Education, controlled burns and new disaster plan to boost resilience

Mayor Clare Stewart says Noosa is in a strong position to weather the bushfire and storm season, but still there’s no room for complacency. 

There's no room for complacency when it comes to disasters such as bushfires.

“The fires happening in south-east Queensland currently are a frightening reminder of the importance of  being prepared and having a bushfire survival plan to keep your loved ones safe,” Cr Stewart said.

With fires impacting parts of Queensland currently, a fire ban is now in place for Noosa, and residents are urged to download a copy of Council’s Emergency Action Guide from disaster.noosa.qld.gov.au

“A resilient community is a prepared community and while we can’t control Mother Nature, we can certainly all prepare as best we can – it starts at home with people preparing their properties to lower their own risk,” she said.

Council has adopted a refreshed Local Disaster Management Plan, updated with input from local emergency services to ensure it aligns with the latest disaster management advice.

The Mayor said Council had invested heavily over the past few years to mitigate bushfire risk and boost the community’s disaster resilience.

“We are really well prepared if and when disaster strikes - we have a strong plan, a strong team and strong Local Disaster Management Group, and our community can take comfort in that.

“QFES is the lead agency in the event of bushfires, but as a Council we can certainly take steps to mitigate risk and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“We are in a far stronger position now than we were four years ago with more resources, more mitigation through controlled burns, and our trial Firetech program which is testing technology to detect, monitor and fight fires,” Cr Stewart said.

“Over the past two years we’ve conducted controlled burns across more than 400 hectares of bushland to slow the potential spread of bushfires.

“We have a dedicated in-house fire officer and 16 of our staff now have nationally accredited fire training.”

Council staff have held fire resilience workshops across the shire to help residents be prepared, and continue to visit aged care homes and schools along with local emergency services personnel to spread the ‘get ready’ fire safety message.

“These sessions are so powerful - the kids go home and tell their parents what they’ve learned about fire safety, and having the support of emergency services personnel at those sessions is so valuable as it encourages the kids to ask questions and learn,” Cr Stewart said.

All councils are required under the Act to have a Disaster Management Plan. Council’s updated plan draws on  new demographic data from the latest census and changing climate risk profiles.

“Learnings from recent floods, fires and the pandemic have also helped inform the updated plan,” Council’s Acting Infrastructure Service Director Shaun Walsh said.

Mr Walsh urged residents to visit Council’s online Disaster Dashboard during disasters for information such as road closures, power outages ad weather updates.

“From the dashboard residents can also sign up to Noosa Alert to receive disaster notifications,” he said.

Visit the Disaster Dashboard.

For more information about fire bans, visit qfes.qld.gov.au