Name
Keynote Webinar: Lessons From Australia in Wildfire Risk Management
Date & Time
Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Dene Ward Bob Lockhart Matthew Cleary
Description

Powercor Australia and AusNet Services are the major electricity company’s within two of the highest wildfire risk regions in Australia, and arguably the world. Both networks have a history of significant wildfire events, the most notable being referred to as Black Saturday. Black Saturday occurred on the 9th February 2009 where 173 lives were lost, the majority of those attributed to powerline initiated fires. 11 years on, much has changed. Phil Bryant, Manager Network Safety for AusNet Services and Dene Ward, Network Safety and Bushfire Mitigation Manager for Powercor Australia will reflect on the key changes and learnings since Black Saturday from a Network Service Providers perspective. Phil and Dene will discuss the key drivers that have resulted in a material improvement in network safety performance. The regulatory operating environment will be explored, particularly that of network safety legislation in response to the Black Saturday fires. Finally, a look at the road ahead for continued network risk mitigation within an operating environment of longer summers and more frequent extreme fire danger days will be discussed.