As Ballarat weather begins to heat up and on the back of the bushfire crisis in New South Wales and Queensland, the City of Ballarat has had its Municipal Emergency Management Plan approved after an audit.
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The plan, which covers all emergency events, is a fluid plan which develops continuously each year.
Speaking at the council building on Monday morning, deputy mayor Cr Belinda Coates spoke about the importance of developing an up-to-date plan to deal with the climate emergency facing Australia.
"The plan is all about how we think about emergency events before, during and after," she said.
"(City of Ballarat) have a really important role in all of those aspects... in bringing together different groups and bodies and making sure the information is up-to-date."
These sentiments were echoed by State Emergency Services operations officer Belinda Marchant, who said council having an updated plan is the best way to assist emergency service workers in the event of a community emergency.
"It's vitally important that the City of Ballarat have a plan in place," she said.
"It's about a collaboration between emergency services and the community to show that the council has a method in which they will help respond to and recover from emergencies within the community.
"This plan actually helps us to identify what responsibilities are for each of the agencies are including the council.
"The audit is done to make sure we have the most appropriate information and make sure that all of the agencies understand what the commitment is in order to support the community in a time of hazard."
Cr Coates added council used the Scotsburn bushfire, which burnt through 4460 hectares of land and affected 88 properties, to help further develop its updated plan.
"I think we learnt a lot after (Scotsburn) but there's always more to be learnt about how to get the information out quickly and how to make sure everyone is on the same page.
"(Bushfires) are really front of mind... even though we're one of the southern states and a little bit cooler, we've had a fairly average winter and spring with rain, we can't be complacent at all because we know that extreme weather is coming."
When looking at how people can best prepare themselves for the warmer months, City of Ballarat municipal emergency manager Bill Cook called for land owners to be vigilant and take care of their properties.
"We would just ask people to be vigilant over the fire season," he said.
"People need to prepare their own plan and make themselves aware of both the CFA and SES for both fires and floods. People just need to be prepared and plan for their own safety."
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