BART Street

Introduction

We are in our most vulnerable period in the year when it comes to bushfires, storms and floods.

View the AFAC Fire Season 2024 Outlook here

In Roleystone Western Australia, the Community Engagement Team have been using the BART platform for the past two years, named the BART Fire Tree Pilot.

The BART Fire Tree project continues to be a partnership working together with Roleystone Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service, the Community Engagement Team, the BART Team and Community Members, aiding in Community Preparedness and Situation Awareness.

We are now extending this Pilot Project out to a limited number of other communities across Australia and New Zealand, and have named the initiative ‘BART Street‘.

BART Street is being offered to those managing Bushfire Ready programs and high risk areas throughout Australia and New Zealand at no cost for November, December 2024, January and February 2025.

Please note: The BART Street communication solution is NOT the silver bullet but a tool to assist in the preparations and actions you must take.

The State and Emergency Agencies via various media such as Radio, Television, SMS text, App alerts, Social Media, etc provide the prime information on unfolding emergencies. Participating members MUST NOT SOLELY RELY on messaging from BART Street to act upon any unfolding emergency.

How does it Work?

BART Street is made up of 3 main areas:

Brigade, Unit or Committee (TOWN)
Street Coordinators (TOWN-BASED)
Street Residents (STREET BASED)

The Street Coordinators are the primary contact person, where they are the link between the Local Brigade, Unit or Committee and the Street Residents.

Each street group operates independently of each other, and Members of a particular street won’t be able to view the activity of other streets. All discussions, events and group broadcasts stay at the local level and it is at the discretion of the Street Coordinator.

The Brigade or Bushfire Ready Committee can monitor all street groups within their local area through the Members Admin Portal.

General Process

The Brigade or Emergency Centre receives information that is important to the community
The information is relayed to all or some Street Coordinators
The Street Coordinators relay information to the Residents in their Street Community
The Residents receive a Push Notification on their Smart Phone and/or an SMS
The Residents can respond using the Thumbs Up to indicate that they have received the message
The Residents receiving an evacuation message can respond using the:
1. Thumbs Up to indicate they are leaving
2. Thumbs Down to indicate they are not leaving or
3. Other to indicate they are undecided or need assistance
The responses to messages can be seen by all the Residents in the Street. If a Resident hasn’t responded, action can be taken by the Street Coordinator or a Neighbour
The Residents can also communicate among themselves during non-critical times using the Group Broadcast or Discussions function, which is managed by the Street Coordinator

Key Features

BART as a communication solution is utilised by over 165,000 first responders; familiar
BART Street was adapted for Residents; for community use
Easy to install and use; can be used immediately
Allows small independent groups to self-management; local flexibility
Simple thumbs-up acknowledging to the message or alert on your phone; the devices we all use
Safe Area and where each other are, during an evacuation, is shown on the map; we see where we all are
The Coordinators or Neighbours can contact those not responding to the message or alert; working together

Low Future Investment

The Residents do not require a licence and SMSs are provided at no cost.

The Brigade, Unit , Committee and Street Coordinators will require a licence outside the 2024/25 pilots. However, members can be in all 3 groups under the one licence.

The minimum investment is $160 pa for a group of ten; additional licences are at $16 pa. This investment does not apply to the 2024/25 pilot.