MINUTES
THE HILLS SHIRE
LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
MONDAY 2
ndJULY 2018 COMMENCING AT 1.00PM
THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL
3 COLUMBIA COURT, BAULKHAM HILLS (NEXT TO NOVOTEL HOTEL)
COMMUNITY MEETING ROOM 6
PARK IN LEVEL B2 UNDERGROUND CARPARK AND THEN PROCEED VIA THE MAIN LIFTS (CLOSEST TO CARPARK ENTRANCE) TO THE GROUND FLOOR
WHERE THE COMMUNITY MEETING ROOMS ARE LOCATED
FOR 4WD EMERGENCY SERVICE VEHICLES, PLEASE BE AWARE OF CARPARK CEILING CLEARANCE HEIGHT. FOLLOWING RECENT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CHANGES ON SITE, SURFACE PARKING IS NOW AVAILABLE ON NORTHERN SIDE
OF BUILDING. PLEASE FOLLOW MAIN ACCESS ROAD AROUND BUILDING IN AN ANTI-CLOCKWISE DIRECTION.
All correspondence to be addressed to the:
Local Emergency Management Officer
The Hills Shire Council, PO Box 7046, Baulkham Hills BC 2153 Telephone: (02) 9843 0205 Fax: (02) 9843 0409
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS/OBSERVERS Michael Lathlean (The Hills Shire Council – Chair, LEMO)
Toby Austin (NSW Police Force – Alt. LEOCON) Jamie Caldwell (REMO)
Jamie Horsfield (REMO) Phil Bow (Rural Fire Service) Brendan Doyle (Rural Fire Service) Alex Scott (Fire & Rescue NSW) Evelyn Lester (SES)
Paul Turner (NSW Ambulance)
Caren Friend (Western Sydney Local Health District Counter Disaster Unit) Martin Horwood (Greater Sydney Local Land Services)
Diane Anderson (St John Ambulance) Dave Wood (Castle Hill RSL Club Ltd) Craig Samuel (Transurban)
Glen Streat (Australian Red Cross) Heather Gwilliam (Anglicare) John Le (Endeavour Energy)
Henk Geerdink (Norwest Private Hospital)
2. APOLOGIES
Rob Critchlow (NSW Police Force – LEOCON) Pat Hobday (Transurban)
Steve Coleman (The Hills Shire Council – Alt. LEMO) David screen (Metro Trains Sydney)
3. LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP LIST
The list of the Committee’s current Members and Observers was circulated at the meeting for updating.
4. ADOPTION OF MINUTES OF LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2018
A copy of the minutes is attached.
Resolved: The Committee adopt the Minutes of the LEMC Meeting of 26th February 2018.
Moved by Alex Scott and seconded by Michael Lathlean 5. OUTSTANDING MATTERS FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
Action: List of outstanding aged care facilities requiring follow up with information on resident numbers, etc provided to Police. Information on all facilities now received from Police and incorporated into ‘Vulnerable Facilities’
database.
Status: Completed
6. INTRODUCTION OF NEW REMO JAMIE CALDWELL
Following on from Kevin Blackwell’s retirement, Jamie Caldwell has been appointed as the second Regional Emergency Management Officer for the North West Metropolitan Regional Emergency Management Committee.
To improve operational and administrative coverage the region has been divided into an eastern and western ‘zone’ for want of a better term with The Hills being included in the eastern ‘zone’ with Jamie Caldwell being our assigned REMO.
This ‘eastern zone’ includes Hornsby, Ryde/Hunters Hill, Willoughby, Lane Cove, Kuringai and Northern Beaches Councils
Resolved: The Committee congratulate Jamie Caldwell on his appointment as REMO and welcome him to his first meeting of The Hills LEMC.
Moved by Evelyn Lester and Seconded by Phil Bow
7. REGIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Meetings of the Regional Emergency Management Committee (REMC) were held at the RFS Cumberland Zone Training Facility in Regentville on 9th March 2018 and at the Metro Trains Rapid Transit Rail Facility at Rouse Hill on 29th June 2018.
The REMOs provided a verbal report on the main issues discussed at each meeting including:
• Significant incursion of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in western Sydney and Yellow Crazy Ants in northern NSW (both exotic pests);
• Need for notification of significant events to relevant Local Health District;
• training now coordinated by and booked through the Office of Emergency Management;
• the State Heatwave sub-plan will now be activated on an area rather than State-wide basis – LEMCs may wish to consider developing their own Consequence Management Guide (CMG) for such an event;
• agreed to grant Metro Trains Sydney observer status on REMC – also suggested that they be granted similar status on LEMCs covering the Metro corridor
Resolved: The verbal report from the REMOs be received.
Moved by Michael Lathlean and seconded by Alex Scott
8. ORANGE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL 2018
Council’s annual Orange Blossom Festival is to be held at Bella Vista Farm Park on Sunday 16th September 2018 from 12 noon to 7pm with set-up to be completed by 11.45am.
Subject to interest from the Committee Members and Observers and their respective emergency service and support agencies, it is proposed to again participate in the Orange Blossom Festival activities.
Council’s Events Team has requested that consideration also be given to a rescue scenario similar to those at previous Crestwood fairs.
Recommendation: The Committee’s Member and Observer agencies agree to participate in the 2017 Orange Blossom Festival at Bella Vista Farm Park on Sunday 16 September 2018.
Moved by Phil Bow and seconded by Toby Austin
9. WOODBURY SCHOOL
As Members may be aware, the Woodbury School for children within the Autism spectrum is located in the Balcombe Heights Estate near the SES Headquarters. It is listed as a ‘Vulnerable Facility’ in our EMPLAN.
The new Clinical Director of Woodbury has advised that she is looking at running a one day training session for emergency service providers to give information on how best to support individuals with Autism during an emergency or crisis. The aim of the training is to demonstrate how Autism specifically affects individuals and their behaviour. It would also provide some helpful, hands on tips for how best to communicate, interact and keep these individuals safe and calm.
A commitment to participate in the training would be significant and may be difficult to manage given the number and variety of emergency service personnel that could attend to an emergency event at the Woodbury School.
Recommendation: The LEMO contact the new Clinical Director at Woodbury to seek further information on her objective of such a training course would involve and what she would hope the emergency services would get out of it.
Moved by Michael Lathlean and seconded by Evelyn Lester
10. NSW HEALTH DEPARTMENT – EVENT NOTIFICATIONS
As previously indicated, at the March Regional Emergency Management Committee meeting, concerns were raised by the NSW Department of Health (as opposed to the NSW Ambulance Service) about not being advised of major events being conducted in the region.
The concern is that there have been several major events held recently (not in The Hills Shire) where the Department has not been advised or consulted. The issue for them is that if something goes wrong at these events, it could result in a significant number of presentations at a local hospital emergency ward that they were not prepared for the possibility of.
Such presentations could be the result of anything such as food poisoning, drug or alcohol incidents or a major accident related to the event (e.g. a firework incident).
Council’s events team has been advised of this concern and have confirmed that they will advise NSW Health as part of their major event planning.
Resolution: The information be noted.
Moved by Phil Bow and seconded by Toby Austin
11.TRAINING
As Members and Observers are reminded at all LEMC meetings, details on all emergency management training courses can be found on the Office of Emergency Management’s website www.emergency.nsw.gov.au. Nominations for attendance at any of the courses can also be made through the website.
Members and observers should note however that the number of courses being conducted has been reduced and therefore it may be more difficult to obtain a place in a course. However agencies are able to arrange through the Office for an agency based course at the agencies cost. Opportunities may arise for third parties to attend one of these courses.
Resolution: The information on training be received.
Moved by Michael Lathlean and seconded by Alex Scott
12. REPORTS FROM MEMBER AND OBSERVOR ORGANISATIONS REMO
• no emergencies over past three months
• participated in exercises at Sydney Police Centre and airport
• some changes to LEOCNs across region
• reviewed Sydney Evacuation Plan and SES Storm Plan NSW Police Force
• nothing to report
Fire and Rescue NSW
• significant resources allocated to ship fire at Port Kembla harbour NSW Ambulance Service
• new paramedic response point about to be opened in Quakers Road, Quakers Hill
Rural Fire Service
• despite there being not a lot of rainfall over winter, there are unlikely to be any further hazard reduction burns until August
State Emergency Service
• significant organisation structural changes underway involving a merging of regions within the Sydney Metro area with new Regional office moving to the new RFS Head Office at Sydney Olympic Park
• membership has now reached 200 with 140 active
• assisted in several searches and involved in a number of exercises Red Cross
• participated in evacuation training Anglicare
• also participated in evacuation training
• attended National Volunteer Conference with stream on emergency management
Endeavour Energy
• no storm activity
Greater Sydney Local Land Services
• issues with Brown Marmorated Stink Bug and Yellow Crazy Ants as discussed previously
Hills Private Hospital
• following recent building works now have 15 operating theatres
• planning for future expansion onto adjoining site Western Sydney Local Health District
• various hospital upgrades underway
• completed Pandemic Plan for district
• recent substation incident at Blacktown resulted in lost power for 12 hours created lots of challenges for hospital operational activities
Tollaust Pty Limited
• widened M2 now fully operational with 100 kph speed limit except near Pennant Hills Road
St John Ambulance
• nothing to report Castle Hill RSL
• nothing to report
13. GENERAL BUSINESS
No general business discussed
14. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Local Emergency Management Committee will be held on Monday 5th November 2018. Further details on a venue will be advised prior to the meeting.
