2021-06-08 Planning & Environment Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA    8 JUNE 2021




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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                                 8 JUNE 2021

                                                                                                       Assure

                Corporate Concerns
                Variation in Risk Rating
                The review of this risk assessment within the plan, and without any clarification, it is assumed that
                the consequence associated with this assessment is the impact on life to those people within
                Councils reserves. It is the belief that this risk is underrated and the variation in consequences
                between the three categories is also questionable. The consequence of people becoming trapped
                within a reserve during a bush fire event should be re-evaluated to better reflect a true potential of
                the consequence. (Photo 1)
                5. Determining reserve priorities
                Reserve network risk assessments (On/Off Reserve)
                There is growing evidence that the evaluation of climate change information and predicted seasonal
                weather is one of the most significant issues facing the ecology of fires within the Australian
                landscape, and the reviewer believes that these two items are better reflected as part of first activity
                as it has a flow on effect to the subsequent allocation of priorities.
                7. Fire Management Planning (Table)
                The absence of a category “Response” for Council once it becomes aware of a fire on land it controls.
                Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990
                s67 Occupier to extinguish fire. Where a fire is burning on any land and the lighting of the fire is not authorised by or
                under this or any other Act, the occupier of the land, immediately upon becoming aware of the fire (regardless of who lit it)
                    (a) must take all reasonable steps to extinguish or control the fire; and
                    (b) must, as soon as is practicable, report the existence and location of the fire to a fire officer.....
                        Maximum penalty—50 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment.
                The maximum penalty described is for an individual, not a corporation. Council cannot rely on state
                agencies to respond to incidents on their land that they either own or control (i.e., unallocated State
                land) and they can also be found liable through negligence of any damage caused once the fire
                leaves their land. Statements by the Deputy Commissioner Mike Wassing to Royal Commission into
                National Natural Disaster Arrangements were clear, QFES are not land managers, and it is the
                responsibility of these landholders under the Act to mitigate the risks of fire to their land and to take
                all reasonable steps to control fires once they occur.
                Council should seriously consider the development of a unit within Council that is responsible for
                this role. Many Councils around the State have introduced the role of a Bush Fire Mitigation Officer,
                whose role is to formulate plans, advise on such things like training, purchase of equipment and PPE.
                It is outside the scope of the reviewer to recommend how this unit or officer should be engaged,
                however there are other Local Governments who have successfully introduced this role within their
                staff.

                Document Name:    Peer Review - Noosa Shire Council (Bushfire Management Plan)              Page 4 0f 9

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