Community Bushfire Safety

by Handmer, John; Haynes, Katharine

• ISBN13: 9780643094260
• ISBN10: 0643094261
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-30
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

Community Bushfire Safety brings together in one accessible and comprehensive volume the results of the most important community safety research being undertaken within the Australian Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). Using perspectives deriving from social science, economics and law, it complements the extensive literature already existing on bushfires, which ranges from ecology and fire behaviour to information about emergency management. In doing so, the book supports the increasing emphasis on community safety and the vital role it has to play in Australian bushfire management. Managing community safety requires a diversity of knowledge and an understanding of the many social processes that shape and ultimately determine a community's resilience to bushfire. The wide range of issues covered in this volume reflects this diversity, including research into gender and vulnerability; the law and its implications for public/fire agency interactions; the arsonist's rationale; the influence of the media; the role of economics in bushfire management and decision-making; understanding declines in fire brigade volunteerism; bushfire safety policy and its implementation; the effectiveness of community education and risk reduction schemes; and modes of building ignition. Community Bushfire Safety is accessible to practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and students. While the research reported has been undertaken in Australia, much of the material is generic and is likely to be relevant and useful to those dealing with community bushfire safety elsewhere in the world.

Table of Contents

Foreword: A View from Australia

Foreword: A View from North America

Statement: Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre

Acknowledgments

Author Biographies

Interface Bushfire Community Safety

Interface (Urban-Rural Fringe) Bushfire Community Safety

Understanding Communities

Community Perceptions of Bushfire Risk

Resilience at the Urban Interface: The Community Fire Unit Approach

The Concept of Local Knowledge in Rural Australian Fire Management

Social Contexts of Responses to Bushfire Threat: A Case Study of the Wangary Fire

Assisting The Householder And Small Business Operator

Prepare, Stay and Defend or Leave Early: Evidence for the Australian Approach

Property Safety: Judging Structural Safety

Don't Get Burnt By the Law: The Legal Implications of the 'Prepare, Stay and Defend or Leave Early' Policy

Risk Prevention And Communication

Understanding and Preventing Bushfire Arson

The Media and Fire Services: Dealing with Conflicting Agendas

Preparing for Bushfires: The Public Education Challenges Facing Fire Agencies

Policy And Institutional Issues

Using Program Theory in Evaluating Bushfire Community Safety Programs

What Should Community Safety Initiatives for Bushfire Achieve?

The Economics of Bushfire Management-Gaminda Ganewatta

Save that Brigade! Recruiting and Retaining Fire Service Volunteers to Protect Your Community

The Future With A Warmer Climate

Climate Change and Community Bushfire Resilience

References

Index

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