General News
26 October, 2025
Planning for emergency situations
RESIDENTS from Great Western and surrounding areas are encouraged to attend an emergency planning event to help the community respond to disasters and emergency situations. The Great Western Future Committee, with support from Northern Grampians Shire Council, will host the event on Monday, October 27 at Thomson Community Centre in Brunel Street, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Great Western Future Committee chairman Brian Cairns wants to see a large turnout for what he regards as an important opportunity for the community to plan for the unexpected.
“Obviously in recent years we’ve had a terrible spate of bushfires, which everyone knows about, on both sides, in the east towards Mount Cole, and ultimately in the Grampians and poor old Pomonal,” said Mr Cairns.
“So, I think the timing is right, Council made these sessions available, and the Future Committee was more than happy to be the conduit, to be the organisation to host it.”
Facilitating the event is community disaster planning consultancy business ResilientCo, whose website describes itself as “resilience-building, risk management specialists with deep expertise gained from real experiences in emergencies, community building and sustainability.”
Mr Cairns said that Great Western has more natural disasters to plan for than just bushfire, with much of the community also living in flood-prone areas, so gaining insights from disaster management experts will be valuable to residents.
“From the point-of-view of the Future Committee, it’s a good time to talk to the community about those things and having an external facilitator who is an expert in the field, is a great opportunity to bring people together,” Mr Cairns said.
Monday’s workshop is an example of the Future Committee’s mission is to put its best foot forward for the people of Great Western, and Mr Cairns hopes everyone in the community will be part of the conversations that shape how the town prepares for and responds to emergencies.
“The Future Committee is trying hard to continually engage,” he said.
“I know that people can get a little bit of consultation fatigue but if you don’t do it, people then say ‘well what’s going on? I didn’t know this was happening’ and this is important, ultimately this is something that would affect everyone in the region.”
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