Vulnerable voices on fire preparedness: Policy implications for emergency and community services collaboration

Abstract

An investigation of household preparedness and community connections was undertaken in the NSW Blue Mountains. The research employed a qualitative approach. Upon receiving ethical approval, interviews and focus groups with a total of 31 vulnerable residents were recorded and transcribed. Data analysis included the manual coding of individual transcripts and key word queries entered into NVivo 10. Fire planning for community resilience within Australia focusses on property preparation and an emergency warning system designed to assist the evacuation decisions of residents. In this article, we report on vulnerable residents and their preparedness for the October 2013 bushfires. Our findings demonstrate that the vulnerable people interviewed did not consider property preservation as a priority, and their knowledge and engagement with the warning system and evacuation procedures was limited. Of practical value, the research found local community services and emergency planning committees should collaboratively plan for vulnerable community members who are unable to take a very active role in preparing themselves or their dependents to face a bushfire or similar disaster. In addition, preparedness and warning communications should be devised and targeted to more clearly assist vulnerable people during the lead up to, and in the midst of, a disaster.

Gray Measure and Spatial Distribution Exploration of Local Emergency Resilience on Compound Disasters

“…Limited data and uncertainty of data information are the dual characteristics of local emergency resilience measurements of compound disasters. The systematic attribute of disaster resilience [ 51 ], cross-regional [ 52 ] and cross-sector [ 30 , 53 ] cooperation networks, and the importance of strengthening resilience in mountainous [ 35 , 54 , 55 ] and rural [ 28 , 56 , 57 ] areas provides a theoretical basis for the existence of spatial correlation of local emergency resilience.…”

“…Researchers have conducted extensive research on different areas involved in local resilience, in which community-level [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ] and urban-level [ 14 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ] are the most concerning issues. Community resilience denotes a community’s capacity to lead itself to overcome changes and crises [ 33 ]; related research shows that emergency management at the local scale-municipal government level and community level are interdependent.…”

“…Networks based on social capital [ 28 ] could improve the community’s emergency resilience [ 25 ]; thus, enhancing the community’s resilience to disasters is the primary goal of disaster management [ 26 ]. Disaster preparedness [ 27 ] and preparedness education [ 29 , 32 ] are national priorities [ 29 ], for which the policy is usually implemented by local departments [ 34 , 35 ]. Infrastructure [ 30 , 40 ], resources [ 33 , 36 , 41 ], as well as planning and warning communication [ 33 , 35 ] are indispensable elements of community resilience in disasters.…”

“…Disaster preparedness [ 27 ] and preparedness education [ 29 , 32 ] are national priorities [ 29 ], for which the policy is usually implemented by local departments [ 34 , 35 ]. Infrastructure [ 30 , 40 ], resources [ 33 , 36 , 41 ], as well as planning and warning communication [ 33 , 35 ] are indispensable elements of community resilience in disasters. For cross-regional disaster prevention, neighbors might function as resources for disaster preparedness [ 39 ], and cross-regional organizational relations could enhance resilience in each hierarchical and horizontal emergency management network [ 42 ].…”