Over the last three weeks, the annual preseason briefings as part of the Victoria Police Arson & Explosives Liaison Officers (AELO) training have been conducted across the state.
The preseason briefings were held at the following regional locations:
- Mildura
- Warrnambool
- Horsham
- Bendigo
- Sale
- Knox
- Geelong
- Benalla
This year the focus of the sessions was an overview on the updated strategic framework and response to the threat of fire.
CFA district fire investigation coordinators, fire investigation team leaders and fire investigators had the opportunity to attend the briefings in conjunction with senior representatives from Victoria Police.
Presentations were delivered by detectives from the Victoria Police Arson & Explosives Squad on the following topics:
- An overview of the Victoria Police Strategic Framework and Response to the Threat of Fire 2018 - 2019
- The role of Arson & Explosives liaison officers (AELOs)
- The role of Arson & Explosives Squad
- Intelligence collection
The CFA Fire Investigation Section provided an overview on:
- Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for Victoria
- Grassland Curing comparison between last Fire Season (2017-18) and the commencement of the 2018-19 fire season
- Scene preservation by responding fire brigades
- Joint Business Rule - Bushfire Investigation
- Vegetation fire causation trends analysis from the 2017-2018 fire season
- Fire Investigation - Fire Causation Elimination Process
- Key lessons learned from fire investigations conducted in the 2017-2018 fire season
- Aerial information gathering (AIG) for fire investigation
The briefings also provided the opportunity to further enhance the partnerships and networks that already exist between CFA and Victoria Police from a fire investigation perspective at state, regional, district and local levels.