Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Program

Building community resilience to fire through working together with fire-affected communities that were impacted by the Black Summer Bushfires

Assisting landholders and land managers to reduce the threat of bushfires/wildfires to life and assets.This project will build upon the current successful delivery of three models that foster community resilience to fire in a collaborative and tenure-blind approach.

These models include the:

• The sub-catchment / community fire management plan model.
• Township Fire Management Strategy (TFMS) model.
• Property-level fire management plan.

The above have been tried and tested and are currently being delivered in a different region in partnership with the Australian Government National Emergency Management Agency.

The primary aim of the Sub-Catchment Fire Management Plan and the Township Fire Management Strategy is to assist landholders and land managers, in an identified sub-catchment and associated township scale, to reduce the threat of bushfires/wildfires to life and assets across tenure (i.e. across private and public land) while prioritising the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage values, community assets, and built assets.

Coordinated sub-catchment fire management plans are a facilitated engagement and on-ground works delivery process with landholders and land managers to identify priorities for fire management actions within rural and peri-urban landscapes – this includes fire risk mitigation actions, community resilience outcomes such as cross-tenure delivery of fire management actions, mapping of existing fire infrastructure, identifying and addressing gaps and problems in cross-boundary fire coordination, resolving issues, identifying necessary fire management infrastructure, deciding on fire management priorities in the coming season, including the timing and location of fuel-reduction activities, and funding a list of priority on-ground actions.

Rallying community and landholders with tried and true fire mapping and planning frameworks.

What we are doing

Supporting and increasing community and stakeholders' knowledge of best practice bushfire mitigation through land use planning and design approaches.

This project involves:

• Rebuilding and growing the economy of the local communities impacted by the bushfires.
• Developing fire preparedness: 
  • Cross-tenure delivery of fire management actions.
  • Mapping of existing fire infrastructure.
  • Identifying necessary fire management infrastructure, and deciding on fire management priorities in the coming season.
  • Developing a long-term plan in consultation with key stakeholders at a local, regional, state, and federal level; a process representing current leading practice.
• Capacity building: Empowering local communities to address bushfire recovery priorities, including through the creation of jobs, sustainable infrastructure, and community investment targeted at the specific needs of the community.

Measuring success

Some of the outcomes that will be delivered as part of this project include (but are not limited to):

• Increased stakeholder and community knowledge of best practice bushfire mitigation through land use planning and design approaches.
• Rebuilding infrastructure damaged by the Black Summer bushfires using best practice methods.
• Long-term strategic approach to bushfire management within impacted communities through enabling land use planning decision makers and managers, including First Nations people, within communities to implement practical measures to enhance bushfire resilience.
• Reduced future disaster risk and increased resilience of targeted communities and beyond to the bushfire hazard.
• Ensuring the effective implementation of the State Planning Policy in conjunction with building code provisions down to a local level.
• Strengthened disaster risk management – the QFBC model utilized for delivery of the project ensures engagement across multiple stakeholder groups at a State, Regional, and Local Level and will enhance the understanding and incorporation of effective land use planning to reduce disaster risk within targeted communities across multiple sectors.
• Ensuring that local communities are invested in disaster risk reduction
• Shared responsibility is promoted as a part of the engagement process and assists recently impacted communities and stakeholders to develop their capacity to adapt to change.
• Providing learning opportunities to enhance community resilience and reduce bushfire risk.
• Strengthened alliances and networks within communities and between Federal, State, and Local Government through engagement activities and cross-tenure delivery of fire management actions.

This project will allocate and deliver resources ahead of disasters and take appropriate measures to reduce exposure through effective land use planning and fire management actions.

Through co-development and cross-tenure collaborative planning, this project will promote investment in structural measures to lessen the impact of disasters on individuals, homes, businesses, communities, assets, and cultural heritage.

This project, through working directly with local communities to build their resilience skills and capacity, empowers them with action to make informed decisions regarding risk and consider alternatives when faced with changed circumstances.

Why this project is important

Project snapshot

What's next

There is huge potential to build on the successful work.

Project collaborators

This project is supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program.

It is also supported by the Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium and its many partners - click here to view them.