Mal Cronstedt, Director, Office of Bushfire Risk Management (OBRM), Department of Fire & Emergency Services Western Australia
Resulting from a prescribed burning operation that unintentionally escaped and seriously impacted a rural community in South West Western Australia, the State government - among many other things - established the Office of Bushfire Risk Management. An independent office reporting directly to the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, its initial remit was to regulate prescribed burning across Western Australia (WA). The Office’s first permanent Director was appointed in August 2012.
The Office of Bushfire Risk Management – a unique organisation in Australia – has now been in existence for a little over a year and this conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the Office’s first year and share the experience with the fire and land management industry.
This presentation will canvas the year in which the Department of Environment and Conservation’s re-vamped prescribed burning system and framework was approved, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services system relating to planned use of fire was also approved, a revised permit system for Local Government-based burning was trialled, and policy support to statewide, integrated and tenure-blind bushfire risk management was provided.
The first-year OBRM experience provides an insight into the challenges faced by fire and land management agencies in two broad areas – applying a regulatory environment to the planned use of fire across a State and numerous diverse local governments; and the development, audit and reporting frameworks possible in the bushfire context, but also applicable across broader risk management. The experience will also highlight the lessons learned and point to the future policy space that OBRM and related agencies might occupy.