STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS
STRATEGY IN ACTION: STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS ACHIEVEMENT REPORT 2021 AFAC has released a snapshot of initiatives aligned with the five Strategic Directions for fire and emergency services, providing insights into strategic steps forward and agencies’ commitment to sector-wide values.
Strategic Direction 1: Supporting resilient communities through risk reduction
PHOTO: DFES
CSIRO Evacuation Risk Modelling Project—a web-based decision support tool to quantify community evacuation risk across WA
AFAC Residential Fire Fatality and Injury Prevention Strategy: towards zero fatalities Our World Our Say survey report
Fire and Rescue NSW investment in the Ignitable Liquid Detection Canine Program—pioneered in the Southern Hemisphere in 1995
AFAC Doctrine National Aerial Firefighting Strategy— keeping communities safe through aerial firefighting PHOTO: AFAC
S trategic Direction 2: Providing trusted response and facilitating the transition to relief and recovery
Strategic Direction 4: Effective governance and resource management
Positive Mental Health in Young Adult Emergency Services Personnel project Commissioners and Chief Officers Strategic Committee resource prioritisation Building flexible delivery options for Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System training
S trategic Direction 5: Informed by knowledge and research
AFAC National Resource Sharing Centre season summary 2020–21 New edition of the National Capability Statement Resilience NSW recovery centres during the March 2021 NSW floods AFAC independent reviews
Strategic Direction 3: The source of credible and timely information Australian Fire Danger Rating System Queensland Fire and Emergency Services damage assessment electronic data collecting and reporting tool Australian Warning System using the community’s voice to build a new national warning system NSW State Emergency Service geospatial agility in operations during the March 2021 NSW floods ACT Rural Fire Service fire detection cameras—the use of seven fire-detecting cameras to identify active fires and reduce the risk spread
ACT Parks and Conservation Service landscape bushfire flammability mapping—intelligence tools to improve the prediction of landscape flammability CSIRO report, Climate and Disaster Resilience PHOTO: ACT PCS
The Strategic Directions are fundamental to the work of fire and emergency services, providing a shared commitment, unified vision and focus on achievement that ensures the sector is well placed to serve communities. They consist of five priority areas: 1. supporting resilient communities through risk reduction 2. providing trusted response 3. the source of credible and timely information 4. effective governance and resource management 5. informed by knowledge and research. “The Strategic Directions ensure agencies can meet challenges of changing community needs and expectations, an ageing and diverse population, changing climate, natural hazards, national security, and the impacts of a pandemic,” AFAC CEO Stuart Ellis said. “Addressing these challenges will lead to greater community confidence, trust and support.” The 2021 Strategic Directions Achievement Report comprises 25 case studies of industry and jurisdictional activities, representing a sample of the initiatives undertaken in the last year. The case studies relating to each Strategic Direction are provided below.
PHOTO: ACTESA
AFAC
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience supporting community recovery following the Black Summer bushfires South Australia Country Fire Service Child and Youth Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience project
PHOTO: FRNSW
ALANA BEITZ
Country Fire Authority Injury and Incident Data Linkage project Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC’s transformative scenarios in a climate challenged world: alternative futures for planning and decision-making Fire and Rescue NSW fire research testing into battery electric vehicles The 2021 Strategic Directions Achievement Report is the final report relating to the current Strategic Directions. Next year, AFAC and AFAC member agencies will demonstrate their achievements against six updated Strategic Directions for 2022–26. A full overview of each initiative listed here is provided in the 2021 Strategic Direction Achievement Report on the AFAC website: www.afac.com.au/ auxiliary/about/strategy ISSUE FOUR 2021
FIRE AUSTRALIA
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