olinda community house - a neighbourhood safe place?

report from the roundtable - 25 Aug

At this week's council meeting I seconded a motion to support the work of the Olinda community to prepare the Olinda Community House and the parking area as a Neighbourhood Safe Place (NSP). Council agreed to refer the Olinda Community House for urgent assessment by the CFA as a NSP and also to seek the State's urgent assessment and identification of other suitable areas in the Shire as NSPs.

It is important to remember that NSPs are a PLACE OF LAST RESORT. We must make sure that the community understands that NSPs are last on the list of options in your fire plan, it is definitely not the first option. It is easy to get caught out by bushfire, my own experiences earlier this year with the Birdsland fire just over the hill from my own property was a telling example of just how easy it is to be caught by surprise.

I hope by referring the Olinda Community House to the CFA as a NSP will provide further urgency for the CFA to start developing criteria about what constitutes a NSP. I also hope that once the CFA start developing Township Protection Plans that ALL townships, no matter how big or small, are included as part of the Dandenong Ranges. With a population of some 40,000 people in the Dandenongs it is important that every town has a Township Protection Plan.