Managing bushfire across our State is a huge task, so the West Australian State Government has established the Bushfire Centre of Excellence. The Bushfire Centre of Excellence is an education hub where bushfire management personnel can come together for training and learning. The Centre's dedicated team is also examining and learning from the the traditional fire practices of Aboriginal Australians, applying that knowledge to further research and to developing best practice strategies that fire-fighters may use.
Bec told the members that plans for a Bushfire Centre of Excellence in WA began after the Special Inquiry into the January 2016 Waroona Fire (Ferguson Report). The report recommended the WA State Government create a rural fire function (Rural Fire Division) to enhance the capability for rural fire management and bushfire risk management. It also recommended that this function would establish a Centre for fire management. In 2017, the concept of a Bushfire Centre of Excellence was discussed at the Bushfire Mitigation Summit and the inaugural Western Australian Prescribed Burning Forum. It was agreed that creating and capturing learnings through a Centre of Excellence would build bushfire capability for the future. In 2018, the State Government announced a rural fire reform package in response to the Ferguson Report recommendations. Changes included the establishment of a Rural Fire Division within the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) as well as the establishment of a Bushfire Centre of Excellence.
In March 2019, the Shire of Murray was selected as the preferred Centre location. The Bushfire Centre of Excellence was purpose-built in 2020. The Shire of Murray is located in WA’s Peel Region and is the ancestral home of the Bindjareb people, an indigenous Australian group of Nyungar speakers. The Bindjareb community have given the Centre a Nyungar name- Karla Katitjin. (‘Karla’ means fire and ‘Katitjin’ means knowledge).
The design has produced a building which includes three interconnected spaces that form the shape of a boomerang. The building was constructed by Bunbury-based company Perkins Builders and completed in January 2021.It features training rooms and outdoor training spaces, meeting rooms and more. Aboriginal themes have been carefully incorporated into the building’s design, artwork and interpretive information and the landscaping reflects Indigenous and local heritage, local vegetation and fire design guidelines.
The main entrance to the Bushfire Centre of Excellence.
The Bushfire Centre of Excellence is committed to gathering traditional and cultural knowledge about fire practices. It has four key functions designed to serve the bushfire sector. These functions are also designed to strengthen the ways we build and share skills and information to reduce bushfires and their impacts.To achieve this, the Centre has established a Cultural Fire Program which is considering how contemporary fire management may be linked with traditional fire practices. The Program seeks to-
- Work with partners to further develop stakeholder relationships and strengthen existing local skills and knowledge;
- Support knowledge sharing opportunities and cultural change;
- Identify traditional fire knowledge and best practice; and
- Work with research institutions and other agencies to consolidate traditional fire methods to create a hybrid of these principles.
Across WA, a mixture of traditional and contemporary practices are being used with great success. The intent of the Cultural Fire Program is to support the development, implementation, coordination and promotion of both existing and future programs.
Rotary Club of Pinjarra Vocational Services Director Kiri Campbell thanked Bec for showing our group of members around the facility.