2020-08-17 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                 17 AUGUST 2020


This culminates in Get Ready Week in October. Get Ready week involves significant
communications around disaster preparedness as we enter the season for fire, floods and
cyclones. Council is developing a downloadable guide to put on the website, Emergency Action
Guide, for disasters generally, not just fire. This will be available in time for Get Ready Week and
support Noosa residents in their disaster preparedness.
The Community Development team, in conjunction with Council’s Disaster Management Officer
and our local QFES Engagement Officer, are working with community groups such as Lake
Cootharaba Residents Association on their Disaster Management Plans and getting prepared as
a community. Community engagement is taking place for local communities to identify risks and
develop their own community-led preparedness and ownership. Officers support these
communities through activities and events that bring communities together and talk about disaster
preparedness.
Another recovery led initiative Council is coordinating is Mental Health First Aid training. The
training will be offered for front line staff working in disaster management (evacuation centres),
disaster recovery and community outreach. Identified front line staff need support with challenging
conversations in times of an emergency/disaster. This training will be rolled out to key community
members (SES, Rural Fire etc.) who are on the front-line when disaster strikes.
In July two additional tabs were added to the Noosa Council Disaster Dashboard, Fire
Management and Bushfire Safety, to help the community quickly find more information about fire
management and community preparedness.




Image: Screenshot from Noosa’s Disaster Dashboard
The Fire Management tab links to Fire Management section of the QPWS website and has a range
of information about fire management on parks and the way QPWS works with other agencies. It
also includes a link to the Park Alerts, which provides updated information on specific parks.
The Bushfire Safety tab links to the Noosa Council page of the Rural Fire Service. This site has
the latest information on fire bans and restrictions, neighbourhood safe places and, at a regional
level, the website has lots of information about Bushfire safety.
3.     Technology and future solutions
After its near miss during the Peregian Beach fire in September 2019, the Peregian Digital Hub set
out to create a program called FireTech Connect which could help accelerate the adoption of
powerful new technologies that hold the key to predicting, preventing, fighting & recovering from
bushfire emergencies around the world.
FireTech Connect, the first program of its kind in the world, was established in February with
funding support from the Federal and State Governments. Seasoned technology entrepreneur,
Leigh Kelson, was appointed in March as Entrepreneur in Residence to lead the program on behalf
of the Hub.



                                                                                     Page 36 of 52