Aerial bundled cable

A type of conductor comprising three single phase cables, each surrounded by insulation. The cables are twisted together around a bare support cable to form a bundle. All electrical connections between an ABC and devices such as switches or transformers are via underground cable joints.

Aerial line scan

See line scan.

Air attack supervisor

The person responsible for the safe and efficient tactical coordination and direction of aircraft operating at a fire.

Appliance

A generic term used to describe any firefighting vehicle or specialist vehicle used by fire services during fires or other emergencies.

Arcing

When high voltage objects come sufficiently close without contact, electrical energy will make a connection between the objects through the air, forming an arc. The arc will continue until the objects move far enough apart to break the connection. The magnitude of the arc depends on current flow.

Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council

A body representing urban and rural fire services and land management agencies in Australia and New Zealand with responsibility for the protection of life and property from fire and other emergencies.

Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System (AIIMS)

An incident control system that centres on the management functions associated with dealing with a fire or other incident. The principles of AIIMS are as follows:

•       management of incidents by objective—a process whereby the Incident Controller, in consultation with the incident management team, determines the desired outcomes of the incident

•       one controller of the incident

•       delegation of functions according to the complexity of the incident

•       span of control—generally one person is directly responsible for no more than five reporting points at any time

•       development of a plan outlining the strategies and tactics to deal with the incident.

Automatic circuit recloser

A type of circuit breaker installed on power lines to minimise the risk of injury and damage from an electrical fault and the interruption of supply. When a fault occurs the ACR opens to break the circuit, then automatically recloses the circuit after a specified period, re-energising the line.

Automatic weather station

A station, often situated in an isolated location, at which meteorological measurements are made by automatic methods that do not require local human supervision and control.

Back-burn

A fire started intentionally from a prepared line or other barrier to burn an area of flammable material in the path of an advancing fire in order to control that fire.

Blacking out

The process of ensuring that all stumps, branches and burning items are extinguished.

Bunker

Purpose-built structure for private use that is intended to provide temporary shelter for people from a bushfire during the passage of a firefront.

Burning out

See back-burn.

Burnover

A section of fire that overruns personnel and/or equipment.

Bushfire mitigation plan

The Electricity Safety Act 1998 requires electrical distribution businesses to submit bushfire mitigation plans to Energy Safe Victoria annually for approval. The plans outline the steps that the businesses will take to mitigate bushfire risk for the following year.

Bushfire shelter

See neighbourhood safer places.

Cable stay

The cable stay or stay wire is a cable used to support the weight of a pole (which is under tension from the weight of the conductor).

Campaign fire

A fire of a size and/or complexity that requires substantial firefighting resources, generally requiring several days, or possibly weeks, to suppress. 

Chief Officer

The Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board each have a Chief Fire Officer as their senior operational head. The Country Fire Authority’s senior operational head is a Chief Officer. During a fire these officers are responsible for the command of all their firefighting resources, permanent career staff and volunteers.

Circuit breaker

A protection device that opens when a fault is detected, breaking the electrical circuit and stopping power flowing into the fault.

Circuit length kilometre

As opposed to a route length kilometre, a circuit length kilometre is the length travelled by electricity along its circuit. With the exception of single wire earth return lines (which have only one overhead conductor and return through the earth) this will be longer than the route length kilometres of a network, because of the circuit’s return path.

Clashing

Clashing occurs when high voltage objects (such as two high voltage conductors) come into contact, causing them to emit molten metal particles (sparks).

Clevis

See helical assembly.

Coarse fuel

Dead woody material, greater than 25 millimetres in diameter, in contact with the soil surface (fallen trees and branches).

Community fireguard

A CFA community development program that assists residents to develop local bushfire survival strategies that correlate with their lifestyle, values and the local environment. See also phone tree.

Community refuge

A place that provides people with short-term shelter during the passage of a fire, which is identified, constructed or refurbished by the State and maintained by municipal councils.

Conductor

A metal line that electrical current flows along in an electrical distribution network. Conductors are made up of several strands of wire wound around each other and have a very low electrical resistance. Conductor sizes and types vary according to voltage and mechanical requirements.

Contained

A fire is contained when its spread has been halted, but it may still be burning freely within the perimeter or fire control lines.

Control agency

The agency designated to control the response activities to a specified type of emergency.

Control line

A natural or constructed barrier, or treated fire edge, used in fire suppression and prescribed burning to limit the spread of fire.

Controlled

The time at which the complete perimeter of a fire is secured and no breakaway is expected.

Controlled burning

See prescribed burning.

Convection column

The rising column of smoke, ash, burning embers and other particle matter generated by a fire.

Coordinator in Chief of Emergency

The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, whose role is to ensure that government agencies take adequate emergency management measures and coordinate the activities of government agencies carrying out their statutory functions, powers, duties and responsibilities in relation to emergency management.

Country Area of Victoria

Any area of Victoria that is outside the metropolitan fire district, excluding areas of forest, national park and protected public land.

Cross-arm

Cross-arms sit near the top of a power pole and are used to support the insulators that hold conductors. They can be made of wood or steel.

Crown fire

A fire burning in the higher branches and foliage of a tree.

Crown land

Land which is the property of the Commonwealth, a state or a territory.

Crowning

Occurs when the fire reaches the canopies of the trees; the fire may then jump, or run, from one crown to the next.

D24

The Victoria Police communications network.

Defence Assistance to the Civil Community

Assistance to the community provided by Department of Defence personnel in the event of natural disaster or civil emergency.

Direct attack

A method of fire attack where wet or dry firefighting techniques are used. It involves suppression action right on the fire edge which then becomes the fire line.

DISPLAN

See State Emergency Response Plan.

Distribution feeder

Conductors that carry small to medium amounts of power, for example, 22 kilovolts. Each feeder starts at a distribution zone substation and includes the three phase sections, the single phase sections and any single-wire earth return systems.

Division

A portion of the fire perimeter comprising two or more sectors. The number of sectors grouped in a division should be such as to ensure effective direction and control of operations.

Divisional emergency coordination centre

The location where emergency response coordinators and liaison officers of the relevant agencies coordinate the provision of resources; receive, collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence; and conduct operations ancillary to those of an emergency operations centre.

Divisional emergency response coordinator

A senior police officer responsible for the coordination of resources or services in a division and for providing situation reports to the state emergency response coordinator in the event of an emergency.

Drought factor

A broad measure of fuel availability as determined by the drought index and recent rainfall.

Drought index

A numerical value, such as the Byram-Keetch Drought Index, reflecting the dryness of soils, deep forest litter, logs and living vegetation.

Dry firefighting

The suppression of a fire without the use of water. This is normally achieved by removing fuel with the use of hand tools or machinery.

Ecological burning

A form of prescribed burning. The treatment of vegetation with fire in nominated areas to achieve specified ecological objectives.

Embers

Glowing particles cast from the fire.

Emergency Management Australia

An agency within the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department with the responsibility of reducing the impact of natural and man-made disasters on the Australian community. Also the lead federal agency responsible for disaster response.

Emergency Management Manual Victoria

A manual that guides implementation of aspects of the Emergency Management Act 1986. The manual integrates the main policy and planning documents for emergency management in Victoria. It provides information and guidance on Victorian emergency management arrangements, outlines the roles of various organisations, and details the planning and management arrangements that bring all the different elements together.

Emergency relief centre

A place established in a safe area, away from the emergency, to support people affected by, or involved in the management of, an emergency. Such centres can provide first aid, catering and counselling services, as well as information and temporary accommodation.

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority

The Victorian authority with the legislative responsibility for handling 000 calls and providing and managing operational communications for the Country Fire Authority and Victoria State Emergency Service statewide, and for Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board in the greater Melbourne and Geelong metropolitan area.

Evacuation

A planned strategy when the risk of impact from an emergency is highly likely, usually involving direct assistance from emergency agencies. See Chapter 1 of Volume II for definitions of ‘assisted evacuation’ and ‘emergency evacuation’.

Fault current

Occurs when one or more electrical conductors contact ground and/or each other, or something else provides a connection between them, creating a short circuit.

Fine fuel

Grass, leaves, twigs and other small pieces of vegetation under 6 millimetres in diameter.

Finger

Long narrow finger of rapidly advancing fire that extends beyond the head or flanks of a fire.

Fire agencies

Three agencies are responsible for preventing and suppressing fires in Victoria: the Country Fire Authority, the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board.

Fire behaviour

The manner in which a fire reacts to the variables of fuel, weather and topography. Common measures of fire behaviour are rate of spread, flame height, fire spotting distance and intensity.

Fire break

See fuel break.

Fire control line

See control line.

Fire danger index

A relative number denoting an evaluation of rate of spread, or suppression difficulty for specific combinations of fuel, fuel moisture and wind speed.

Fire danger rating

A relative phrase denoting an evaluation of rate of spread, or suppression difficulty for specific combinations of fuel, fuel moisture and wind speed.

Fire line

See control line.

Fire perimeter

The entire outer boundary of a fire area.

Fire tower

A lookout tower strategically located and staffed to detect and report the occurrence and location of fires.

Fire-bombing

The technique of dropping a suppressant or retardant from specialist aircraft to suppress a fire.

Firebrand

A piece of burning material, commonly bark from eucalypts.

Firefront

See head.

Fireground

The area declared by the senior member of the attending fire agency as the ‘fireground’. As a guide, it includes the area involved in the actual fire, the area where firefighters, appliances, hoses and hydrants are located, and can extend to adjoining properties threatened by the fire.

First attack

Initial activity undertaken to contain a bushfire swiftly and minimise the risk to life and property.

Flanks

Those parts of a fire perimeter that are roughly parallel to the main direction of the fire’s spread.

Forest Fire Danger Index

A relative number used by fire services to denote the difficulty of controlling or suppressing a bushfire. It is calculated by reference to temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and both long- and short-term drought effects in a forest.

Forest Industry Brigade

A brigade formed by a private forestry company under the Country Fire Authority Act 1958.

Forward looking infrared

A helicopter mounted infrared camera capable of detecting sources of heat or hot spots in fire areas so that ground crews can be more effective in their suppression and mop up activities.

Fuel break

Any piece of land where fuel has been physically removed to create a gap in an area of uninterrupted fuel.

Fuel load

The oven-dry weight of fuel per unit area. Commonly expressed as tonnes per hectare.

Fuel management

Modification of fuels by prescribed burning or other means.

Fuel reduction

The process of removing a fire hazard to reduce its chance of ignition, such as prescribed burning.

Fuel-reduction burning

See prescribed burning.

Fuse

A type of circuit breaker comprising a metal strip or wire that melts and interrupts the circuit when too much current flows.

Going

Any fire expanding in a certain direction or directions.

Grass Fire Danger Index

A relative number used by fire services to denote the difficulty of controlling or suppressing a bushfire. It is calculated by reference to curing or fuel moisture, temperature, relative humidity and wind speed.

Grassland curing

A proportion of dead material in grasslands—usually increasing over summer as tillers die off and dry out, increasing the risk of grassland fire.

Head

Also called the firefront; where the fire is making greatest progress (usually downwind), as measured by its forward rate of spread. Flames are tallest and the intensity of the fire is greatest at this point. The head of the fire is affected by wind direction, fuel and topography, and can change as these factors change.

Helical assembly

(also known as pre-form, make-off or wrap-on)

A helical assembly consists of wires pre-formed in a spiral helix. When installed they are wrapped around a conductor, creating a tension that tightly grips the end of the conductor. A thimble and clevis are used to attach the helical termination and the conductor to the insulator, which is in turn attached to the pole (see diagram below). The thimble is a horseshoe-shaped device that pivots around a pin, held in place by the clevis, a device with two arms in which the pin sits.

CLICK FOR IMAGE

Source: Drawn from Exhibit 524 – VFSD 2 x Simulation – S/C Hugyen (VPO.001.038.0218).

Hot spot

A particularly active part of a fire.

Incident

An event, accidentally or deliberately caused, which requires a response from one or more of the statutory emergency response agencies.

Incident action plan

A statement of objectives and strategies to control or suppress an incident, approved by the Incident Controller.

Incident control centre

The location where the Incident Controller and, where established, members of the incident management team direct response activities in an emergency situation.

Incident Controller

The senior member of an incident management team responsible for all action taken to control an incident and for managing relationships with organisations and personnel outside the AIIMS structure and with organisations, communities and individuals affected or likely to be affected by the incident.

Incident management team

A team comprising the Incident Controller and personnel responsible for functions, operations, planning and logistics during an incident.

Indirect attack

The use of back-burning as a method of suppression to confine the fire within a defined area bounded by existing or prepared control lines.

Initial attack

See first attack.

In-service failure

An asset failure reported through the network operator’s outage management system; usually leading to a power outage.

Insulator

A component that resists the flow of electricity. Insulators support or separate conductors and prevent electricity escaping the conductor.

integrated Emergency Coordination Centre

The centre from which bushfires are managed at the state level. Now known as the State Control Centre.

Integrated Fire Agency Coordination Centre

A centre where strategic preparedness, management of incident responses and the allocation of agency resources are resolved and agreed in accordance with the partnership arrangements between the CFA and DSE. The objective of the IFACC is to support integrated coordination and responses between the CFA and DSE. The location of such a centre is determined by the Chief Officers of the CFA and DSE on the basis of the requirements of the fire area in question.

Level 1 incident

A small fire in area, attended by one or two trucks, which is of short duration and is dealt with at the incident.

Level 2 incident

A developing fire incident or one that requires more than the initial responding resources.

Level 3 incident

A large complex fire, which may run for days.

Line Clearance Code

The Line Clearance Code sets out the distances around power lines that ‘responsible persons’ must keep free from vegetation under the Electricity Safety (Electric Line Clearance) Regulations.

Line scan

An infrared picture is taken from an aircraft of the fire, analysed for differences in the heat rising from the earth’s surface to determine the fire edge. The electronic image can then be transposed onto a map.

Logistics officer

An officer appointed by the Incident Controller and responsible for obtaining and maintaining resources, facilities, services and materials to support control of the incident.

Metropolitan Fire District

An area which includes all areas within 16.09 kilometres of the Melbourne GPO.

Mineral earth

A term used to describe the ideal condition of a constructed firebreak, being completely free of any vegetation or other combustible material.

Municipal emergency coordination centre

A facility that brings together key agencies to coordinate the provision of municipal council and community resources during an emergency for the response and recovery effort. It facilitates the activities of key personnel from local and state government agencies, emergency services and others, as required.

Municipal emergency management plans

Plans prepared and maintained by all municipal councils pursuant to the Emergency Management Act 1986. These plans must be prepared in accordance with guidelines published in the Emergency Management Manual Victoria and must identify the resources available in the municipality that can be used for emergency prevention, response and recovery, and specify how those resources are to be used.

Municipal emergency resource officer

Provides access to municipal resources and, with the municipal emergency response coordinator, advises the divisional emergency response coordinator on the potential outcome of the emergency.

Municipal emergency response coordinator

A local police officer who coordinates support resources by attending the municipal emergency coordination centre and ensures that the municipal emergency resource officer is in a position to provide access to municipal resources. Reports to the divisional emergency response coordinator.

Municipal recovery manager

A municipal appointee responsible to the council for ensuring the coordination of municipal resources to be used in recovery.

Neighbourhood safer places

A space which is a place of last resort for individuals to access and remain in during the passage of fire through their neighbourhood, without the need to take a high risk journey. They are intended to provide a place of relative safety.

Networked Emergency Organisation

An organisation that provides resources to help DSE in its fire prevention and suppression role. NEO consists of staff from agencies such as Parks Victoria, the Department of Primary Industries, VicForests, Melbourne Water and the Department of Planning and Community Development.

Neutral earth resistor

A NER’s principal function is to reduce the risk that high fault currents will damage equipment between the fault and the zone substation, by increasing the resistance in the fault circuit.

Operations officer

An officer appointed by the Incident Controller who is responsible for directing and supervising all work on the fireground under the direction of the Incident Controller.

Operations point

A location from which the overall field operations are commanded by the operations officer.

Permanent fault

A fault that remains after attempts to re-energise the line, for example, a tree resting against a conductor.

Phone tree

A community information system where one caller rings several others, who, in turn, ring several more according to an agreed list. Commonly used within CFA community fireguard groups.

Planning officer

An officer appointed by the Incident Controller who is responsible for information management and planning at an incident.

Prescribed burning

The controlled application of fire under specified environmental conditions to a predetermined area at the time, intensity and rate of spread required to attain planned resource management objectives.

Private bushfire shelters

See bunker.

Private units

Units that are generally operated by farmers or landowners and usually consist of a multi-purpose small farm utility that has a portable tank and pump mounted on the rear. Operators may be members of the CFA but often this is not the case.

Protection devices

Protection devices operate to stop excessive electrical current flowing down the line to the point of a fault and permit normal current to flow up to the point of the protection device. The simplest protection device is a fuse.

Pumper

A firefighting vehicle equipped with a large capacity pump, water tank and hose. Generally intended to be operated when stationary from reticulated or static water supplies.

Rate of spread

The forward progress per unit time of the head fire or another specified part of the fire perimeter.

Recovery centre

A building in which a coordinated process of support is provided to affected communities to restore their emotional, social, economic and physical wellbeing.

Red flag warning

A warning issued to firefighters when there is a major change to critical information that might affect the safety of personnel.

Refuge

See community refuge.

Regeneration burning

The controlled burning of bushland to encourage new growth.

Regional emergency coordination centres

Centres that monitor and support incident management teams and incident control centres in their management of incidents, obtain and coordinate resources for incidents in the region and support others in the state, liaise with other agencies as necessary, and provide information and updates to the integrated Emergency Coordination Centre.

Regulated or regulatory life

Refers to the age set by a network operator when it will replace a network component regardless of whether that component has failed. The regulated life of a component should be based on data recording the age at which that component’s failure rate begins to increase. Ideally the network operator will set the regulated life of a component at an age that is just before the statistical failure rate increases. 

Relative humidity

The amount of water vapour in a given volume of air, expressed as a percentage of the maximum amount of water vapour the air can hold at that temperature.

Reliability-centred maintenance

RCM is a systematic approach to managing the maintenance of engineering assets to achieve desired asset service and safety levels. RCM was developed in the aircraft industry in the 1960s. Many industries have since adopted the principles of RCM, including the electricity distribution industry. RCM identifies the system functions and actual potential failure modes before considering the effects of failures and specifying suitable inspection, maintenance or replacement tasks, or design changes.

Relocation

Action undertaken by individuals and households who independently decide to leave a threatened or potentially threatened area.

Retardant

A substance or treatment which, under specified conditions, suppresses or delays the combustion of a material.

Roadblock

Established to regulate the flow of road traffic into an area where fire has occurred, is presently occurring, or has the potential to occur. Such regulation is done by Victoria Police in consideration of the needs of people to access an area and also the relative safety of doing so.

Route-length-kilometre

The distance covered by the route along which a conductor delivers electricity, for example, if poles are 1 kilometre apart, the line between poles covers 1 route-length-kilometre, regardless of the distribution infrastructure used.

Safety adviser

An adviser to the Incident Controller on all aspects of potential and current safety and risk management issues present at the incident.

Safety officer

See safety adviser.

Sectionalisers

A protection device that operates to cut power to the network only in the area near the fault.

Sector

A specific area of a fire which is under the control of a sector commander who is supervising a number of crews.

Sensitive earth fault protection

For sensitive earth fault protection, a protection device will open and break the circuit if it calculates current greater than the minimum operating current (which is very low, usually between 5 and 10 amperes) flowing to ground for an extended period of time (usually one to two seconds). Sensitive earth fault protection operates with the same speed regardless of the amount of the fault current.

Single-wire earth return line

A high voltage distribution system run at a nominal voltage of 12.7 kilovolts that carries small amounts of power over long distances to sparsely populated areas. SWER systems are characterised by a single overhead wire, with the return electrical current flowing back to the isolation transformer via the earth (ground). SWER systems transport very low electrical currents up to a typical maximum of 8 amperes, whereas a three phase network may carry up to 400 amperes.

Slip-on unit

A tank, a live hose reel or tray, a small capacity pump, and an engine combined into a single one-piece assembly that can be slipped onto a truck bed or trailer and used for spraying water and/or foam on bushfires.

Spot fire

Isolated fire started ahead of the main fire by sparks, embers or other ignited material, sometimes to a distance of several kilometres.

Spot over

See spot fire.

Spotting

The ignition of spot fires from sparks and embers.

Staging area

A prearranged, strategically placed area where support response personnel, vehicles and other equipment can be held in readiness for use during an emergency.

Standard Emergency Warning Signal

A sound designed to alert the community to the need to listen to an announcement concerning an actual or imminent emergency.

State Control Centre

See integrated Emergency Control Centre.

State Emergency Recovery Arrangements

Arrangements that plan for the coordination of agencies involved in recovery; describe the management principles for recovery planning, outline the services which may be required in recovery situations, and provide information on the considerations involved in operational recovery. They also establish a framework within which recovery agencies, regions and municipal councils can prepare their own recovery plans.

State Emergency Response Coordination Centre

A centre activated when an emergency affects more than one police region and operates from the Victoria Police Centre. From within the SERCC, police and liaison officers of control and support agencies receive, collate, analyse and disseminate intelligence to other emergency response agencies, the general public and the media.

State Emergency Response Coordinator

The Chief Commissioner of Police, responsible for coordinating the activities of all agencies that have a role in responding to an emergency.

State Emergency Response Plan

A plan which describes the organisational arrangements for coordinating the response to any emergency affecting, or with the potential to affect, Victoria. Its response-management arrangements operate on the basis of three principal management tasks: command, control and coordination.

The SERP identifies the agencies primarily responsible for managing specific types of emergencies and describes how the activities of agencies supporting that primary agency will be coordinated in an emergency.

State of disaster

A state of disaster may be declared in accordance with the Emergency Management Act 1986. If a state of disaster is declared, the Coordinator in Chief assumes responsibility for directing and coordinating the activities of all government agencies and for the allocation of all available resources of government that he or she considers necessary or desirable to respond to the disaster.

Strike team

A set number of resources of the same type that have an established minimum number of personnel. Strike teams always have a leader (usually in a separate vehicle) and a common communications system. Strike teams are usually made up of five resources of the same type such as: vehicles, crews, earth moving machinery, etc.

Tanker

A mobile firefighting vehicle equipped with a water tank, pump, and the necessary equipment for spraying water and/or foam on bushfires.

Thimble

See helical assembly.

Three-phase

Three-phase networks have electrical current flowing along three conductors.

Tie wire

A tie wire is a thin wire wound around a conductor to hold the conductor to an insulator.

Tongue

See finger.

Total fire ban

Declarations applied for days of very high fire risk in regions of the state: prohibits the lighting of any fires in the open air.

Township protection plan

Plans originally developed by the CFA as operational response plans to prepare for firefighting operations, identify local access routes and vulnerabilities such as schools, nursing homes and hospitals. Revised in the wake of the 2009 bushfires to include more detailed consideration of the actions community members could take when fire threatens their town. These plans have three parts that cover community information, township planning factors (focused on initial operational response) and fire prevention works.

Traffic management point

See roadblock.

Transformer

A device that converts or transforms high voltages of electricity; used to carry large amounts of power across long distances to low voltages, which are more useful at the point of supply to a customer.

Transient fault

A fault that clears by itself, for example, bark or other airborne debris coming into passing contact with the line.

Transmission lines

Lines that carry extra high voltages of electricity long distances from power stations and interstate connection points to terminal stations where the voltage is lowered for local distribution companies to deliver electricity to homes and businesses.

VicFire

The receipt and dispatch agency for fire-related emergency information; operated by the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.

Victoria Emergency Management Council

A council comprising representatives of government and non-government agencies, chaired by the Coordinator in Chief, which advises on all emergency management matters, including the coordination of the activities of government and non-government agencies.

Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority

An authority established by the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments to oversee and coordinate recovery and rebuilding programs in communities affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

Victorian Fire Risk Register

A tool that systematically identifies people and assets at risk from bushfire, assesses the level of risk and provides a range of treatments to mitigate the risk. Treatments may include activities such as fuel reduction, community education programs and safety audits.

Water bombing

See fire-bombing.

Zone substation

The 66-kilovolt distribution sub-transmission network feeds into distribution zone substations and switching stations where the electricity is transformed down to 22 kilovolts. As many as 12 distribution feeders can exit from a distribution zone substation.