Bushfire Centre of Excellence Cultural Fire Program Team Honoured with AFAC Award

The Department Fire and Emergency Services is proud to announce that the Bushfire Centre of Excellence (BCoE) Cultural Fire Program team has been awarded the 2025 AFAC Lessons Management Award at the AFAC Lessons Management Conference in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. This award recognises the team’s leadership in fostering a culture of continuous learning across the emergency management sector.

In a first for Australia, the team applied the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience-endorsed Lessons Management framework to reflect on and improve the delivery the Cultural Fire Program. Over two years, they recorded 547 observations from cultural burns and training activities, which were then analysed to produce 91 insights and 23 formal lessons. These lessons provide valuable guidance for agencies looking to implement culturally safe, respectful and equitable approaches to cross-cultural collaboration. 

The Cultural Fire team share these lessons with organisations seeking to support cultural burning, helping to drive meaningful change, strengthen relationships and support Country partnerships.

The team adapted the National Lessons Management Framework to fit the unique context of the Cultural Fire Program. This involved creating a tailored coding system, engaging cultural burning experts from across Australia to validate lessons and ensuring that all findings respected the cultural and intellectual property of First Nations Australians.

David Windsor, Cultural Fire & Partnerships Coordinator, reflected on the significance of this approach.  “The Cultural Fire Program shows how lessons management can be done in a way that’s both operationally effective and culturally safe, by learning together with communities and Traditional Custodians, and respecting cultural protocols every step of the way,” he said.

Peter Galvin, Bushfire Knowledge and Practice Manager at the BCoE, acknowledged the contributions of those involved: “This award is a testament to the dedication of our team and our partners who have invited us to work together. By embedding lessons management into the Cultural Fire Program, we’ve created a model that others can follow, one that respects First Nations knowledge while delivering practical, evidence-based improvements.”

The team’s work was also showcased at the AFAC Lessons Management Forum, where it was praised for its innovation, inclusivity and impact. Their success reinforces DFES’s commitment to continuous improvement and culturally informed practices.

For any enquires or further information please email cultural.fire.prog@dfes.wa.gov.au