The Community Engagement Field Support (CEFS) Team, often known as the Mobile Engagement Unit (MEU) Team is the proud winner of the Spirit of CFA Excellence in Community Engagement Award for a team.
Comprising 21 passionate members who work together to deliver fire safety messaging to the local communities, the team travels throughout the state engaging communities at events, fires and other emergencies.
This team is highly skilled in finding innovative and meaningful ways to connect fire safety messaging to the people within a community.
“We feel very honoured to win this award, especially given the incredible work being undertaken in community engagement around the state," said Senior Engagement Adviser Travis Hearn. "The CEFS team has worked incredibly hard to always ensure CFA is promoted in the most positive way and that our messaging connects with our community. We enjoy thinking and working outside the square.”
The team has provided support to CFA, other agencies and local communities at many fires and other emergencies including the 2018 south-west fires, numerous planned burns as well as the Lancefield, Wye River and Hazelwood fires.
The demand for the team and the MEU vehicles also continues to grow, with a 35 per cent increase in the number of event requests and a whopping 143 per cent increase in school visits. This financial year, over 7,000 kids have been reached via this vital service.
“The team not only delivers frontline engagement alongside brigades, but is now also delivering brigade engagement skills training (BEST) and mentoring to assist devolping brigade’s engagement skills," continued Travis. "This training will help with brigade capability and the brigades' ability to connect with their local community.
“July 2018 will be an incredibly exciting time with the launch of the completely refurbished mobile engagement units. The new look will include a completely immersive self-guided engagement experience. This will change the way CFA engages with the community and our team is very excited to take the new-look MEUs on the road. The launch will coincide with an online booking system for better accessibility for brigades.”
The team has implemented and delivered a number of outcomes and outputs as outlined in its 2017-19 Business Plan, including improved processes and reporting, the upgrading of the MEU vehicles, and ensuring maintenance of the highest engagement standards through implementation of professional development days.