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.
Project Link: C7 The evaluation of community safety
policies and programs
