Strategic bushfire management plan East Central Mildura Mallee and Murray Goulburn Wangaratta Bendigo Alpine and Horsham North East West Central Alpine and Greater South Ballarat Gippsland Western Melbourne East Bairnsdale Central Geelong Morwell Barwon Otway First published by the Victorian Government Department of Environment and Primary Industries Melbourne, October 2014 Republished by the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Melbourne, November 2015 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including the Victorian Coat of Arms, the Victorian Government logo and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) logo. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Printed by Impact Digital, Brunswick. ISBN 978-1-74146-875-5 (print) ISBN 978-1-74146-876-2 (pdf) Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, please telephone the DELWP Customer Service Centre on 136186, email [email protected], or via the National Relay Service on 133 677 www.relayservice.com.au. This document is also available on the internet at www.delwp.vic.gov.au. Front cover image: Planned burning at Dartmouth Dam © DELWP Contents Foreword 2 Introduction 3 Our risk-based planning approach 4 Simulating bushfire risk ................................................................................................................................................................6 Community values and engagement ............................................................................................................................................7 Risk assessment ............................................................................................................................................................................8 Joint action ...................................................................................................................................................................................8 Managing fuel hazard ...................................................................................................................................................................9 Continuous improvement ............................................................................................................................................................9 Bushfires and East Central 10 About our bushfire risk landscape ..............................................................................................................................................10 How our worst bushfires behave................................................................................................................................................10 Our major bushfires ...................................................................................................................................................................10 October–April is bushfire season ...............................................................................................................................................10 How bushfires start ....................................................................................................................................................................12 Using residual risk to measure our success ................................................................................................................................12 Projections for our future climate ..............................................................................................................................................13 Identifying what’s most at risk in East Central 14 People ........................................................................................................................................................................................14 Infrastructure .............................................................................................................................................................................14 Environment ...............................................................................................................................................................................14 Economy .....................................................................................................................................................................................17 Tourism .......................................................................................................................................................................................17 Cultural heritage .........................................................................................................................................................................18 East Central’s bushfire catchments .............................................................................................................................................18 Strategy and actions to reduce bushfire risk in East Central 26 East Central fuel management strategy .....................................................................................................................................26 Other bushfire management actions .........................................................................................................................................32 Monitoring, evaluation and reporting ........................................................................................................................................34 Glossary 35 Discussing bushfire risk at Wilsons Promontory ©Joanna Wand Noojee Trestle Bridge © Suriya Vij Foreword This plan is the first strategic bushfire management plan It is important to note that the international standards for for the East Central bushfire risk landscape. It marks the risk management, with which our strategic planning approach beginning of the new, strategic, risk-based approach to complies, accept that risk can never be completely eliminated. bushfire management on public land that was recommended Bushfires will still occur each summer and everyone needs by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission after the 2009 to be prepared and ready to respond. Bushfire risk can be Black Saturday bushfires. managed, and its impacts minimised, with a high-quality risk management approach. The Royal Commission was the catalyst for the Victorian Government to improve how emergency management Strategic planning is important; it builds a shared understanding systems work for communities. This plan—and the strategic of bushfire risk, and the options available to reduce the risk. bushfire management planning process through which it was This understanding empowers everyone in Victoria to work in developed—improves how the Department of Environment, partnership, to tackle the threat of future bushfires. Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and Parks Victoria (PV) Implicit in a high-quality approach is a commitment to work together with the community, industries and other continuous improvement. The processes used to develop emergency services agencies to build a safer and more this plan are an improvement on what has gone before, and resilient Victoria. bushfire management will continue to evolve with advances in The Victorian Government is committed to managing and science, technology and how we engage with the community. reducing risks to life, property, infrastructure and local economies Through this plan we set clear directions that will guide our from the impact of major bushfires, and to enhancing the bushfire management operations. Our activities will focus resilience of our natural ecosystems. To do this, we are bringing on reducing bushfire risk — this is how we will know we’ve together for the first time the best available science, cutting- been successful. edge bushfire simulation software and the extensive expertise of Victorian bushfire management specialists. We are supplementing this expertise with the wisdom of local communities, to draw on their knowledge and experience, understand what they value and how they see bushfire risk, and engage them in planning the best course of action. We thank all those who have given their time to contribute Alan Goodwin Travis Dowling to the process of preparing this plan, including staff and DELWP Chief Fire Officer DELWP Regional Director representatives of our department, PV, Country Fire Authority Port Phillip (CFA), local governments, water corporations, utility services, private land managers, regional and municipal integrated fire management planning committees, Dandenong Ranges Landscape Project and communities in the landscape. We particularly thank the community reference group—which includes representatives from Melbourne Water, local government, Victorian National Parks Association, Latrobe