I am a survivor of the 1969 fires in Victoria. When picking up my grand daughter last year from Sunshine Beach State High School I was trapped in the usual (and ever increasing) traffic jam on Ben Lexcen Drive. I felt a mild panic and wondered, what would happen in the area in the event of a big out of control fire event. We had a fairly big wallum fire in 2014 and a small localised fire next to Uniting Church in 2018.
When the Blue Care development was approved in 2008 we had far less cars on the road. The new aged care facility will add by our estimation over 500 people to the neighbourhood.
The local fire brigade
I called Fire and Rescue who told me the Noosa’s fire brigade was coordinated by Kawana regional office covering the Sunshine Coast right up to Hervey Bay. In case of an emergency they work in with Police. They referred me to Matt Wilson, Project Officer of Disaster Management at Noosa Council.
‘If a fire broke out in the Sunrise Beach bushland’ I asked ‘would there be an emergency evacuation plan and may I see it?’
Matt is a recently retired policeman and he was very compassionate toward me and my paranoia about a fire emergency. Matt said that there wasn’t a written plan as such but agreed to meet to talk me through what is in place.
Background: Growth without a local disaster management plan
The Sunrise Beach neighbourhood close to the planned Blue care development is home to
- Sunshine Beach High School
- Sunshine Beach State Primary School
- St Thomas More Primary School
- Flexible Learning Centre
- Bicentennial Hall (home to a busy gymnastics club and the Little Seed Theatre)
- Jelly Beans Child Care Centre
- The Noosa Aquatic Centre
- Sunrise shop employees and customers
- Uniting Church congregation and vicarage residents
- And of course Sunrise residents
- Short term accommodation guests and service personnel
The planned aged care development behind the shops will add an estimated 500 plus people to the neighbourhood.
Apart from some fire safety provisions which had to be changed for the development plan due to changes in regulations, the Aged Care development application was extended without major review in 2017 by the CEO/Council Staff.
Mayor Tony Wellington defended Council staff’s to extend the development application without review saying it didn’t seem necessary because no major development had occurred in Sunrise Beach since the development application was approved. We argue that apart from SBS High and the Noosa Gymnastic Club both expanding their built environment along with increasing student numbers the suburb has grown, changed and become more populated.
The meeting at Noosa Council
We met Matt at council last Friday and he did his best to show us around the software programs to deal with emergency situations, warning systems and roles of various sectors. However, there does not seem to be a coordinated evacuation plan.
Speaking with Matt we stated our concern that it was highly likely that Eenie Creek Rd could be closed due to smoke or fire hazard. We wanted to know what the evacuation plan was. We were again told that no document exists. We discussed the potential fire hazard of schoolies smoking in the adjacent bush. We asked for the council map of the area showing roads and fire breaks. Matt said he would do his best to send me a hard copy.
We believe that each school has good evacuation plans. However these schools are not represented on the Emergency & Evacuation planning committee chaired by the Mayor (unlike the Regional sister board.)
Community safety
We would expect an emergency evacuation plan to address issues like:
- Who coordinates school buses in and out of the area?
- Who directs distressed parents picking up children?
- Where will their child be? On the football field? In class?
- Once picked up. How will the parents behave in their cars?
- Who is managing traffic control?
- How can current dead end roads provide emergency openings for traffic – for example from David Low Way into Ben Lexcen Drive?
- Who turns the traffic lights to flashing?
- How will lollipop persons support the procedure?
Matt suggested we go to https://www.noosa.qld.gov.au/disasters-emergencies to gain an understanding of the local disaster management arrangements and evacuation planning to address our concerns with wildfires potentially affecting the Sunshine Beach area, particularly local schools.
Matt said the link would provide information on the Disaster Dashboard, Get Ready Queensland, interactive flood and wildfire mapping and the Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan and Sub-Plans.
However I can’t find information about our suburb or any actionable and coordinated local evacuation plan.
It looks like we have an organisational dilemma in terms of strategic planning within Noosa Council and no clear evacuation strategy.
If anybody can help let me know.
Yours, deeply concerned
J. Brodie-Wallace
