Committee Seeks to improve Lorne’s resilience

CAPTION: The Committee for Lorne wants to improve Lorne’s resilience in the face of emergencies such as the Wye River/Jamieson Track bushfire. Photo: KEITH PAKENHAM/CFA

The Committee for Lorne (CfL) is working to improve Lorne’s resilience, and is calling for community feedback through an online survey.

Following the Lorne community’s experience with the Wye River/Jamieson Track bushfire in late 2015 and early 2016, CfL placed a high priority on helping the community, when faced with an emergency such as a bushfire, to become more resilient – being prepared, coping with the emergency, and recovering from it.
As a result, the committee embraced a community-driven program launched by the state government in several towns across Victoria: Community Based Bushfire Management (CBBM).
A working group of the committee has been established to implement this program.  It consists of five community members and is facilitated by a Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning representative and assisted by Surf Coast Shire, CFA, Emergency Management Victoria and other key stakeholders.
The Lorne CBBM Working Group has already met several times and is keen to be able to measure the Lorne community’s progress towards becoming more resilient.

The survey will be used as a baseline for the project, and CfL have asked people to complete it promptly and return it as directed.

It asks questions such as “What kind of fire risk environment is Lorne in?”, “Do you have a Bushfire Survival Plan?”, “Does Lorne has a Neighbourhood Safer Place – Place of Last Resort and if so, where is it?”, “Do you believe you have adequate insurance (home and content, car, business) if a bushfire affects your assets?” and “Do you plan to assist anyone in a bushfire event?”.

The survey will also help identify gaps in Lorne’s resilience for the working group to address.