Inquiries and Commissions following the catastrophic 2019-2020 bushfire season made a number of recommendations related to evacuation.
Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements - Chapter 12: Evacuation planning and shelters
The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements made seven recommendations in relation to evacuation and sheltering:
Recommendation 12.1 Roadside vegetation management
State and territory governments, working with local governments and fire and emergency service agencies, should ensure that there are appropriate arrangements for roadside vegetation management that take into account:
- priority access and egress routes
- road priority, utility and strategic value
- cost, and
- residual risk to national natural disasters
Recommendation 12.2 Evacuation planning – Evacuation routes and seasonal populations
State and territory governments should ensure that those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update them where appropriate, including in relation to:
- roles and responsibilities of state and territory governments, local governments and local communities
- education and signage about evacuations and evacuation routes, including education of seasonal populations
- the adequacy of evacuation routes; including contingencies if evacuation routes or centres are assessed as not being able to cope, and
- the potential inability to evacuate, either by reason of circumstances or personal characteristics.
Recommendation 12.3 Evacuation planning – Essential services and supplies
State and territory governments should ensure that those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update them where appropriate, including in relation to:
- key risks that essential service outages have on communities during a severe or catastrophic natural disaster (particularly communications and power)
- availability of essential supplies, including food and water, and
- consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts.
Recommendation 12.4 Sheltering terminology should be made nationally consistent
State and territory governments should, as a priority, adopt nationally consistent terminology and functions for the different sheltering facilities, including evacuation centres, Neighbourhood Safer Places, places of last resort and natural disaster shelters.
Recommendation 12.5 National community education
State and territory governments should provide further community education on the function and limitations of different sheltering facilities, including evacuation centres, Neighbourhood Safer Places, places of last resort and natural disaster shelters. This education should be nationally consistent.
Recommendation 12.6 Evacuation planning – Evacuation centres
State and territory governments should ensure those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review these plans, and update them where appropriate, to account for the existence and standard of any evacuation centres and safer places (however described) in the community, including:
- the capacity of a centre to handle seasonal population variation
- he suitability of facilities to cater for diverse groups, including vulnerable people, and those evacuating with animals, and
- the existence of communications facilities and alternate power sources.
Recommendation 12.7 Evacuation planning – Planning for evacuations across boundaries
State and territory governments should ensure those responsible for evacuation planning periodically review those plans, and update where appropriate, to provide for coordination between states and territories in cross-border areas and to provide cross-border access to evacuation centres.
Inspector General for Emergency Management Inquiry into 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season - Phase 1 Report
The phase one report is focused on community and sector preparedness for and response to the 2019–20 fire season
Recommendation 11 relates to evacuation:
The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Victoria Police – in collaboration with the community and the emergency management sector – reflect on events of the 2019–20 fire season to review and enhance evacuation plans and processes with consideration of:
- high risk areas (including remote locations)
- early evacuation triggers
- the potential for isolated communities
- the presence of tourists and non-residents
- individual decisions to not evacuate
- the inability to evacuate
- consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts
The Victorian Government is currently undertaking 12 Actions in line with this recommendation.
New South Wales Bushfire Inquiry Final Report
Section 5.10 of the report focuses on evacuation and makes several recommendations:
Recommendation 69:
That, in order to ensure evacuation arrangements can be scaled up when needed, Resilience NSW:
- ensure staff who are willing to be deployed to evacuation centres are trained as soon as possible to bolster evacuation centre staff surge capacity
- train council and NSW government regional staff in evacuation centre establishment and management, supported by a one-page ‘start up sheet’ for opening an evacuation centre
- enable interested community members to be trained to assist in evacuation centre establishment and management and provide an avenue for skilled volunteers to register their interest
- develop an exercise for the management of multiple evacuation centres dealing with large numbers of people for a protracted period over a widespread area.
Recommendation 70:
That, in order to ensure evacuation centres are fit-for-purpose, Resilience NSW work with Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) to:
- update the guidelines for LEMCs identifying evacuation centres to require a risk assessment of potential locations, which should include identifying alternate sources of power for use by evacuation centres and recording these appropriately
- review existing evacuation centre locations to assess compliance with updated LEMC guidelines and report to the State Emergency Management Committee on their suitability
Recommendation 71:
That, in order to ensure people only need to tell their story once to access government agency support following an emergency, Resilience NSW and Service NSW jointly design an inclusive, person-centred approach to information collection at evacuation centres. This should be supported by an opt-in scheme enabling personal information to be shared between NSW government agencies, local councils and nongovernmental organisations administering support services for disaster-affected people.
Recommendation 72:
That, in order to ensure Aboriginal people can access appropriate support during evacuation, Resilience NSW work with Local Emergency Management Committees and Aboriginal Affairs to ensure:
- local Aboriginal communities are included in emergency planning and preparation
- all staff involved in evacuation centres and support services are culturally competent
Recommendation 73:
That, in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable people during an evacuation, Resilience NSW:
- identify aged care facilities in fire and flood prone areas, and ensure that emergency plans are in place and comply with the Evacuation Decision Guidelines for Private Health and Residential Care Facilities
- develop/refresh evacuation centre protocols to specifically address the needs of vulnerable people.
Recommendation 74:
That, in order to ensure equitable access to evacuation centres and associated support services for people in border communities, Resilience NSW ensure cross-border access arrangements are reflected in evacuation centre management guidelines.
