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.

ALANA BEITZ

AFAC

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.

Strategic Direction 1: Supporting resilient communities through risk reduction

„ 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 „ 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

„ 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

Strategic Direction 4: Effective governance and resource management

„ AFAC Doctrine „ National Aerial Firefighting Strategy— keeping communities safe through aerial firefighting

Strategic Direction 2: Providing trusted response and facilitating the transition to relief and recovery

PHOTO: AFAC

„ Fire and Rescue NSW investment in the Ignitable Liquid Detection Canine

Program—pioneered in the Southern

Hemisphere in 1995

PHOTO: FRNSW

„ 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 Strategic Direction 5: Informed by knowledge and research

„ 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

„ 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 PHOTO: ACTESA „ 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