Building Bushfire Adapted Communities
An online series to inform and empower bushfire-prone communities to live safely with fire
Episode 1
Climate Change & Bushfire
What does the future hold for bushfire prone communities?
How do communities become bushfire-adapted to live safely in their environment?
Robert Glasser and Justin Leonard kick-off the conversation series.
Episode 2
Weeyn Yakeen - Fire Dreaming
Australia's people and landscape have lived and thrived with fire for thousands of years. How?
We catch up with John Clarke and Jack Pascoe to learn and appreciate the landscape through their eyes.
Episode 3
Living Through a Bushfire Event
The 2019/20 summer of bushfires in Australia was devastating. What happened? And, what does it mean for bushfire-prone communities?
Three brave guests share their experiences of a bushfire event.
Episode 4
Mental Health & Bushfires
We're all so different! What personality traits and skills might best enable us to cope with a bushfire, or any emergency? In this episode, we hear the latest research and get expert advice from experienced practitioners.
Episode 5
Economic Impacts of Bushfires
As small business owners, what do you need to know and do differently to prepare for a bushfire, or any emergency! Renae Hanvin, Founder of corporate2community and Sharon Bradshaw, Co-Owner of the Forrest Brewery share their top tips.
Episode 6
Sharing the Risk and Responsibility
If we considered fire in the landscape much like we consider rain or wind, how would that change our thinking? Dr Kevin Tolhurst and Tim Gazzard share their thoughts on the role of fire, and how we as community members need to play our part.
Episode 7
Art & Emergencies
Bushfire and emergencies are chaotic! Sarah Rowbottam of the Arts House/Refuge Project and Gillian Brew of Studio Forrest explain why art and artists are an important component of all facets of emergency management (planning, living through an event and recovery).
Episode 8
Bushfire learning from the ground-up
Learning about bushfire from an early age is so important in Australia. Imagine if every bushfire-prone primary school included it as part of the curriculum how much more resilient our communities would be. Dr Briony Towers of RMIT, and Kaz Standish at Forrest Primary School share their examples.
Episode 9
Preparing for Summer
Community education was a key recommendation in this year's Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements. In this episode, Jamie McKenzie and Lyn Harwood, leaders in community preparedness, talk through their experiences of bushfire events and provide helpful advice on how to best prepare your community.
Why a conversation series?
The Fire and Rain Conversation series draws on the speakers, topics and stories lined up for the April 2020 Otways Fire and Rain Summit - postponed due to the coronavirus.
​
The series aims to answer the questions... What does it take to build a bushfire-adapted community? What do you focus on? What do you need to know and do to be prepared and make good decisions as a household and as a community?
We talk to those paving the way - the leaders in thinking and doing - sharing the latest science, ancient traditional knowledge and on-ground expertise, to help transform personal and community thinking about how we live and thrive amongst fire.
​
For bushfire-prone communities, agency executives, directors, community leaders, inspired individuals and change makers.
Who we meet in our conversations
About our Conversation hosts
Emma Ashton & Rachel Lopes
Emma and Rachel are part of the Otways community of Forrest, Victoria.
​
Following the 2019/20 summer of devastating bushfires impacting over 18 million hectares of the Australian East Coast, they decided to roll up their sleeves and find out what they needed to know to help their community, and any high risk bushfire community, live safely with fire.
The Organisers
The Fire & Rain Conversation Series is an initiative of the Forrest Gateway to the Otways project, run by the Forrest & District Community Group.
​
The Gateway Project is seeking funds to build a community centre for year-round use, that can also function as a Bushfire Place of Last Resort to support community resilience.
The Forrest Gateway to the Otways project is funded by the
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) through the
Virtual Centre for Climate Change Innovation.
Forrest VIC 3236, Australia
Our Supporters
Working Together
Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience
The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) develops, maintains and shares knowledge and learning to support a disaster resilient Australia.
Colac Otway Shire
Located in Victoria’s south-west, the Colac Otway Shire is diverse and beautiful, with hinterland forests of the Otway Ranges running through the centre; and the Great Ocean Road coastline in the south. The region is widely regarded as one of the most picturesque municipalities in Victoria.
Forest Fire Management Vic - Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Focused on creating a liveable, inclusive and sustainable Victoria with thriving natural environments - where the community is at the centre of everything we do.
Geoff Brown
Geoff is a Conversation Architect, specialising in the art of process design. He believes that meaningful dialogue and collaboration are at the core of transformational change. Geoff is our mentor on this project.
Rusty Berther
Rusty is a fabulous, all round entertainer and musician. He plays a variety of instruments including guitar, ukulele, banjo, harmonica and double bass. He is a skilled vocalist, comedy writer, musical arranger and bandleader. Rusty performs our intro, takes care of sound and is our trusty editor.
​