By Michael Doran
Warburton Emergency Planning Group have organised a Drop In Session to gather input from the community to develop a plan for both before and immediately after a bushfire event in the region.
The development of the plan is being supported and funded by the Victorian Government through their 2009 Victorian Bushfires Commemoration and Community Development Grants Program.
The Warburton Emergency Planning Group (WEPG) was formed in 2012 with the help of Yarra Ranges Council and group member and local resident Kevin Bargar said the groups charter was to “help formulate plans for possible emergencies affecting Warburton.”
“There are about seven different groups in the Yarra Valley that are working on similar projects including Macclesfield, Poweltown, Emerald and Gembrook. The area we are focussing on is the Upper Yarra, taking in Warburton, Reefton and across to Powelltown.
“Since starting we have a been able to effect some changes that are important from an emergency planning perspective. The placing of the Fire Danger Rating Sign in Warburton, which we monitor and adjust on a daily basis and the radio re-transmitter so that all people in the region can receive emergency broadcasts from the ABC on FM 96.1.
“The drop-in session is very much about talking with the community to find out what is important to them, to gather their ideas on what needs to be considered and to tap into their local knowledge of what would work in the Upper Yarra area.
The group will then take all that input and work with the emergency situation experts, such as the CFA and SES, to put together the emergency plan and also produce an information video.
“We have a video that is played in the local cinema before the movies but we will produce a new one that will give both visitors and locals and clear picture of what the Warburton plan is for any emergency situations that may arise.
“This is a community driven exercise and the plan will only be as good as the inputs that go into it from the community. We need as many people as possible to come to the session and to have their say, it is their safety we are talking about.”
The drop-in sessions will be held in the Warburton Mechanics Institute on Saturday 23 February between 10am and 2pm.
