Building Meaningful Relationships — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. Saturday
  3. Building Meaningful Relationships
10:45AM - 11:15AM
Kembla/Keira rooms

Building Meaningful Relationships

Phil Paterson
Environment Officer Hotspots
NSW Rural Fire Service

Sharon Field
Burra Brigade Captain
NSW Rural Fire Service

Some community safety and environmental programs are one-offs, delivered to communities with little to no follow up that can leave participants feeling unsupported in the wake of program delivery. Social action programs must avoid ‘one-offs’, and work towards creating self-sufficient communities. An integral component of this approach is collaboration with local volunteers and staff to provide capability to meaningfully support development of self-reliance in their communities.
At Burra, local brigade members are being upskilled to have a greater understanding of both Community Protection Plans and Hotspots processes and to engage community volunteers to assist in the delivery of those programs. This bridges the gap between the local community and NSW Rural Fire Service. Following the program delivery, local volunteers can be a point of contact for local advice, feedback for staff and help to facilitate the risk management strategies that landholders are wanting to implement.