Balingup – A Resilient Community
Do you think you might need help during an emergency or can you help others?
If yes, please complete and return this survey form
to the Balingup Progress Assocation.
Bushfire Brigades
Balingup has a number of active Bushfire Brigades who are always keen to receive new volunteers. To find out more, contact the Shire Community Emergency Services Manager (Jess Cooper).
(08) 9780 4200 / 0439 595 355 Email
Bushfire Ready
Balingup also has an active Bushfire Ready group whose role is to provide information to residents, encourage them to develop bushfire plans and put strategies in place to protect their properties.
To find out more, contact the Balingup Progress Association and we will put you in touch with the Bushfire Ready Coordinator.
Community information & Social Centre
A representative of Balingup Progress Association (W.Trow) attended a DFES Community Resilience Workshop in 2022 and the trainers stressed:
- ‘the unexpected will occur more and more over the coming years’ and
- ‘communities cannot rely on government to save them’
Balingup is in a Priority Fire Risk area so Balingup Progress Association decided to create a Resilience Group to look at not only fire risk, but also threats such as flood, major storm, long term power outages, heat wave and drought.
We found that the community was poorly prepared – particularly in the area of telecommunications. When the mobile phone tower loses power, it has only 6-8 hours of battery backup. If Telstra cannot get a generator there quickly, the phone service drops out and the community is not able to receive any DFES warning messages. We also found that:
- The median age of Balingup residents is 58 years old. Many, particularly older residents, do not know how to check for emergency alerts.
- Some people have poor or no mobile coverage at home at the best of times.
- Many people have animals which cannot be taken into Welfare/Evacuation Centres so, when a Watch and Act is issued, they choose to stay at home.
BPA believes that it is better to enable people to go to one central point where they can obtain reliable information and community support, rather than stay at home.
Based on Red Cross research which states “when there’s a crisis, 95% of assistance comes from within 500 metres of your home”, BPA decided to set up a Community Information & Social Centre (CISCO).
How does a CISCO work?
The CISCO is opened at the Recreation Centre by volunteers during times of community stress. Examples of community stress could be in response to a heat wave, storm, bush fire or any long term power outage. The aim of the CISCO is to:
- Provide a comfortable and safe place for people to stay when power is off and they have no air conditioning at home.
- Be a place where people can:
- use Skymuster to check the Emergency WA website,
- recharge phones and other devices, make VoIP calls to friends and family,
- have a shower, cook food.
- Enable disabled/sick people to be triaged and moved on to hospital if needed.
The CISCO is NOT a Welfare/Evacuation Centre and BPA held a desktop exercise with Department of Communities to ensure we could quickly and safely hand over a fully operational facility to them if needed. The CISCO is welcomed by Department of Communities because the Evacuation Centre will have power, telecommunications and local leaders who are ready and able to assist if needed.
Working With the Shire
The group has worked closely with the Shire and Balingup now has:
- a satellite phone stored permanently at the Recreation Centre (provided by the Shire)
- Skymuster telecommunications unit fixed permanently at the Recreation Centre (provided through Federal STAND program)
- a 22kva generator (purchased with a grant from National Australia Bank and the Shire purchased a trailer)
- a detailed activation process, written by CISC volunteers, stating how the centre would be opened and operated
Council agreed to support the BPA’s proposed use of the Balingup Recreation Centre for the purpose of a ‘Community Information and Social Centre’ at the Council Meeting held April 2022.
Uptake by other Communities
In 2024, with the backing of Rural Aid, the Balingup model was rolled out to four other communities – Walpole, Nornalup, Boyanup and Northcliffe. All communities shared problems similar to those experienced by Balingup.
Current Activities (2025)
The Resilience group is currently:
- Working with the Shire to improve our ability to assist community members during drought.
- Taking steps to have CISCOs recognized in Local Emergency Management Arrangements.
- Working with Rural Aid to share the Balingup model with other communities.
For a copy of the Balingup template (contact details have been deleted for privacy), click here (downloadable pdf). This is a free resource, provided to you by Balingup Progress Association.