Since the devastating Wangary bushfire in 2005 on the South Australian Eyre Peninsula, there has been a significant shift in the priorities and directions of the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS). As a result of lessons learnt from Wangary, the agency has faced the challenge of making the provision of information to the community in a bushfire just as important as controlling the fire. As a result, in the past 10 years there has been significant investment in community engagement and public information – not always a popular priority in a small agency with limited resources. 

This session will review the development of Information Operations in the CFS, describing the challenges and opportunities in building and successfully integrating a function traditionally considered outside of a volunteer fire service's core activities. The Information Operations Unit has been developed utilising research and best practice, combining the daily and operational activities of community engagement, social media, media and communications.

The session will compare and contrast CFS's information and preparedness initiatives prior to 2005 with those of 2015. Case studies of recent fires in South Australia in 2014 and 2015 will be used to demonstrate how an integrated Information Operations Unit has helped raise community awareness about bushfire, build preparedness, foster community resilience and provide threatened communities with targeted, timely and accurate information and warnings during bushfires in SA.