Urgent Calls For Hobart Bushfire Management Plan

Determined to avoid a catastrophic event, Hobart’s Lord Mayor has put forward an urgent call for a bushfire evacuation plan for the city.

Ms. Anna Reynolds wants an evacuation plan to put in place with several scenarios addressed, including understanding residents’ evacuation trends and infrastructure preparedness in case of an event requiring mass exodus.

Hobart Local News

Citing climate change as a contributing factor, Cr Reynolds wrote in The Mercury's Talking Points that she was advocating for "emergency service agencies to develop and promote an in-depth evacuation plan for Hobart based on a full range of plausible scenarios’’.

Not currently in existence "its development needs to be an urgent priority," she said, “I fully understand that emergency responders need to adapt to the realities of a situation as it develops. Some decisions can only be made on the day when we have a full understanding of the conditions". 

“However, it’s not good enough to wait until we are in the middle of a catastrophic bushfire and make evacuation plans for an entire city in the heat of the moment"

- Cr Anna Reynolds

Tasmania Police regional emergency management controller, Commander Tony Cerritelli, said that no two scenarios are the same. 

“No specific evacuation plan will cater for every scenario as every event will vary...Flexibility and agility in decision making, coupled with timely and accurate information communicated to the public is essential"

- Comm. Tony Cerritelli

On Thursday representatives from Hobart City Council, Tasmania Police, Tasmania Fire Service and State Emergency Service undertook a large-scale bushfire exercise based on the emergency service response to a bushfire in the Hobart region.

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