The formalisation of a Brigade - Community Safety Coordinator on each Brigade Management Team (BMT) from this year is a leading cultural change for CFA. It recognises that community safety is core business across the organisation including at the brigade level.
Brigades with an election in 2015 will notice the Brigade – Community Safety Coordinator role on their election forms as a mandatory position. Chief Officer Euan Ferguson said today “a brigade’s willingness to actively support the Brigade – Community Safety Coordinator role will be determined by their capability and capacity and dependent on their community’s risk and need. For some it will be a really busy function with regular activity yet for others it may just be a contact point for district or regional staff”.
The Chief went on to describe just how flexible this role and its inclusion is “it may be an additional stand-alone member onto the BMT, it might be part of a lieutenant’s portfolio as is currently the case in many brigades, it may be a station officer (integrated brigades) or it might be the captain. The key is it can be modified to best meet each brigades need but it broadens the primary organisational focus to include community safety as well as operations.”
Several sample role descriptions have now been developed to cater for different brigades that service a range of community types:
- Localities – Brigade Classification 1
- Small or Rural Townships – Brigade Classification 2/3
- Urban Townships or Regional cities – Brigade Classification 4/5
Members who undertake this role may oversee and coordinate brigade activities in the area of fire prevention and community preparedness. The formalisation of a community safety leadership function is backed the CFA’s statutory obligations (prevention and suppression), the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission recommendations and the Victorian Emergency Management Reform White Paper.
What support is available?
There is a range of support available for brigade members undertaking this role including:
This community safety function on the BMT is part of recent Brigade and Member Classification changes and if unfilled will default to the brigade captain who will simply be a contact point. The other two brigade roles now mandatory for brigades to fill as part of the changes (however not a requirement on the BMT) are:
- Brigade - Training, and
- Brigade - Health & Safety
For more information you can email the team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Author: Jamie Devenish