Living with Fire: Victoria's Bushfire Strategy
Living with fire - Victoria's Bushfire Strategy provides the vision for a significant change in the way government and Victorians manage fire to meet future bushfire challenges.
Bushfires are a vital part of our natural environment, driving regeneration and maintaining the health of species and ecosystems. The combination of drought, climate change and unnaturally high fuel loads have created an unprecedented bushfire risk. The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number, size and severity of bushfires in Victoria, evidenced by the 2003 Alpine, 2006 Grampians and the 2006/07 Great Divide fires. Similar trends are being experienced in North America and Europe, including California (2007 and 2008) and Greece 2007.
Living with fire - Victoria's Bushfire Strategy provides Victoria with clear direction to meet future bushfire challenges under six key themes:
- Managing the land with fire: Increased planned burning effort, including large-scale mosaic burns, based on science and risk management frameworks, to reduce fuel loads, protect communities and promote healthy ecosystems.
- Building community capacity to live with fire: Improve the community’s understanding of the role of fire in the environment and increase shared responsibility for risk, prevention and preparedness for bushfire.
- Enhanced response and recovery: Continue to lead the way in bushfire response while building on recovery efforts.
- Workforce/volunteer capability: Build and maintain a skilled, fit and experienced firefighting force to deliver an increased planned burning program, meet rising response needs and provide support to volunteers.
- Planning for protection: Provide the community and planners with better risk management and mitigation tools, including acceleration of Integrated Fire Management Planning.
- Risk and adaptive management: Continue to develop a more responsive approach to the management of bushfires based on continuous learning and improvement through the development of interagency risk modelling, state-wide scenario planning and improved ecological research and modelling.
Living with Fire: Victoria's Bushfire Strategy is available to download
