REPORT ON THE HILLS SHIRE
LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
ACTIVITIES FOR 2012
INTRODUCTION
This report has been prepared to highlight issues and activities relating to The Hills Shire Local Emergency Management Committee over the period of 1st January 2012 – 31st December 2012.
MEETINGS
The Local Emergency Management Committee met on the following dates during the year:
2nd July 2012
5th November 2012
The first meeting for the year that was scheduled for 5th March 2012 was cancelled due to the Hawkesbury Nepean flood emergency.
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
At the close of the year, the Local Emergency Management Committee comprised of eight members, representing the following emergency response organisations:-
The Hills Shire Council (Chair & LEMO)
Local Emergency Operations Controller (LEOCON)
NSW Police Force (The Hills & Hawkesbury Local Area Commands (LACs))
Fire and Rescue NSW
NSW Rural Fire Service
NSW State Emergency Service
Ambulance Service of NSW
Each member of the Committee is entitled to appoint a Deputy to act in the place of the member.
In addition, a number of regular observers are also invited to attend meetings of the Committee.
Regional Emergency Management Officer (REMO)
Deputies of Members Welfare Services
Agriculture and Animal Services Health Services
Endeavour Energy Red Cross
Westmead Hospital
Healthscope Norwest Private Hospital Transroute Australia Pty Ltd
St John Ambulance
2012 CHANGE TO MEMBERSHIP
During the year Tom Durick from the Department of Primary Industries was redeployed to another role within the Department. A replacement for Tom is yet to be appointed.
LEMO LEAVE
During the year, the Local Emergency Management Officer (LEMO) was absent on leave for the period 9th February until 24th February inclusive. The Alternate LEMO acted as
LEMO during this period.
MEETING ATTENDANCE
During 2010 the following members and observers attended the Local Emergency Management Committee meetings:
Members 2nd July 2012 5th Nov. 2012
Michael Lathlean (Chair & LEMO)
Helen Dean (Acting LEOCON)
Andrew Ryabovitch (Acting LEOCON)
Evelyn Lester (SES)
Phil Bow (RFS)
Alex Scott (F & R NSW)
Phil Baton (Hawkesbury LAC)
Bryson Anderson (Hawkesbury LAC)
Glenwyne Baker (Hills LAC)
Stephanie Radnidge (Ambulance Service)
Observers
Steve Coleman (Alt. LEMO)
Daniel Kenner (REMO)
Elaine Davey (Health Services)
Tom Durick (Agriculture & Animal Services)
Daren McMurray (Endeavour Energy)
Pat Hobday (Transroute Australia Pty Ltd)
Phil Deale (Westmead Hospital)
Hank Geerdick (Healthscope Norwest Private Hospital)
Ian Beasley (St John Ambulance)
David Jones (Hawkesbury LAC)
VALE BRYSON ANDERSON
On behalf of all members and observers, the LEMC would like to express its heartfelt sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson from Hawkesbury LAC. Detective Inspector Anderson was well known to many members of the Committee, having served at both The Hills and Hawkesbury LACs. He had also been actively involved in a number of recent emergency incidents with members of the Committee and in fact, attended the last LEMC meeting of the year only a month before his tragic death.
DISTRICT MEETINGS
The North West Metropolitan Emergency Management Region Committee held meetings during 2010 on the following dates:
24th February 2012
22nd June 2012
29th October 2012 GUEST SPEAKERS
During 2012 the LEMC continued its program of inviting guest speakers to its meetings.
At the November meeting, Mr. Sean Bilton of the Domain Principal Group provided a presentation to the Committee on the lessons to be learnt from the tragic fire at the company’s Quakers Hill nursing home in late 2011.
Members of the Committee were deeply impressed by the level of compassion showed by the company to the residents of the facility, their families and the staff in dealing with such a tragic event on not just the day of the fire, but the days and weeks following.
The presentation highlighted the vulnerability of residents living in aged care facilities to such an emergency. However the Domain Principal Group is to be congratulated for the way in which it dealt with such a tragedy and the position it took to proactively install sprinkler systems in all of its facilities, regardless of its legislative obligations at the time.
The Hills Shire does have a number of aged and special needs care facilities, many of which are located in bushfire prone areas. Although the members of the Committee would hope that they never have to deal with a fire in such a facility or even an
evacuation of residents, the presentation highlighted the challenges that could be faced in such situations.
2012 AUSTRALIA DAY EXPO
The 2012 Australia Day Emergency Expo was to be the 21st consecutive Expo to be conducted by the Local Emergency Management Committee. Unlike previous years, the Expo was to be held in conjunction with Council's Australia Day celebrations in the new Castle Hill Main Street precinct.
Unfortunately heavy rain leading up to Australia Day, and on the day itself, resulted in all celebrations being cancelled. It is hoped that Australia Day 2013 will be able to proceed without the same weather problems.
2012 CRESTWOOD FAIR
On Sunday 16th September members of the Committee and their respective organisations participated in the annual Crestwood Fair at Crestwood Reserve, Baulkham Hills.
The Police, SES and RFS had information displays and activities for the public to view and participate in, as well as a number of vehicles and items of equipment to inspect.
F & R NSW also had an appliance and crew on-site who, along with the other organisations, participated in a mock car crash rescue.
First aid officers from St John Ambulance were also in attendance at the Fair and participated in the mock rescue.
HAWKESBURY NEPEAN FLOOD EVENT
Following heavy rain in February and March 2012, flooding of the Hawkesbury Nepean river system and wider catchment was experienced. The District Emergency Operations Centre was established at the SES’s Sydney Western Division headquarters in Seven Hills. Fortunately for The Hills Shire, the flooding mainly resulted in the closure of several rural roads with minimal impact on low lying properties.
During the flooding an evacuation centre was established at Glenorie RSL for residents living on the river from Sackville to Wisemans Ferry. The centre was run by officers from the Department of Community services with assistance from several charities and club staff. Fortunately only a few residents and visitors found it necessary to attend the centre and it was able to close down fairly quickly once it was clear that the magnitude of the flood would not reach the predicted level.
CASTLE HILL UNIT FIRE
In the early hours of Thursday 5th July, a fire in the underground carpark of a home unit block in Old Northern Rd, Castle Hill necessitated the evacuation of more than 20 residents. Some of the residents were quite elderly and from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Fortunately, the Pastor of St Columbia’s Presbyterian Church opposite the home unit block, offered accommodation in the Church hall for evacuees until alternate accommodation arrangements could be made by the Strata Manager. The LEMO and Council staff assisted with the distribution of hot beverages and food donated by McDonalds at Castle Hill, to the evacuees.
A letter was sent on behalf of the Committee to both the Church and McDonalds thanking them for their assistance in supporting the evacuees.
NORTH WEST RAIL LINK
On 28th May a presentation on the North West Rail Link project was made to representatives of the North West Metropolitan Region Emergency Management Committee, The Hills Shire and Hornsby/Kuringai Local Emergency Management Committees.
The presentation included a general overview of the project and the design considerations for fire fighting and passenger evacuation.
On 18th December a meeting was held between emergency service representatives from the North West Metropolitan Region Emergency Management Committee, The Hills Shire Local Emergency Management Committee and the Thiess John Holland Dragados joint venture, one of the three consortia tendering for the project’s major civil construction works. The purpose of the meeting was for the consortia to brief the emergency services on emergency related elements of their proposed construction methodology should they be successful in their tender bid.
TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Committee continued to encourage members to undertake emergency management training. The distribution of training information was greatly enhanced during the year by regular information forwarded from Emergency Management NSW as well as the information listed on their website.
During the year the Committee’s Chairman attended the following professional development activities:
Local Government in Emergency Management Conference – 7th June
Introduction to Recovery Management course - 18th July
Disaster Response, Emergency Management and Public Safety Conference – 22nd to 25th October
OTHER ISSUES CONSIDERED IN 2012
In addition to the issues included in this report, the following issues were also considered by the Local Emergency Management Committee during 2012:
Relocation of Council’s Administration Centre to new premises in the Norwest Business Park. This will necessitate the establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre within the new building.
Recent Changes to the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act
Reports from Member Organisations
CONCLUSION
There were no incidents throughout the year that required the activation of the Local Emergency Management Committee. However representatives of member organisations actively participated in the Hawkesbury Nepean flood emergency and once again provided assistance to other emergencies both within NSW and interstate.
I would like to thank all Committee Members and their organisations for their ongoing support and participation in the Committee’s activities throughout 2012.
I would also like to publicly thank Kelly Isbister, Lorrae Phillip, Alyce Hansen and Kerry Whitehead of Council for all the work they have done throughout the year to assist with the operation of the Committee.
Michael Lathlean Chair
THE HILLS SHIRE LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
