Charleston Emergency Response and Recovery Group

The CERRG was formed in 2020 by the Charleston Community Centre Inc in response to the 2019 Cudlee Creek Bushfires. Although the Charleston Hall is NOT a Bushfire Safer Place, nor is it a Place of Last Resort it is a community-based response and recovery centre offering support to our community after a significant emergency event.

The CERR Centre will operate immediately after a significant weather event such as fire, flood, heatwave, or for a prolonged power outage (more than continuous 3 days).

Notice will be given via social media and email networks, and the raising of red flag situated in the carpark of the Centre.

In any emergency where the CERR Centre is activated, we may need equipment (e.g. portable generators, earth-moving equipment, etc), as well as volunteers, particularly skilled workers such as tradies, experienced emergency trained personnel, people experienced in meal preparation, IT-savvy volunteers, secretarial skills and people who have a “can-do” approach to getting things done, and who can work well in a team environment.

Through our emergency recovery website www.charlestonau.recovers.org community members offering assistance or needing assistance, or wanting to donate funds can log on and register here or can be triaged in person if attending the Community Centre.

What is Recovers.org?

It is a collaborative toolkit designed to reduce duplication and confusion, prevent the ‘second disaster’ and stay in the community under local control. It does NOT replace any traditional means of response and recovery, which are necessary and effective. It augments traditional recovery mechanisms by leveraging mass-communication tools and keeping volunteers and organizations apprised of each other's capabilities, needs and events.

The recovers.org software platform is a centralised hub for every responding organization to announce their resources, events and needs, and to connect residents with the massive online outpouring of support, via confidential databases of skilled volunteers and valuable donations. We work with municipalities, nonprofit organizations, faith communities, volunteers, donors and businesses to serve the needs of the families that were struck by disaster. We do this by redirecting the broader philanthropic public away from what they think is needed toward what is actually needed by families suffering loss. This means fewer used clothing donations and more gift cards; fewer toys and more cash toward local recovery funds. The tapestry of needs is different in every community, and we emphasize local control and local choice as the quickest way to get a community back on its feet.

The Development of CERRG

2019 Cudlee Creek Bushfire

In December 2019 the Cudlee Creek bushfire significantly impacted the Charleston community, taking a local life and destroying or heavily impacting many local properties. This fire highlighted a lack of emergency preparedness amongst many in the community, but also brought to light a range of wider, more systemic issues such as lack of ability to effectively communicate when the mobile phone towers lost power, and the electricity supply was cut to the town, as well as mains water pressure being significantly impacted.

In response to these highlighted issues, the Charleston Community Centre (the local community association) hosted discussions with community members which saw the formation of the Charleston Emergency Response and Recovery group (CERRG). This group subsequently completed a Red Cross “Community Led Emergency Resilience Workshops” (CLER) program which helped identify at-risk and vulnerable groups in the community, as well as to stratify likely emergency events, and how they might be mitigated or responded to.

In 2021 and 2022 the CERRG was successful in being awarded $50,000 in Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal (FRRR) grants to purchase and install air conditioning at the Charleston Hall, and subsequently a 52 KVA generator. The Lobethal Bushfire Recovery Fund (LBRF) also contributed $10,000 towards the cost of these two projects. The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded the Charleston Hall $7,000 towards a Memorial garden and flagpole at the Hall.

In 2022 the CERRG was also successful in being awarded a grant for $99,542 from the Preparing Australian Communities (PAC) grant scheme to implement the following additional infrastructure to the Hall:

High-speed Satellite Broadband and WIFI
Audiovisual system and automated drop-down projection screen
Fire Protection System - Halo style, including 2 x 30,000 litre rainwater tanks

Local CFS brigade captains from Woodside, Lobethal and Mt Torrens, as well as local MP Dan Cregan and federal MP Rebekkah Sharkie helped our grant applications by providing letters of support for these grants.

As part of preparing the site for the installation of the rainwater tanks, the fire prevention system pump and the generator, approximately 40 locals including Lobethal CFS volunteers reaccrediting in annual chainsaw skills attended a working bee at the Hall to clear non-significant and scrubby vegetation with chainsaws, chippers and muscle power. In addition to clearing and preparing the site for the emergency response infrastructure, the adjacent area was also cleared at the same time in order to make way for a community garden to be established to help bring the community together.

The CERRG is working hard in planning for the next major emergency that may impact the local community, and to mitigate that risk as much as possible. They have had presentations from Adam Weinert from Lobethal who helped lead the Lobethal Bushfire Recovery efforts after the Cudlee Creek Bushfire to give his insights into the model they used; how it worked and what they would do differently if it ever is required again, and Miranda Hampton from the Adelaide Hills Council on the Community Support Hub concept which is largely aligned to the concept we are pursuing.

The CERRG has also benefited from being part of the Adelaide Hills Community Bushfire Action Network that is coordinated by the Adelaide Hills Council, and has seen a number of bushfire-affected communities join forces to collaborate and learn from each other on strategies to mitigate and respond to future fire risk.

The CERRG is currently refining its scope, and is actively recruiting local people to help establish a range of identified roles and capabilities to support our community, and maybe further afield in response to a defined emergency incidents.

In the second half of 2023 (fire) and 2024 (flood) the CERRG tested out the post emergency response capacity systems “under load” to see where gaps exist, and implement strategies to remedy them.

Local Support

The Charleston Community Centre would like to acknowledge and thank the following local businesses who have been very generous in their sponsorship