The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has developed a web-based system to notify people when a planned burn on public land is close to being ignited.
What is the planned burning notification system? The planned burning notification system is a free of charge subscriber system that provides advance notice of upcoming planned burns contained in DELWP’s current Fire Operations Plans (FOPs) and also VicForests regeneration burns.
People subscribe to the system and customise it to suit their particular information needs. They can find all burns intended to be carried out in parks and forests in Victoria over the next three years.
This system does not replace the DELWP Burns now and the next 10 days web page. It includes information about current planned burning activity also shown on the VicEmergency website and the FireReady phone app.
How do people find it? Visit Advice on Planned Burning or the Fire Operations Plans webpages on the DELWP website. A link on these pages directs users to a dedicated page www.delwp.vic.gov.au/pbns.
How do people subscribe? There are two options:
1. Users can type the name of a town, suburb, address or postcode in the location search bar. Once people have subscribed to a location they will automatically be registered for all burns within 10 km of the location, from all three years of the FOP;
2. AND/OR - Users can subscribe to a specific burn by selecting from the map or list of burns - you can filter the list by District, burn name, burn year or burn number, if known. How does the system work? When subscribers select a location or burn, they will be asked to log in and open their account. First time users will be asked to create a new account.
There are two sections in My Account: “my locations” and “my details”.
The “my locations” section lists all of the subscribers selected locations and burns. In this section the user can customise what messages they wish to receive and how they wish to receive them - SMS, email or both.
There are three burn statuses that trigger a notification:
· within 10 days
· next 24 hrs
· in progress.
The system defaults to the “next 24 hrs” for burn status and to sending both an SMS and email.
Receiving notifications Subscribers will automatically receive an SMS and/or email for any burns subscribed to as the burn moves through the selected statuses.
When the burn status changes, a new message is sent. No message is sent when the burn is complete.
DELWP tries to make sure the information is timely and accurate - but planned burning often requires changes. For example, weather conditions may mean that a burn does not proceed when expected, or DELWP crews may need to do further work on the burn at a later date. This will generate repeat messages for some burns.
For more information For further information about the notification system and how to subscribe go to: www.delwp.vic.gov.au/pbns
Author: Sharon Mifsud