Evaluation of community education programs

The safety of the community during bushfires depends a great deal on the knowledge and capacity of the community to protect themselves during a fire. People need to have made plans about what they will do in a bushfire and to be prepared in case a bushfire occurs. Most fire services have programs that are intended to provide the community with information and advice about how to respond effectively to the bushfire threat. However there is very little research on what people want from these programs and what types of programs are most effective.

This project is about trying to determine what sorts of things work best to help the community prepare for bushfire. It will look at the way the community responds to the bushfire risk both before and during fires. It will look at the sorts of factors that influence people’s decisions about preparation and what they do during a fire. It will then look at how various community education programs attempt to help people prepare and respond more effectively during bushfires.

It is hoped that this project will identify best practice in community education programs for bushfires as well as provide a more detailed understanding of the factors that influence peoples response to bushfires. It is part of a larger evaluation project in the Bushfire CRC that is intended to develop effective ways to evaluate community safety initiatives.