Preparing Council staff for the upcoming fire season

Published on 10 October 2024

An in-house emergency management exercise will better prepare Council staff for the upcoming fire season.

Council is running ‘Exercise Burndawan’ on 31 October to give staff an opportunity to practice the opening and operation of emergency relief centres (including a centre that will house animals) and performing secondary impact assessments (SIAs) to assist the community during relief and recovery from an emergency within the shire.

The exercise is conducted in accordance with the Moorabool Municipal Emergency Management Plan and will allow staff to test Council’s capability, capacity and preparedness in the event of a fire in the upcoming fire season or for a future storm or flood event which may occur.

“There are so many variables and things happen and change at a rapid pace during an emergency, so training sessions such as this are vital to ensure we cover as many scenarios and contingencies as possible,” CEO Derek Madden said.

“With the drier than normal winter months, it is even more important for our staff to be aware of their roles to support our communities if an emergency occurs in our area.”

Key objectives of the exercise include: all staff briefings on responsibilities in a fire event within Moorabool, practicing the activation and response process for establishing an Emergency Relief Centre and an Animal Emergency Relief Centre, practicing the process of communications during an emergency and practicing the establishment of Secondary Impact Assessment Recovery Operations Complementary plan.

To achieve these objectives, Council officers from a wide range of service areas will be in the Ballan and Dales Creek areas to complete the scenario.

Key emergency service agencies that have a role in Emergency Relief Centres will be in attendance and neighbouring council emergency management staff will undertaking observations to ensure learnings and improvements can be documented.