Funding to support disaster resilience in the primary industries has been highlighted today at the South Australian Forest Products Association (SAFPA) disaster resilience summit in Mt Gambier.
A new pilot project led by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) and Primary Producers SA (PPSA) has received $770,000 from the State Government's Disaster Risk Reduction grant program to prepare the agricultural sector and mitigate the impacts of compounding and increasingly complex natural disasters.
Funded through a national partnership agreement between the Commonwealth and South Australian Governments, the project takes an industry-led approach to minimising disruptions to supply chains and maintaining the production and profitability of regional communities.
This support is subsequent to the $26.7 million investment made by the Malinauskas Government to increase the Country Fire Service’s aerial firefighting fleet, which for the first time has seen a Blackhawk helicopter with 4,500 litre capacity for water and foam substantively based at Mount Gambier during the 2023–24 fire danger season.
Additionally, the up grade of the latest fire observation tower in Lucindale South has now been completed featuring game changing artificial intelligence ( technology now rolled out across the region. The cameras are now fully operational at Comaum, Mount Benson, The Bluff, Carpenter Rocks, Mount Burr and Furner.
It is the first time the Pano AI system has been implemented commercially in Australia as part of the South Australian Government's $2.3 million fire tower network upgrade project, with $1 million targeting the new technology – and it has already been able to assist with early detection of several bushfires in the South East.
Bringing together these advancements for the Limestone Coast region, the Limestone Coast Disaster Resilience Summit was attended by Minister Clare Scriven and Minister Joe Szakacs, and included delegates from across government, industry, and the not-for-profit sector to enhance integrated preparedness across the disaster management spectrum.