Published on Thursday, 27 June 2019 at 11:13:49 AM
The Shire of Denmark has received $320 thousand for two projects that will strengthen Denmark’s bushfire resilience.
The funding comes under the joint Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Resilience Program which helps local communities and agencies better prepare and plan for natural disasters.
The first project “Holistic community resilience building for bushfire” received $178 thousand. It focuses on increasing awareness of bushfire risks and the measures residents and communities can take to mitigate them.
Residents can access design ideas and specialist advice on retrofitting their rural properties to reduce impacts of fire, drought and climate change.
Communities will be able to observe practical demonstrations of bushfire mitigation techniques and winter burning workshops.
Mitigation techniques include weed spraying, removal of dead standing timber near buildings, dual purpose access tracks, and options for no-burn fuel reduction techniques such as decomposing fuel loads.
A dedicated community space in the CBD will include a fire-wise garden for residents to observe practical fire-wise gardening techniques whilst retaining biodiversity.
The second project ‘’Bushfire resilience in the Great Southern” received $137 thousand. This combined project with the City of Albany and the Shire of Plantagenet will equip the three local governments with a clear strategic direction for bushfire mitigation and evacuation planning.
The project will focus on evacuation planning for communities with an elevated risk of bushfire, and education on improving community response and recovery.
Evacuation centres that can withstand fire and forward planning to foster confidence in local volunteers are also part of the project’s outcomes.
“The projects will allow residents to better understand bushfire risk and to share tactics everyone can use to make themselves, their families and their communities more resilient in the event of a bushfire,” Bushfire Risk Planning Coordinator Melanie Haymont said.
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