two more places of last resort for the dandenongs

report from the roundtable – 22 dec

This week’s council meeting, not on the original schedule of meetings, was called to consider Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSPs)/ Places of Last Resort for Yarra Ranges.

Last Friday I spent time with the assessment team looking at five sites across the Dandenong Ranges including the rear of the Olinda shops, Ferny Creek Horticultural Society grounds, Alexander’s Carpark in Belgrave, Belgrave Recreation Reserve and the Upwey Recreation Reserve. The CFA, Victoria Police and the Shire were all represented on the assessment team.

As a result of the assessments undertaken on those site visits two sites were referred to council for consideration to be designated as NSPs. I moved the motion to support the two sites. Council unanimously supported both the Belgrave and Upwey Recreation Reserves as designated NSPs.

I still continue to be concerned about community perceptions about NSPs, in many cases they are figuring as part of people’s fire plans and not being seen as a last ditch effort to survive when all else has failed.

There has been some conjecture out in the community that council can oppose the designation of NSPs based on ideological grounds, however the legislation is quite clear and states that councils ‘must’ identify and designate NSPs. The Act goes on to say that council is not required to designate an NSP if the council is satisfied on ‘reasonable grounds’ that it is not appropriate to designate.

There is a degree of ambiguity about what the definition of ‘reasonable grounds’ is, so I went on to move a further motion to assist council to better understand our obligations under the new legislation.

“That council seeks legal opinion on the definition of reasonable grounds as referred to in Section 50G, clause 7 (b) of the Emergency Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2009.”

It is important that we understand the full implications of the Act, much of the logistics and policy on the implementation of NSPs has been done on the run, it is time to gain a more informed insight into the Act.

As a councillor in the Dandenong Ranges I think it is important that we use our best efforts as a council to identify NSPs, but it is also important that the community and visitors understand that these are places of last resort. They offer no guarantee of safety or survival, they are places of last resort where you might have a better chance of protection from radiant heat, when all else has failed.

place of last resort – a better name for an unsafe place

report from the roundtable – 8 dec

At this week’s council meeting I moved the following motion:
"That council write to the Premier of Victoria, the Hon John Brumby MP, with a copy to local MPs, requesting that the name of Neighbourhood Safer Places be changed to Places of Last Resort."

I continue to be very concerned that many in our community consider Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSPs) to be a safe place. In conversation and bushfire community meetings it is clear to me that NSPs are being given far too much consideration as a place to go in the event of a bushfire in the Dandenongs. I have heard people refer to NSPs as "safe places", "safe havens" and "refuges", people are considering them as part of their fire plan.

The Multi Agency community bushfire briefing in Upwey last week.

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I believe many of these perceptions occur because of the name of NSPs and that’s why I moved a motion to advocate to change the name so it is abundantly clear that these places are Places of Last Resort.

The message isn’t getting out there, the last place you want to be in the case of a fire is in a car trying to seek shelter at an NSP. The road is a scary place in a bushfire, smoky with decreased vision, noisy, windy, people panicking, it is not a place I’d want to be under those conditions.

It is my view that you are far safer in your home than on the road seeking some sort of shelter in an open field. The CFA’s message is clear, leave early, not only on catastrophic code red days but on all total fire ban days. Only those who are well prepared should stay and defend.

The focus on NSPs has diminished the CFA’s message of leave early with some in our community considering NSPs as their fall back position. The last place I’d want to be in the event of a bushfire is heading to an NSP. I do understand that we have many visitors to the hills and perhaps NSPs have a role to play for these people, but there needs to be a really strong message that these are Places of Last Resort.

An NSP does not guarantee safety, they do not cater for animals, there is no guarantee that emergency services will be there to protect you, they do not provide for specialist needs such as infants, the elderly, the ill or disabled and in the case of open spaces they do not provide shelter from ember attack.

We should be calling these places for what they are, there is nothing safe or safer about them, they are Places of Last Resort and there is no guarantee you will survive using one.

Councillors unanimously supported the motion for a name change to Places of Last Resort.

neighbourhood safer places, two designated

report from the roundtable – 8 dec

At this week’s council meeting we had to consider two sites identified as potential Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSPs) as well as the Neighbourhood Safer Places Plan (NSPP - see

blog for background).

Work on our NSPP has been extensive, with our Emergency and Safety Planning area working hard to ensure the plan reflects the Yarra Ranges context. Since my last blog entry much has happened to ensure Yarra Ranges is in a position to consider designation of NSPs. The officers have done a phenomenal amount of work to not only get a NSPP in place, but to create an audit and assessment tool, organise additional site assessments and report back the results to council from one council meeting to the next.

The NSPP will assist council to identify, designate, establish, maintain and decommission an NSP. I joined with Shire and Emergency Services personnel in the site assessments at both Morrison’s Reserve in Mt Evelyn and Monbulk Reserve.

Both these locations passed not only the first assessment by the CFA, which only concentrates only on radiant heat or distance from vegetation, but also ticked the box on rights of access, ownership, access and egress, availability 24/7, defendable space, ability to appropriately sign and separation of vehicles from the actual NSP area (for example: the footy oval’s boundary fence).

At the meeting Council endorsed the two places, Morrison’s Reserve in Mt Evelyn and the Monbulk Reserve (footy ground) to become designated NSPs.

In speaking for the motion I pointed out to councillors that Yarra Ranges were the second council only to consider designating NSPs, an outstanding effort. I also talked about the community expectation around NSPs being available this summer. I reminded councillors that the legislation was very specific and councils must use their ‘best endeavours’ to identify and designate NSPs.

I talked about signage issues, at the time of the council meeting (and writing this blog entry) guidelines on NSP signage are still not available via the OESC. I also raised the issue of insurance gaps that still exist relating to potential NSPs not on council land.

Most importantly I spoke about the ongoing commitment for council to continue assessing potential sites as NSPs for the upcoming fire season.

I’m pleased to report that council resolved to designate the two NSPs and endorsed the NSPP as well. Council also resolved to seek urgent resolution of the outstanding insurance issues by writing to the MAV.

It is a good start in providing a place of last resort for community members. I still have grave concerns about the perception of NSPs, but you can read more about that in this blog entry.