1. Introduction

Introduction

1.1 Legislative context

As part of the Victorian Government’s reform of the state’s fire services based on recommendations from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, the Fire District Review Panel (the Panel) was established as an independent public entity under section 4 of the Fire Rescue Victoria Act 1958 (the Act) to undertake reviews of the Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) fire district boundaries at least once every four years.

The Panel’s role is to provide independent advice to the Minister for Emergency Services (the Minister) on whether changes to fire risk across the state (including both the FRV fire district and the country area of Victoria as serviced by the Country Fire Authority [CFA]) resulting from population growth, service demand, land use and any other change in circumstances that may require a change to a FRV fire district.

The inaugural review commenced on 1 July 2020 and will be completed with recommendations made to the Minister by 30 June 2024.

As part of the review, the Panel is required, under section 4K(1)(a)(i) of the Act, to publish its determination in the Victorian Government Gazette (the Gazette) where it has determined there is a change in fire risk.

The Panel’s determination was published on 30 March 2023.

1.2 Purpose of this Supporting Report to the Determination

This report accompanies the Panel’s gazettal of its determination and outlines the supporting analysis and methodology.

This report includes the following:

• Methodology for the assessment of fire risk
• Fire risk mapping
• Focused areas where risk is to be addressed by the CFA

1.3 Process of the review

A unique and targeted methodology was developed to utilise a range of historical and predictive data. This methodology was refined after consultation with key stakeholders and community.

Critical data was then collated for the analysis, which included incident data from FRV and CFA for the period 2010 to 2019 and, aligned Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from the 2016 Census, down to the Statistical Area Level 1¹ (SA1) scale.

A consideration of limitations and assumptions, particularly in relation to the methodology and data, is provided at Appendix A.

The Panel’s determination is a result of the analysis of a range of data and information. From here, the determination is to be responded to by the CFA. The Panel will also consider submissions from other key stakeholders prior to the Panel finalising its recommendations to the Minister by 30 June 2024.

Footnotes

[1] SA1s are geographical areas that have generally been designed as the smallest unit for the release of census data. SA1s have a population of between 200 and 800 people with an average population size of approximately 400 people. SA1s in remote and regional areas generally have smaller populations than those in urban areas.