Victorian Government Upper House member, Sonja Terpstra says maybe.
Ms Terpstra was talking with the Warrandyte Community Association recently about emergency services when this idea was floated.
The WCA sought the meeting to discuss two issues:
Government policy in relation to water bombing aircraft for the upcoming fire season, and rumours that planning decisions were going to be taken away from local councils.
On August 18 The Age ran a story that Victoria’s water bombing capacity had been cut by a third in the lead up to this summer’s fire season. “That report” Ms Terpstra reassured the meeting” was completely untrue. The Minister for Emergency Services has stated that recent reports about Victoria’s aerial firefighting capacity are incorrect and outdated. There is no reduction in the number of fire-bombing aircraft in Victoria this year compared to last year and no reduction in water-bombing capacity. Procurement for the final aircraft for the fleet is almost complete and will be finalised shortly”.
During the course of the discussion the need for individuals and families to have a fire plan came up. The WCA, along with other community groups has a long history of promoting fire awareness and the need for a plan. During this discussion Ms Terpstra raised the question as to whether the town needed a fire plan. Terry Tovey, WCA President said that after the 2009 fires there was a township protection plan discussed but it is not known if this was acted upon or updated.
“A township fire plan could address questions such as: ‘Where are the safer places located?’ ‘Will the shops, services, schools, sports, arts etc, all be closed on extreme days?’ ‘Why can’t I shelter in the supermarket?’ ‘What are the traffic management plans in the event of fire?’ “ Terry said.
Dick Davies, WCA Vice President and Chair of the award winning ‘Be Ready Warrandyte’ fire awareness campaign raised the issue of the current status of Emergency Management Victoria. WCA had initially collaborated closely with EMV on some projects and surveys, but this ceased abruptly with their change of management with no feedback to the community.
On the question of planning controls Ms Terpstra said that no decisions had been taken on changing current planning processes. “While Melbourne is going to have to increase urban density, reduce urban sprawl and make best use of existing infrastructure, if current planning processes were to change they would likely be changed around activity and transport hubs and corridors. It would be most unlikely that the green wedges or low-density conservation areas such as Warrandyte would be very much impacted by any changes” she said.