__________________________________________________________ TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS __________________________________________________________ The attached transcript, while an accurate recording of evidence given in the course of the hearing day, is not proofread prior to circulation and thus may contain minor errors. 2009 VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES ROYAL COMMISSION MELBOURNE WEDNESDAY 31 MARCH 2010 (127th day of hearing) BEFORE: THE HONOURABLE B. TEAGUE AO - Chairman MR R. MCLEOD AM - Commissioner MS S. PASCOE AM - Commissioner __________________________________________________________ CRS WORDWAVE PTY LTD - A MERRILL COMPANY. 4/190 Queen Street, Melbourne. Telephone: 9602 1799 Facsimile: 9642 5185 17154 1 MS RICHARDS: Commissioners, today's evidence focuses on 2 municipal fire prevention. It will not have escaped you, 3 Commissioners, that during the hearings there have been a 4 very large number of references to municipal fire 5 prevention: municipal fire prevention plans, municipal 6 fire prevention officers, municipal fire prevention 7 committees and fire prevention notices issued by municipal 8 fire prevention officers. It is a topic that is relevant 9 to a very broad range of the subjects that the Commission 10 has examined, including emergency management, refuges and 11 their poor cousin, neighbourhood safer places, township 12 protection planning, integrated fire management planning 13 that we heard about from Mr Free in June last year, the 14 Victorian fire risk register, land use planning, roadside 15 management and of course fuel management. 16 From the many references to municipal fire 17 prevention in the course of looking at each of those 18 topics, it does appear that many, if not most, roads for 19 managing bushfire risk lead eventually to local fire 20 prevention and planning. As things stand, the principal 21 mechanism for that to occur is through the municipal fire 22 prevention scheme that's established under the CFA Act. 23 It is necessary therefore to have a close look at that 24 scheme, how it works, how it is changing and its potential 25 for further change. 26 The CFA Act requires each of the 64 councils in 27 the country area of Victoria to appoint a municipal fire 28 prevention officer or MFPO. The MFPO is responsible for 29 issuing fire prevention notices under the CFA Act, section 30 41, sometimes with the help of an assistant municipal fire 31 prevention officer. The Commissioners will recall the .Wordwave:MB/SK 31/03/10 17155 MS RICHARDS Bushfires Royal Commission 1 evidence about that during the land use planning topic. 2 The MFPO is also the chair and executive officer of the 3 municipal fire prevention committee which is constituted 4 under section 54 of the CFA Act. 5 That Act also requires each council to prepare a 6 municipal fire prevention plan and there are a number of 7 those in evidence already. In the course of the 8 examination of the fires, the municipal emergency response 9 officers whose statements were tendered each attached the 10 relevant municipal fire prevention plan for the 11 municipality. The plan is required to identify areas, 12 buildings and land use which are at particular risk in 13 case of fire, to specify how each identified risk is to be 14 treated and who is to be responsible for treating those 15 risks. Community fire refuges and neighbourhood safer 16 places are also to be identified in these plans. 17 Advising the council in relation to the municipal 18 fire prevention plan is an important function of the 19 municipal fire prevention committee. This is a 20 well-established scheme with many benefits and a great 21 deal of work is done under the rubric of the scheme. 22 Rachael Thompson of the CFA, who is the acting fire 23 planning coordinator and sometime fire prevention 24 improvement officer, will outline the scheme for the 25 Commission as the first witness this morning, and she will 26 touch on the responsibilities of municipal fire prevention 27 officers, the training and support that's provided to them 28 by the CFA, the constitution and role of the municipal 29 fire prevention committees, the guidelines prepared by the 30 CFA for municipal fire prevention planning and the 31 criteria against which the CFA audits municipal fire .Wordwave:MB/SK 31/03/10 17156 MS RICHARDS Bushfires Royal Commission 1 prevention plans. 2 As Ms Thompson will also outline, the municipal 3 fire prevention scheme has its problems as well as its 4 benefits. These were identified in August 2002 by an 5 internal CFA review which is known as the best practice 6 review, a copy of which is attached to Ms Thompson's 7 statement. That review made a number of findings about 8 the operation of the municipal fire prevention scheme and 9 a number of recommendations, and Ms Thompson will outline 10 those and will explain the actions that the CFA has taken 11 to implement the recommendations of that review. 12 The Auditor-General's 2003 report on fire 13 prevention and preparedness, which is in evidence as 14 exhibit 720, picked up on the recommendations of the best 15 practice review and in particular focused on a need to 16 address the integration of fire prevention planning 17 involving all levels of government and all stakeholders. 18 This of course was a theme that was developed in the 19 Esplin report and, as we know from the evidence of 20 Mr Free, this series of recommendations for greater 21 integration in fire management planning eventually led to 22 the establishment of the integrated fire management 23 planning framework. As will be seen, the IFMP is the 24 response to many of the recommendations that were made in 25 the best practice review back in 2002. 26 After Ms Thompson's evidence this morning the 27 Commission will hear evidence from two municipal fire 28 prevention officers from very different municipalities, 29 Darryl Farmer from Alpine shire and Kevin Kittel from the 30 shire of Corangamite. Both of them will outline their 31 role as the municipal fire prevention officer, the way .Wordwave:MB/SK 31/03/10 17157 MS RICHARDS Bushfires Royal Commission 1 they combine it with their range of other responsibilities 2 as council employees, the constitution and working of the 3 municipal fire prevention committee in their shire and the 4 municipal fire prevention plan that they have in place in 5 their shire. 6 Both have experience of the implementation of the 7 Victorian fire risk register in their shire and will talk 8 to the Commission about that. Mr Farmer also has recent 9 experience in the Alpine shire of township protection 10 planning and designation of neighbourhood safer places and 11 will cover that in his evidence. 12 Interestingly, the shire of Corangamite is in the 13 process of moving from the old municipal fire prevention 14 scheme that I have just outlined to the integrated fire 15 management planning framework and has established a 16 municipal fire management planning committee which is to 17 take over the work of the municipal fire prevention 18 committee. Mr Kittel will talk about that transition in 19 his evidence. 20 Before I call Ms Thompson, there are some 21 documents that I would like to tender. The first is the 22 municipal fire prevention officer learning manual which is 23 document (CFA.600.003.0306). There is a small extract of 24 this already in evidence that was tendered in the course 25 of the land use planning topic by Mr Young, but the entire 26 learning manual is now tendered. 27 The second is a much larger omnibus exhibit 28 called the State of Victoria response tender bundle, which 29 is a collection of a large number of documents provided by 30 the State of Victoria relevant to its response to the 31 Commission's interim report. That's tendered today in .Wordwave:MB/SK 31/03/10 17158 MS RICHARDS Bushfires Royal Commission 1 part because it is 31 March, the date on which delivery of 2 reports was requested, and also because of the inclusion 3 in it of a good deal of material about the implementation 4 of the Victorian fire risk register. So if I could tender 5 both of those documents as separate exhibits. 6 #EXHIBIT 830 - Municipal Fire Prevention Officer - Learning 7 Manual, dated 1 August 2008 (CFA.600.003.0306) to 8 (CFA.600.003.0543). 9 #EXHIBIT 831 - Index to State of Victoria Response Tender 10 Bundle (INDX.783.001.0001). 11 MS RICHARDS: Thank you, Commissioner. Unless there are any 12 questions, I call Ms Thompson. 13 <RACHAEL LEANNE THOMPSON, affirmed and examined: 14 MS RICHARDS: Ms Thompson, your full name is Rachael Leanne 15 Thompson?---That's correct. 16 You are employed by the Country Fire Authority as the manager, 17 vegetation management project and the acting fire planning 18 coordinator?---Yes. 19 With the assistance of the lawyers for the CFA, have you 20 prepared a statement for the Commission?---Yes, I have. 21 Do you have it there with you?---Yes. 22 Are there any corrections you would like to make before you 23 adopt the statement?---Yes, there were two. There was 24 something that I left out at part 12, just in regard to 25 fire prevention measures required by the Act. Section 38 26 is also relevant in regard to municipal fire prevention in 27 that it relates to permits to burn. The other part was 28 part 32(a), and it is the bottom line in paragraph 32, "In 29 addition the MFPC will normally include representatives 30 from".