Windellama Rural Fire Brigade - General Notices

24 hours Before you Burn you must Notify Yass Fire Control on 02 6226 3100
+ Your Immediate Neighbours & As a courtesy Windellama Bushfire Brigade

9 am Training --- 6.30 pm Monthly Meeting
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A Recently attended Motor Vehicle fire on Windellama Road.

You can Click Here to see further video footage

"Bush Fire Survival Plan"
Prepare. Act. Survive.

CLICK HERE to Download a PDF copy

Thanks to a great deal of hard work from Brigade Deputy Captain, Paul Alessi. Windellama 9 Bravo has been purchased by the National Museum in Canberra. There was a feature article on Canberra Stateline.

Click Here to View the Stateline Footage - October 2009

The new look FDI Sign - Released September 2009
" CLICK HERE -- New FDI Ratings"

A BIG thank you to all those who attended our Brigade Open Day & the official opening of our memorial wall. Over 120 people attended this event, and was another fine example of the Windellama community supporting local events.

The memorial wall - Officially opened 26th September 2009

2009-2010 - ANNUAL DUES BLUE FORMS  Click Here To Download a Printable PDF Copy

Windellama Public School - Hazard Reduction Burn

Windellama Public School - Lending a helping hand !

Media Release - 6th July 2009

RURAL FIRE SERVICE ASSOCIATION ACCEPTS PREMIER’S COMPROMISE BUT PREFERRED POSITION REMAINS
‘NO SUPER MINISTRY’
Click Here to View

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Media Release - 4th July 2009
RURAL FIRE SERVICE ASSOCIATION CALLS ON THE REES GOVERNMENT TO COME CLEAN OVER ITS PLANNED SUPER MINISTRY....
Click Here to View

Tree-changers and bushfires target of new study
Last year our brigade was part of a study by Christine Eriksen form the University of Woolongong.
Click Here to View

Click Here to read more (PDF)...

Thank you to all that turned out to support our annual auction day. The weather was great and there were bargains a plenty. Thanks to Denise for the following action pics from the day.

The following shots are from the Claypit Road Fire in January. The fire was the largest in our brigade area this year. Other local brigades were also quick to respond & help in the efforts of stopping & blacking out the fire. For those interested in the mobile broadband antennas that we have been using [Click Here]

Capturing Live images to send back to Fire Control

One of the images transmitted (3 images per min are uploaded to the website)

Paul Alessi attended the Victoria Bushfires earlier this year - just CLICK HERE for an online preview of some footage of the aftermath of such a large fire.

The RFS have a new TV commercial. You can see this commercial on this website - just CLICK HERE for an online preview.

Tree-changers and bushfires target of new study
2 Jun 2009 | Bernie Goldie

A PhD student at the University of Wollongong is investigating the dynamics between bushfires, tree-changers and the Rural Fire Service in several NSW rural areas comparable to rural landscapes hardest hit by the devastating Victorian bushfires.

Despite the recognised bushfire hazard in many new rural landscapes, Ms Christine Eriksen a geographer from UOW's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said little was currently known about how local environmental knowledge on bushfires is produced and/or shared among diverse landowners in changing rural landscapes.

"And also how this influences the dynamics of NSW Rural Fire Services brigades and local natural resource management," Ms Eriksen said.

She is focusing her research on the three new rural landscapes of Kangaroo Valley in the Shoalhaven; the Nattai-Oakdale/Orangeville-Werombi area of Wollondilly Shire; and Windellama in the Goulburn-Mulwaree region.

[A new rural landscape is a rural area experiencing population growth as a result of its proximity to major urban areas or its high amenity value. With the influx of tree-changers (lifestylers), the ageing and/or decline of more traditional rural populations and the subdivision of farmland, lifestyles and values more commonly associated with urban areas are being brought into rural places, while conflict over land use and management practices in increasing]

The basic aims of Ms Eriksen's research are to:

• Identify landholders' attitudes and actions (or lack of) towards bushfire and bushfire management in new rural landscapes

• Identify what factors are significant in influencing the stance rural landholders take towards bushfires

"The study examines how landholders manage their land and prepare for bushfires and how people learn about bushfires and bushfire management," Ms Eriksen said.

Ms Eriksen said her project has revealed that many women do not engage with bushfire prevention, preparation and response.

“Instead, women tend to rely on the knowledge and ability of men which places them in a vulnerable position when a blaze approached their home.”

She has learnt this through a survey of about 350 rural landowners in the three new rural landscapes her project is targeting. Of those surveyed, only 24 per cent had fought a bushfire on their property or had helped a friend or family member protect their property.

Ms Eriksen said rural women she has spoken to have identified the need for female-only bushfire training courses as women discuss issues on a different level to men.

"Men are much more focused on fighting the fire rather than having strategies in place to get children and pets out," she said.

Ms Eriksen recently presented her findings to the Rural Fire Service and hopes to have her research published. The Rural Fire Service presentation was as part of a group from Professor Ross Bradstock’s Centre for Bushfire Risk Management.

Ms Eriksen's PhD supervisors are Dr Nick Gill (Earth and Environmental Sciences); Professor Lesley Head (Earth and Environmental Sciences) and Professor Ross Bradstock (Institute of Conservation Biology).

Her project has received funding from the UOW Research Partnerships Grant with the NSW Rural Fire Service; Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre Project Funding; and from GeoQuEST Small Grants.

Further Information on this story visit http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW060276.html

To Download the full report in PDF- 466kb [Click Here]