Community Award
Winner
Scotsburn Community Recovery committee for their Strengthening Community after the Scotsburn Fires project.
Strengthening Community after the Scotsburn Fires project
On Saturday 19 December 2015, the area around Scotsburn, Clarendon and Elaine was subject to a bushfire that commenced in Ballarat Shire and moved swiftly into Moorabool Shire. The resulting fire burnt 4,674 hectares of land and destroyed 12 homes and 75 outbuildings.
Since those fires, the community recovery committee has engaged with the community to tailor events and programs ensuring projects are planned by the community, for the community resulting in maximum participation. The community take full ownership of project delivery and implementation and have been integral to building community capacity to assist in the long term recovery of the fire affected communities.
Business Award
Winner
Grocon Constructors for the 2016 Victorian Bushfire Clean-Up
2016 Victorian Bushfire Clean-Up
Following the devastating bushfires in December 2015 that impacted 178 properties across Victoria, Grocon completed the 2016 Victorian Bushfire Clean-up across Wye River and Separation Creek, Barnawartha and Scotsburn. The project included:
- Bushfire clean-up
- Infrastructure works
- And community liaison
Grocon completed this under a “cost recovery” basis – zero profit and zero margin - and worked in conjunction with the emergency management sector and the community to complete the clean-up works.
Government Award
Winner
Melton and Wyndham City Councils for the Emergency Ready Communities project.
Emergency Ready Communities project
This project is a true collaborative resilience project between Wyndham and Melton City Councils. It’s a project that recognises the fundamental role of social capital and social resources in building disaster resilient communities.
The aim of the ‘Emergency Ready Communities’ project was to strengthen partnerships among communities by fostering ongoing collaboration with and between community groups and Council, to embed a long-term emergency management engagement structure, and to work with the community on agreed tools to best instil a working knowledge of how leaders can plan, prepare, respond and recover from emergencies.
Schools Award
Winner
Strathewen Primary School and Arthurs Creek Strathewen CFA for the Strathewen Education Partnership-Claymation project.
Strathewen Education Partnership-Claymation project
Having experienced a significant disaster in 2009, many local families were still managing distress. In 2016, the school felt it was an appropriate time to introduce a bushfire safety program which focused on helping children love where they live once again.
The aim was to educate the students about fire behaviour and the risks of living in a high fire danger area and encourage them to think about ways of reducing and managing these risks.
Drawing on their learning from bushfire education, the students created a short animated film with a Fire Danger Rating (FDR) theme and a behind the scenes film showing the process of creating the animation, sharing the message of preparedness with both a local and wider audience.
Students are empowered with knowledge and have readily embraced their role as educators, sharing their information to assist others in making informed decisions and making choices that keep them safe.
Photography award
Winner
Chanh Huynh for Nature Resilient, a photo captured at Mt Hotham showing nature resilient after the bushfires in the Victorian high country.
The department acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.