All emergencies are a major challenge for the Australian community and the need for communities to develop a better understanding and resilience has increased.

The capabilities and sophistication of Australian emergency services has steadily developed in over the last 50 years. This has led to increasing community reliance on emergency services during crises and a decrease in the self reliance of communities. This is particularly true in urban and semi-urban communities where personal experience of bushfires is low.

Research and case studies (members only) now allow emergency services to develop a better understanding of community risk. In return, this knowledge equips emergency services to enhance their Risk Management of communities and help the population to be better prepared.

Further members-only information on Public Safety is also available.

To enable the community to better understand these risks it is necessary to look at research in a number of areas:

Arson

Fire services have identified a need to develop preventative measures to reduce the risk of fire and Arson to the community. There are many different motives for arson. Arson does have devastating financial cost and emotional stress on a business, school and the community at large.

Protecting your home and property

Research in this section (Building Materials, Detectors and Alarms, Planning) also examines the performance during fire of various building materials and building and town planning issues. Greater demands due to increased population and changes in technology in materials and building designs results in changes to the materials and their usage within modern building design. It is important to have an understanding of how building materials behave when exposed to fire. It covers both housing and industrial materials and examines some of these issues in the context of residential home planning. 

Knowledge

Your community involves having a better understanding of the Hard to Reach Groups in order to determine the most effective strategies to reach them with appropriate safety messages. This has the potential to reduce the number of fire-related deaths and injuries to those people most at risk. Be aware of the Public Safety Agencies concerned with your location and environment.

Policy and warnings

Having an understanding of the Prepare, Leave Early or Stay and Defend practice which is advocated by Australian and New Zealand fire and emergency service agencies, and what community Alerts and Warnings are in place, how they work and what they mean will all help the community to prepare and be ready for future emergencies. See further community safety information on policies, AFAC's positions and codes of practice.

Be sure to browse these publications on people and community safety in the AFAC shop.