Page 3930 - Week 11 - Thursday, 26 September 2019
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day is where the ESA, supported by ACT government directorates and partners, showcases its members, capabilities and resources to the general public and provides valuable information to the public on how to prepare for the risk of bushfire and other emergencies.
This summer will also see the continuation of the complacency can kill campaign. This year the campaign’s focus will be on educating the community about being an important part of a team and that they are not alone in supporting each other in preparing for bushfires.
The second phase of the complacency can kill campaign will showcase the ESA chief officers with the aim of strengthening the relationships between the community and our emergency responders. In addition to the campaign, ESA will implement public relations activities early in the season where they will share all the behind-the-scenes preparations such as the arrival of aircraft, updates on seasonal outlook and firefighter training and reminders about the simple steps that our community needs to undertake to get bushfire ready.
Our emergency services are well prepared and stand ready. Now it is time for the community to work as part of the ESA team to combat bushfire risk. Bushfire preparedness is a shared responsibility. We must all work together to stay safe and protect ourselves from the risks.
The work undertaken by ESA in the lead-up to each bushfire season is to be commended and ensures that we are prepared for all hazards and the eventuation of a worst-case scenario. In addition to regular administrative, training and interagency pre-season preparation, the start to the bushfire season will be supported by a number of special capabilities. These include the continuation of the contracting of a special intelligence gathering—SIG—helicopter. The SIG capability proved to significantly enhance bushfire fighting operations in the 2018-19 season by providing much earlier detection, location and access advice, as well as quicker responses to bushfires in the surrounds of the territory.
To further improve incident management in the territory, the ESA also recently invested in the incident management facilities at ESA headquarters, which included an upgrade of the public information coordination centre, the PICC. These upgrades commenced in 2018 and are now complete, and will improve the public information capability of the ESA during times of crisis or emergency.
Another area of investment has been the continued rollout of new personal protective clothing, PPC, to ACTRFS members. The updated PPC improves firefighter safety by putting our RFS personnel in contemporary clothing that is lighter and constructed to modern design standards for safety and wearability. The more modern designs are better fitting, allowing less restricted movements, and provide for both male and female cuts, supporting our women in emergency services strategy and the push for greater workforce diversity.
ESA has also invested in new portable radio technology, which is currently being rolled out across the agency. These updated radios are a smaller design and have
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