The CFA have a Community FireGuard program that supports communities to prepare for the fire season. The Closed System approach goes much further.

It provides a framework and process for harnessing and managing all of the energy and resources within the community to reduce risks and develop a co-ordinated community response, that is connected with and supports the CFA and essential services.

The urgent need to develop a Community Fire Plan for Koonwarra and other regions, needed a planning process that resulted in sustainable outcomes in the short, medium and long term.

The Closed System Pty Ltd undertook the project as a way to support the community of Koonwarra to become sustainable. In the past five years, we have applied the same process to 17 local businesses with great success.

The process involved Public meetings to identify issues. We then worked closely with the CFA and other community leaders to analyse how the current system functioned - this involves a process of 'closing the system' and identifying gaps and strategies.

We applied the Closed System Principles in depth and also developed a scenario plan. The scenario plan identified the desires and limitations of the key stakeholders - residents, business, community organisations etc. All of this information was then summarised into the Summary of The Community Fire Plan for Koonwarra.

At the Public Meeting held in October 2007, we reviewed the draft plan with the community and then set intentions, targets and milestones.

As a result, the community has now formed a steering committee to manage the process. The Closed System Pty Ltd and the CFA will provide ongoing support , as needed.

The fire risk this season is extreme. We are very pleased that this process has assisted Koonwarra and potentially can now be adopted by other communities that are also at risk.