The Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning has adopted a risk-based approach to bushfire management. By partnering the latest science with the knowledge and experience of local communities and firefighters, we have a new level of understanding of bushfire risk to people, economic industries, water and environmental values.

Scientists have pointed to the need for a shared approach to bushfires between government agencies and communities – particularly in providing more specific risk information, but also understanding why an awareness of fire risk often does not translate to safer action.

Communication about bushfire risk brings opportunities and challenges. How do you tell someone who is anxious that they are not at high risk? How do you tell someone that their community is at high risk without causing alarm? How can we look at the complexities and trade-offs of managing this risk? How can we balance the impacts of vegetation management over here when the resulting bushfire risk reduction is over there? How can we encourage people to think in a shared responsibility context and at the scale that major bushfires are likely to impact?  How can agencies and communities work better together to spark action that is appropriate at a local scale?

We have been exploring four methods:

·         Risk communication

·         Deliberative democracy

·         Fire learning networks

·         Phoenix bushfire simulation and risk tools

This presentation will explore the techniques we have used, how they worked, challenges, how they could be improved and will provide some avenues for action that agencies and communities can use to understand bushfire risk and take action.