeting on Saturday 16 April 2016 by the Community Resilience Committee.
The panel will provide advice to the Commissioner, Government and the community on evidence-based, practical options for building design and construction standards across individual assets and streetscapes, particularly for the properties in Wye River and Separation Creek that are rated at the highest and second highest bushfire attack levels (BALs).
In addition to the expert panel, Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, Lisa Neville, will put in place the following from 18 April:
Consideration of an Asset Protection Zone (APZ) at Wye River and Separation Creek by Justin Leonard (CSIRO) and Kevin Tolhurst (The University of Melbourne). This will:
- Evaluate the level and extent of fuel management required to look at different options from settlement-wide to individual sections.
- Assess the feasibility and cost of construction for these different options, and any implications of the options on landslips and amenity.
Given the Australian Standard for constructing buildings in a bushfire prone area applies, the expert panel will consider the outcomes of fire and terrain modelling and provide advice on any innovative ways to reduce the impact of a potential bushfire, if an asset protection zone is not deemed viable.
Personal advice to individual residents on options and approaches to rebuilding in Wye River and Separation Creek – free of charge
- Permit applicants can receive tailored information through the one-stop-shop, from experts from the Victorian Building Authority about rebuilding that is specific to their own individual designs. This will include advice on building products, materials, and construction based on the design to meet BAL ratings, and can also include visits to your site.
- Community members can call the Bushfire Recovery Information Centre on 03 5232 9400 (select 1) to book an appointment.
Personal advice to individual residents on waste water management solutions – free of charge
- Permit applicants and their builders can book an appointment at the one stop shop with Coffey Environments Australia to receive advice on waste water management solutions to meet proposed rebuilding designs.
- Community members can call the Bushfire Recovery Information Centre on 03 5232 9400 (select 1) to book an appointment.
Personal advice to individual residents to maximise benefits from geotechnical and land capability assessments – free of charge
- Permit applicants can receive tailored advice before they engage engineers to determine building specific requirements on the work that needs to be undertaken. This will ensure they maximise benefits from the settlement wide investigation completed to date.
These actions are all part of a continued focus to ensure the rebuilding process for individual residents is as straight forward as possible. The Victorian Government will report back to the community on the status of these actions in May.
At the community meeting on Sunday 10.4.16, The Minister, Lisa Neville, mentioned a few times at the meeting about streets or groups of houses joining together to look at the BAL rating for their section. I want to know what this actually means? What do we need to do exactly? I’m confused.
Hi Kate,
We understand the Government is looking at different ways to reduce the impact of fire in the area, and how that could be done by an individual, or streetscape or settlement-wide. There is an expert panel which is looking at some of those options and will report back to community. Please see the news piece about action on community concerns for rebuilding at http://wyesepconnect.info/letter-written-minister-neville for more information.
At this stage we are encouraging all community members to book an appointment at the One Stop Shop to discuss individual questions or concerns. You can do so by calling 03 5232 9400 (select 1).
These government initiatives are helpful for those of us going through the permit stage.
However, there are inter-related challenges around: what actually happened with the 2015 fire; rebuilding; and protection against future fire. There will also be difficult choices about vegetation – amount and type of vegetation to minimise fire impact versus vegetation providing an enjoyable environment.
SOME LITTLE KNOWN REALITIES
The 2015 fire was a relatively ‘benign’ fire – modest dryness, and huge extra local resources. There were around 200 skilled firefighters in town during the fire – about 150 more persons more in town than the 50 persons expected for a ‘normal’ fire which would usually occur with little warning. Lots of small fires were put out by the very large band of roving crews, lots of houses saved, abnormally helpful.
There is a view that if the 150 extra resources were not in town on xmas day, far, far more houses would have been destroyed. This will be news to many in town, and particularly those with houses that were not burned.
The 2 days of door knocking before the fire also got everyone ready to leave quickly, which they did. This is unlikely in a quickly moving future fire.
We should therefore prepare the community for realistic fire – hotter, dryer, few local resources – but better planned and prepared.
The following is a personal view of what is needed to prepare for a future fire. It has 9 parts and will result in lower BAL levels than the initial Terramatrix report.
THE 9 PART PLAN
1 Buffer in forest of 50m – mulched and maintained; control of that land or freedom to operate on the land. The existing buffer at Lorne at Queens Park is a excellent example of what can be done and retain natural beauty at the same time. Will lower BAL levels.
2 Eliminate regrowth of Sweet Pittosporum scrub – prime fire material – 100,00 shrubs were burned out, ensure not regrown.
2 Govt and shire controlled land to be well maintained buffers, not fire hazards – eg Paddys path, Karingal gully and Olive St Gully, Wye River bank edge to houses, and lower BALs to reflect that. By careful design of replanting we can design the future vegetation we want as a trade off between fire safety and environmental beauty.
3 New houses to have realistic vegetation buffers on each site and to be maintained and enforced by shire ongoing. Suitable species and designs.
4 Run a realistic updated fire scenario workshop by expert like Prof Kevin Tolhurst. It will show impact of buffer zones, and poorly maintained block vegetation and House to house ignition resulting.
5 Many many lost houses were via ‘House to House ignition’. Need full review of all UNBURNED houses and vacant land for impact on ‘House to house ignition’, and prepare a plan for each house for vegetation management, and enforcement by shire. Examples of un-maintained blocks in Riverside now with 4m high solid fuel!
Less vegetation on existing blocks will also lower the BAL levels.
6 Impact of access for fire trucks in risky streets vs ‘Garden streets’. Many houses in Sep were accessible in ‘Garden streets’ and many houses saved, while many like Karingal were risky for fire crews and not accessible, and most houses there were lost. So – which streets should be modified to be ‘Garden streets’ for future fire access?
7 Street by street review of BALs and vegetation with owners.
8 Extend CFA building shed, to be adequate for expanded facilities
9 Renter safety. Ensure rental owners / managers have a kit to keep renters aware of Fire Ready app and ready for quick evacuation. Telstra mobile coverage is OK for app.
While these steps may be challenging, some are easy and cheap and overall will result in lower BALs. It will also give us a far safer future.
Rex Brown.