Surf Coast Shire<\/a> practiced a co-ordinated emergency response.<\/p>\nSeveral other participants worked remotely, to prepare for the challenges that a COVID environment may create during the fire season.<\/p>\n
Participants were presented with a scenario of a high fire danger day on which a series of bushfires broke out in Greater Geelong and Surf Coast areas, with the potential to threaten local communities.<\/p>\n
FFMVic Project Leader Emergency Management Mike Harper said the conditions in the scenario would be expected to occur about half a dozen times over summer.<\/p>\n
Forming an Incident Management Team (IMT), all participants worked together to lead the emergency response from the Incident Control Centre, directing computer-simulated crews, equipment and resources.<\/p>\n
The fires were computer-generated, allowing the IMT will be able to observe the speed and intensity of the bushfires in \u2018real time\u2019 on projector screens.<\/p>\n
Over the course of the all-day exercise, participants gained experience in evacuation planning, using warning systems and arranging traffic management through an exercise management system.<\/p>\n
Aviation systems were also tested, as participants organised aircraft to gather intelligence, deliver resources and suppress fires.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough this exercise, we\u2019ll identify any areas for improvement in our knowledge, equipment and processes, as we step up our preparations to keep communities safe over summer,\u201d Mr Harper said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis training gives our people a similar experience to responding to a real emergency that is threatening lives and homes \u2013 allowing them to practice priority setting and decision-making under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
CFA south west regional commander Peter Creak said the exercise was a way for members across several agencies to come together to hone their skills, and test the systems that they relied heavily on during the bushfire season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year will again see our members called upon in both readiness and response, but given the COVID overlay, our planning will include a range of safety measures to limit close contact between members.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EMERGENCY management specialists responded to a mock scenario of bushfires around Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast Shire last week as they put their skills to the test in a multi-agency training exercise. Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) and the CFA co-ordinated the October 22 exercise at the Geelong Incident Control Centre in North Geelong, […]<\/p>\n
Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":35935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-35934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExercise sharpens agencies\u2019 emergency response - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exercise sharpens agencies\u2019 emergency response - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMERGENCY management specialists responded to a mock scenario of bushfires around Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast Shire last week as they put their skills to the test in a multi-agency training exercise. Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) and the CFA co-ordinated the October 22 exercise at the Geelong Incident Control Centre in North Geelong, [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-28T14:26:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/10\/Untitled-design-2-5.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1765be3a722a2023e6ce64487db8b45\"},\"headline\":\"Exercise sharpens agencies\u2019 emergency response\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-28T14:26:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-2-5.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/exercise-sharpens-agencies-emergency-response\\\/\",\"name\":\"Exercise sharpens agencies\u2019 emergency response - 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