Home›Questions on Notice›QoN 3133

❓ Question regarding inconsistent naming conventions during the Parkerville Stoneville Mt Helena bushfire, leading to confusion. The answer outlines a new Task Force naming convention to address the issue.

AnsweredQoN 3133Legislative Assembly

Asked

22 October 2014

Member

Ms M.M. Quirk

Portfolio

Emergency Services

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the Parkerville Stoneville Mt Helena Bushfire Review which found inconsistent naming conventions added to misunderstandings and the chaos. Naming conventions require greater attention during the pre-planning phase of the event and that task force that was formed at and deployed from the Kiara fire station was referred to by six different names in the first two hours of its deployment and during this time there was also a reference to Kiara pump and light tanker being a task force which increased confusion, and I ask, how is this fundamental problem being addressed to ensure that similar problems do not arise in future incidents?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered

25 November 2014

Responded by

Minister for Emergency Services

Response time

34 days

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) advises:
A Task Force naming convention that will not include station, brigade or suburb names is currently being finalised. The Task Force names will simply be, for example, "Metro Task Force 1", "Metro Task Force 2", "Lower South West Task Force 1" etc.

View on Parliament of WA