Early this December, myself and Steve Cameron from EMV, ran the “What’s the plan now” scenario workshop for the Anglesea community. The intent of the scenario is match the communities perception of a bushfire event impacting Anglesea with the reality of emergency response, particularly when the town’s population swells to over 20,000 and only one road in and out. With honest input from the local response agencies on their capabilities for the event it soon becomes clear that there is a need for our locals to step in and assist in dealing with all the visitors who may well be all stuck in town if they are in a position to do so. After a quick “skills audit” with the group, it becomes very apparent that ALL the skills needed to deal with situation is already in the room. With an intent statement spelling out what we need them to do, why we need to do it and what the end state or success look we are leaving the how to do it to them. So, the response agencies can concentrate on the incident, the community look after the visitors and basically hold the fort until additional help arrives. 50 people attended the first evening and 120 the second!!
