[CFA Community Fireguard Program]
[Gentle music]
[Visual]
A man walks along a rural fence line in open paddock. A woman walks across a timber home deck and leans on safety railing while looking out over the backyard that has lots of trees. An older woman inspects her garden plants and pathway. A group of people stand outdoors in a semi-rural, tree-lined setting, listening to and looking towards a presenter.
[On screen text]
What is Community Fireguard?
[Lisa Keedle - Community Fireguard Facilitator]
It's a change behavior program based around, looking at your own personal circumstances, your own local environment. This program really gives you insight, as to, what the likely fire event will be in your neighborhood, what you can expect, what to do specifically to prepare yourself, and for your family, and also specifically for your property.
It also, helps you connect with your neighbors and those people around you and share perhaps what your intentions are, what your plans are, and then to understand what else, the people around you are doing.
The benefits of the program far outweigh, the commitment that's put in.
[Jacqui - Community Fireguard Member, Warrandyte]
I think Fireguard's an excellent program because it's set in the local community, so the CFA facilitator comes to you. You can invite as many people as you like within your small community. And it allows for both partners to come, so both husbands and wives to come along and learn, and make the same decisions together, about what, what their plans are going to be, and understanding the types of things you need to do to protect yourself.
[John - Community Fireguard Member, Mt Macedon]
I think it's absolutely brilliant, I think anything at all that involves a forum with something like this, is extremely good. It's, it's informal, people throw ideas at one another, the convener will throw questions and challenge people in relation to decisions that they might have made.
[Barbara - Community Fireguard Member, Aireys Inlet]
I think the main reason for us, was to try and find some correct information, which is what I feel we get from the CFA. I mean I know it varies from time to time as they find out more and more things, but nevertheless you feel you're being kept up to date with what's important.
[On screen text]
Community Connections
[Lisa]
I've had a number of Community Fireguard groups that come together for the first time for their first meeting. They're used to waving to another in the street and there, so they consider itself to be friendly but then to come together and actually meet up, understand that their kids go the same school, or that they have the same sort of friends, and takes it a little bit further than just coming together for a bit of information about doing a fire preparedness plan.
That's one of the greatest benefits I think Community Fireguard I've seen over 10 years, has provided, is it brings the neighborhood together when we're quite often we're too busy, and then what I've said is those relationships continue.
[Jacqui]
Communication around Fireguard issues and the home preparation happens throughout the year, it's not just confined to the annual meetings that we've been having.
[John]
From the community point of view this is good, it's too easy in an area like this, where unless you go searching you can't see you next door neighbor's house, it's very easy i think for people to insulate themselves in their own little world etc. without any community, contact at all and so from my point of view it's good because i know everybody in the neighborhood etc. on first-name terms.
[Barbara]
There are so many things you can join here, that it's fairly easy to connect with this community, but no, definitely would be one of the things that's helped us too.
[On screen text]
Group Learning
[Music]
[Lisa]
Within the group, people already have or carry a little bit of knowledge already, so it's also having them recognise they already carry some knowledge and some understanding. The person who's coming in from the CFA isn't the expert, the group actually learn together and that's the key with any kind of adult learning change behavior program is that they learn together.
You are providing with some facts and some information, but that's shared and essentially then they can bounce off what they put their perceptions or understanding or knowledge is, and then you build from there. We know through, just by sharing stories and sharing similar circumstances, there's a bit of a validation in what they, what they hear, on how they feel, and having part of that connectedness as I spoke about before, they're coming together with people that they know and they're comfortable with.
[Jacqui]
It was very much a two-way conversation, we felt very comfortable asking questions, as I said, there was opportunity to walk around properties and our specific questions about what you should and shouldn't do with that particular property. I think it takes the pressure off a little bit if you're in a group, it allows some more personalities to become comfortable, rather than, I think one-on-one can be a little bit intimidating, and I'm not sure you always learn that well, I think that often you learn from others asking questions and others giving their, um, their experience.
[John]
I think group learning is, is terrific, because um, what I find is that people will ask questions that you've and get answers for, for questions that you'd never thought to, to ask.
[On screen text]
Psychological Preparedness
[Music]
[Lisa]
There was some indicators coming out of 2006 fires, um, that people prepare for fires and prepared physically, so they get the house ready, they get their plan together, they have their equipment already. And so physically they're switched on for it, but psychologically when the fire occurs, or when they're impacted by fire or if they leave the area, because of the fire, they really haven't emotionally or psychologically prepared for that.
Those Community Fireguard groups impacted in 2009, really helped them understand, what they'd experienced and what they were possibly going through and that, even through their memories, what, what was occurring.
[Jacqui]
Just to get a sense of what you're going to be, you know, facing, I think, um and, and preparing yourself for that, understanding that, it's definitely very important.
It's like you've got a bit of experience so you can apply that to your current situation, so absolutely, trying to be mentally prepared, although I'm not sure that you can really understand what it's going to be like. But knowing that it's going to be noisy and it's going to be dark and, you know, you're not going to be able to hear, use your senses and those sorts of things.
[John]
That if you've got an awareness of what to expect in a fire, or any other situation, then it's going to help you to be resilient, and say to yourself when something happens, "okay I was warned about that, it is difficult, it is 24 hours of fighting a fire, if I'm going to stay and defend etc.", knowledge and experience will help to help to make people resilient.
The CFG group and also the courses, impress on people, just how important it is to be prepared mentally.
[Barbara]
It's something over the years we've realised ourselves, particularly as we've aged, we've realised that we probably are mentally, as well as physically, less able to, to cope and that's why strongly, our first plan is to leave early.
We actually decided to do a practise leave, according to what we'd written down, and you know according to what we thought, and so we actually did a practise of packing up and leaving, and it was very interesting, it was, all sorts of snags came up and things took us longer than we thought.
[On screen text]
Self Reliance & Resilience
[Music]
[Lisa]
Self-reliance is probably the key, and it's a little bit about what that resilience is about, understanding that quite often in these events, you may be alone. Or especially if you're in a fire, in the fire event itself, so if your choice is to stay and defend quite often, you may not get assistance from, from emergency services. The event may not necessarily be to the scale that they are expecting, but essentially they have an understanding of what's occurring or what's going on, and they can in some way, predict or foresee what is occurring around them. And so in terms of resilience, we talked about the post, post event or the recovery, they're far more capable of recovering or their resilience is far greater, because they've understood what's coming, they knew what the environment was like and what their risk was, and they were prepared and they'd sort of practised their place, for what they would do.
[Jacqui]
I definitely don't want to be here, and try and defend my property, that my plan would definitely be to... to leave early with my children.
I feel a lot more confident about, making the right decisions for myself and my family as a result of attending a fireguard core group and, and, the continuing information that comes from that on an annual basis.
It's about, mental resilience for me, it's about feeling like I've got the knowledge, and the plan in place, should a fire event occur.
[John]
You definitely need to have more than one plan, I'm a great believer in the, in having a fallback position so that any planning that you've made, if it doesn't work or if your plan doesn't work, then you really need that fallback position, and quite obviously a fire plan is going to be a personal thing that in fact is, peculiar to your own set of circumstances in your own home, as distinct from what the guy next door might well have planned.
[Barbara]
In the Fireguard group and with the CFA meetings in general, they always make that quite clear, that you can't expect a fire truck at your door.
I say to people "Have you got a plan?" And, and sometimes I say to them and, "And have you written it down?" And explain to them why we found it so useful to have it, have it written down.
[Jacqui]
I love living here and I wouldn't move, but you have to understand the risk and the risk to your, to your small little piece of that beautiful, of the beautiful place we live in.
[Music]
[On screen text]
A very special thank you to Lisa Keedle, John and Margaret Lang, Barbara and Dennis Leavesley and members of the Warrandyte Fireguard Group for their kind participation in the making of this film.