ACEFAC 2014 * Get Knocked Down, Get Back Up Again. The Linksview Road Fire
Ken Wade-Ferrell
Winmalee Brigade Community Safety Officer
NSW Rural Fire Service
The Winmalee Brigade has been engaging with its community for many years and the area has been subject to a number of severe fires in the last 40 years. The September and October 2013 fires (Hawkesbury Road and Linksview Road) caught the brigade early but not off guard. Within hours nearly 200 homes were destroyed and over 200 damaged during the Linksview Road fire.
Did the community engagement work make a difference? Many traditional methods of community engagement were used to communicate before, during and after the fires, but were they enough? How is participation in recovery structured? When is the community ‘re-engaged’ to prepare for next time?