Assurance of DELWP breaches of planned burn control lines - 2020-21 | Inspector-General for Emergency Management Victoria

All hazards

Risks spanning across multiple hazard types and across the emergency management system.

Biosecurity

Exotic animal and plant disease outbreaks and pest incursions can have significant economic, community and environmental impacts.

Bushfire and other fires

Bushfire and other fires have potential consequences including loss of life and property, and damage to infrastructure and environment.

Climate change

Risks include more days of extreme heat, harsher fire weather, less rainfall and rising sea levels.

Communications disruption

Communications services are crucial in keeping communities safe, connected and informed before, during and after emergencies.

Cyber security and ICT systems failure

Risks relating to the confidentiality, availability, integrity of information and data and disruption of services.

Energy supply disruption

Reliable energy supplies are critical to many social and economic activities.

Flood

Major flood events have occurred in Victoria every 10 to 20 years, with much of the increasing risk created by human settlement.

Hazardous material incident

Potential risks relate to many places where Victoria’s hazardous materials are manufactured, stored, transported, used and disposed.

Heatwave

Heatwaves are considered to be the ‘silent killer’ of extreme weather events and are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Australia.

Public health emergency

Risks may relate to the delivery of public health services, with impacts on community health and wellbeing and potential for loss of life.

Supply chain disruption

Geopolitical, environmental, economic, societal and infrastructure-related shocks can expose supply chains to wide ranging consequences.

Terrorism and extremism

Attacks carried out by individuals or non-state groups with ideological, political or religious goals can result in loss of life, severe injury and/or material damage.

Water supply disruption

Risks include collection, storage, treatment, delivery, availability and allocation of water for consumption and environmental, recreation and cultural uses.

Workforce and resourcing

Risks may relate to human resource supply and skills to support emergency management operations.

This is IGEM's sixth report on breaches of planned burn control lines, covering the period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

During this period DELWP conducted 470 planned burns and treated a total of 133,195 hectares of public land. It completed 200 more planned burns and treated a significantly larger area overall, in comparison to 2019–20 when it completed 257 burns.

This 2020–21 assurance report describes only one new planned burn breach of a control line, as well as an increase in non-burn fuel treatment across the landscape. This is an encouraging indicator that over the past five years, DELWP continues to reduce the risk of breaches arising from its planned burning practices.

It also includes a summary of bushfire fuel management in Victoria, and provides a progress update on implementation of two, ongoing recommendations made in previous reports - assessing one as complete, and the other as in progress.

While this report focuses on improving practices so that planned burns achieve their objectives without causing unintended harm, IGEM’s Inquiry into the 2019–20 Victorian Fire Season – Phase 1 report provides an extensive assessment of the state's fuel management practices more broadly.

Assurance of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning breaches of planned burn control lines - 2020-21 was published on 20 July 2022. The report is available in PDF format from the link below or you can read as a flipbook (External link).

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