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Australia reviews fatally flawed wildfire advice in wake of deaths
Whittlesea, Australia (AFP) Feb 9, 2009 Australian authorities Monday launched a review into the way they deal with wildfires after advice to residents proved fatally flawed in the firestorms that hit Victoria state. Australians have long been advised either to leave their homes early before bushfires approach or stay and defend them throughout the emergency, dousing spotfires with buckets and hoses before they can take hold. The official advice urges residents to develop a "fire plan," stressing they should never flee at the last minute because they are safer indoors than outside. But Victorian Premier John Brumby admitted the advice had proved flawed in the face of the unprecedented infernos that cost at least 131 lives in southeastern Australia. "There were many people who had done all of the preparations, had the best fire plans in the world and tragically it didn't save them," Brumby told commercial radio. "There is no question that there were people there who did everything right, put in place their fire plan and it wouldn't matter, their house was just incinerated." Brumby has now ordered a royal commission into the fires, a powerful investigation with the authority to examine all aspects of the tragedy. "It will look at everything," a spokesman for the premier said. The current Australian approach leaves the decision whether to evacuate homes up to residents, while in other fire-prone areas, such as California, police have the power to order mandatory evacuations. Bruce Morrow, who lives in one of the worst-hit areas, Marysville, was scornful of the fire-plan programme. "When you hear the roar of the fire, you're not going to stand there with a garden hose and a few buckets... We literally ran out of our house," he said. Gary Hughes, a reporter at The Australian newspaper, who narrowly escaped with his life when his home north of Melbourne was engulfed, said he had followed all the official advice. But he said when the crucial time came to protect his home, no water came out of his hose because it had melted in the heat and the metal handles of his his carefully positioned plastic buckets came off when he tried to use them. Related Links Forest and Wild Fires - News, Science and Technology
Australian Tinderbox Explodes In Searing Heat
Whittlesea, Australia (AFP) Feb 9, 2009Huddled under a dampened blanket as Australia's deadly bushfires roared over her head "like a jet engine", Sonja Parkinson was convinced she and infant son Sam would die. |
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