KNOWLEDGE SHARING
AFAC21 HOSTS VITAL CONVERSATIONS IN THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT For the first time in its 26-year history, the AFAC21 powered by INTERSCHUTZ conference and exhibition was held as a virtual event, bringing speakers and delegates together through an interactive and immersive online platform.
ALANA BEITZ AFAC
Hosted on 5–8 October, the virtual delivery of AFAC21 ensured that knowledge, research and insights from the past two years were shared with the sector, while also providing an accessible opportunity for professional development. Delegates tuned in to over 150 live presentations (also available on demand) that centred on the conference theme ‘Balancing impact and expectations’. In total, 2,883 delegates joined the virtual conference either from collaborative workplace settings or independently from their homes. With the postponement of the AFAC20 conference and exhibition due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings and travel, AFAC CEO Stuart Ellis AM said that AFAC21 moved online to ensure dialogue and development were maintained across the fire and emergency service sector.
AFAC21 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stan Grant, ABC’s International Affairs Analyst “While ever we don’t tell the truth of our history, while ever we don’t deal with the legacy of our history, history festers, and where that festers, violence and conflict follows.”
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FIRE AUSTRALIA
ISSUE FOUR 2021
“We’ve faced some of the most extraordinary and unique challenges in recent history since our last meeting in 2019, which have prevented us from bringing the sector together in person for our last two conferences,” Mr Ellis said. “So, as we continue to encounter evolving emergency situations, it’s important that experienced and emerging sector leaders find space to discuss these challenges. It is only through the combined contributions of our diverse fire and emergency service sector that we can fulfil our individual agency responsibilities and best serve the community.” The event opened with the AFAC Research Day on 5 October that showcased quality research with a focus on implementation and practical application for fire, emergency and land management agencies. Speakers shared their case studies and facilitated cutting-edge conversations on cultural and community engagement, risk and prediction, workforce and capability, communications, recovery and more.
Turia Pitt, Mindset coach, author and athlete “It can be really powerful if you’re going through something tough, to lean in to that and say ‘what I am going through right now is really tough’, and there is nothing wrong with that, you don’t have to find a silver lining. It can be really powerful to just own how are feeling.”
On 6 and 7 October, the conference was split across seven streams— including two from the Australian Disaster Resilience Conference and one from the Institution of Fire Engineers Conference—presenting initiatives and leading thinking relevant to the broad practice of emergency management. Fitting to the conference theme of ‘Balancing impact and expectations’, community engagement, shared responsibility and workforce and volunteer management were prominent topics, alongside an exploration of future technology capabilities in the fields of forecasting, planning, fleet innovations, simulation and data. Despite COVID-19 restrictions impacting a majority of the planned events of the Professional Development Program, a workshop on managing extreme wildfires took place virtually on 8 October that shared current knowledge of global warming impacts on fire behaviour, including pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM, Commissioner Resilience NSW “Community has to be at the heart of all our thinking, ... Recovery is more than rebuilding, repair and reconstruction of houses, property, infrastructure and things – one of the most critical parts of recovery is healing and the emotional and psychological wellbeing of communities, individuals and families.”
