An additional 200 police are in the East Gippsland area to help with the bushfire effort.
Victoria police is playing a secondary role in assisting fire services in firefighting and recovery efforts.
“The police role is supporting the fire agencies and we have a coordination role in any emergency management event,” Superintendent Simon Humphrey, who is the police commander overseeing the operation in East Gippsland, said.
“What we do is provide staff to the Incident Control Centre (Bairnsdale) who have police embedded in a number of roles, working with the incident controller.”
Some of the critical roles police are involved in include a municipal emergency response coordinator, an evacuation manager, a traffic manager and emergency management liaison officers.
Police have their own Incident Police Operations Centre (IPOC) set up at Bairnsdale police station and liaise with the incident control centre about what’s required.
Perhaps one of the most visible roles police have played in the bushfire crisis is at traffic management points.
There are currently nine staffed traffic management points operating throughout East Gippsland.
Supt Humphrey says many of those “are very fluid”.
He says stopping people driving into fire zones is for their own safety.
The risk of falling trees and damaged road surfaces because of the bushfire’s intensity could put people’s lives in danger.
“Traffic management points are more about safety. We will let residents in, but not tourists,” Supt Humphrey said.
Supt Humphrey said the last thing communities need as they come to terms with the devastation is “rubber necks”.
Mindful that many communities in East Gippsland rely on tourism to rebuild and keep their economies afloat, Supt Humphrey said he hoped when the time is right that tourists can go back in.
“It’s really about repatriating communities, rather than tourism. Hopefully by Easter, we’ll be up and running,” he said.
The closure of the Princes Highway between Orbost and Cann River has left many people in limbo.
People have been trapped unable to return home and access to the New South Wales border has been stymied.
Supt Humphrey said he understood some people might be frustrated but safety was paramount.
As a result of the Princes Highway being cut, Mallacoota remains isolated and police resources are being helicoptered in for shift changes.
“They might jump in when we drop provisions in the area,” Supt Humphrey said, explaining that both Australian Defence Force and police aircraft were being used to rotate crews, usually on a weekly basis.
Police resources are also being used as escorts in chaperoning food and relief supplies, or critical infrastructure into bushfire affected communities.
A police escort was recently provided for a truck carrying hay for hungry stock to Omeo.
Many East Gippslanders will have noticed police public order response vehicles (black) on the roads.
Police are also working at relief centres and out in the field ensuring public order and safety to “prevent looting and thieving”.
Supt Humphrey said while the bushfire disaster has brought out the best in people, “unfortunately it can also bring out the worst”.
He says the East Gippsland community can expect to see a visible police presence for some time to come.
“Once the fire activity stops, we’ll move into recovery stage,” Supt Humphrey said.
“We’ll have a significant increased police presence for as long as it takes.”
IMAGE: Police commander, Superintendent Simon Humphrey, and deputy police commander, Wayne Rothwell, at the Incident Police Operations Centre in Bairnsdale this week. K55-4043
