Summer Readiness and Emergency Management Plan 2026 to 2027

Purpose. Sets out how Guardian prepares its people, equipment, communications, community and partner arrangements for the fire and storm season from October 2026 to March 2027.

1.Outlook and risk

The seasonal outlook indicates above normal fire potential on the western plains and normal potential on the coast, with a continuing risk of severe storms and flash flooding in the Barwon catchment. The regional emergency risk assessment ranks grassfire on the plains, structure fire in accommodation buildings and severe storm as the priority risks for this season.

2.People

Every operational member must have current competencies for their role in the training matrix by 31 October 2026. Recruit courses for career firefighters and volunteer basic firefighting will complete by 16 October. Incident management team members will complete the pre-season exercise on 5 November. Peer support and fatigue arrangements for campaign incidents will be confirmed by 30 October.

3.Equipment

All appliances will have completed pre-season servicing and pump testing by 23 October 2026, breathing apparatus annual services by 30 October, and rope rescue and chainsaw inspections by 31 October. The workshops will report readiness weekly and any appliance not ready by the deadline will be escalated to the Chief Officer.

4.Communications

The communications centre will move to summer staffing from 1 November with surge call takers rostered on days of elevated fire danger. Radio network and paging tests will be completed by 16 October and the backup communications centre exercised on 22 October.

5.Community

The fire danger period is expected to be declared for the western plains in mid November. Community meetings in the twelve highest risk localities will run between 6 October and 13 November using the Community Awareness Program Plan Template, and home fire safety visits will target accommodation buildings and older residents. Storm preparedness messaging will run with councils in October.

6.Partners and plans

The regional emergency management plan and each municipal plan will be confirmed as current by 31 October. Evacuation and relief centre arrangements will be tested in the regional exercise on 19 November with councils, police and health services. Agreements with land managers for prescribed burning and shared aircraft will be confirmed by 30 September.

7.Review

Readiness will be reported to the board on 27 October 2026 and reviewed after the season in April 2027 using incident, injury, equipment and community program data from the systems.