Lew Short – Director Blackash Bushfire Consulting
Lew Short is a recognised expert in bushfire and emergency management, land-use planning, risk mitigation, consequence management, environment and the working of government.
He has over 25 years in the emergency management and bushfire space including working for the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) for 10 years where he established, managed and lead the development and implementation of Planning for Bushfire Protection, Bushfire Prone Mapping and the development assessment function for the RFS at a State level.
Lew developed the design and implementation of Planning for Bushfire Protection at the RFS, which has become the cornerstone of all bushfire assessment and planning needs across NSW. His intimate knowledge and understanding of the technical and legislative requirements, positions Lew as the leader in this field.
No one knows the opportunities, bushfire requirements and the system better than Lew.
Lew was responsible for the assessment of over 80,000 development applications by the RFS and has represented fire services for landuse planning, community safety and construction in bushfire prone areas at both State and National levels.
Lew is accredited BPAD A provider to which Level 3 provides the highest level of skill and qualification for Alternate Solutions. Lew has extensive experience providing expert evidence at the Land and Environment Court including oral evidence, affidavit, witness statements and expert reports.
Lew has worked with Emergency Management Victoria as General Manager Risk, Consequence and Resilience and led a number of state-wide initiatives including the development of the first Community Resilience Framework for Emergency Management in Victoria. Lew was also the State Risk and Consequence Manager which is an operational role in the State Control Centre of Victoria, to lead and facilitate strategic risk management to support the Emergency Management Commissioner on an all hazards, all agencies basis.
In addition to working at senior levels in NSW and Victorian government, Lew has also worked in local government and the private sector.
View Lew Short’s profileDan Pedersen – Principal Bushfire Ecologist
Dan started with Blackash Bushfire Consulting as Principal Bushfire Ecologist in September 2019.
Dan has been providing professional bushfire, ecology and land management services since 2004. In his role as Senior Ecologist and Bushfire Consultant, he has specialised in flora, fauna and ecosystem assessments and bushfire planning. His position developed toward project management and services delivery, business development and client care.
Though his technical experiences, Dan has attained a unique understanding of ecological systems and functions, land management and impacts, and bushfire behaviour and planning (bushfire risk assessments, mitigation and management, and prescribed burn for land management). Through this, Dan can provide compliant ecological and bushfire solutions, which enable a holistic, realistic and feasible approach to natural resource management outcomes.
As a Bushfire Engineer, Dan holds the highest level of accreditation issued in Australia and he is one of the few consultants in Australia to hold internationally recognised qualifications.
He is qualified to undertake and certify bushfire attack level (BAL) assessments and approvals within the prescribed Australian building standards (AS3959-2009). He is also qualified to engineer, analyse and approve alternate building solutions. Dan has extensive experience in the preparation and review of bushfire risk management plans and bushfire risk assessments for small projects and larger land and asset portfolios including Government agencies, Australian Defence Force, mining and construction industry, and Biodiversity offsetting organisations.
Dan is able to assess the risk and scale of a potential bushfire impact in a professional, quantitative style, demonstrating compliance, and can identify a range of feasible and environmentally sustainable mitigation strategies.
Dan is an advocate of low intensity prescribed burning, continually looking to research, develop and utilise burning techniques that achieve environmental, community and social benefits. This has been used to support Biodiversity Offsets and other residual landholdings containing bushfire prone vegetation.
