The lessons of bushfire history?

From the stay-or-go policy to the capacity of homes to withstand firestorms of the kind Victoria experienced on Saturday 7 February to the significance of global warming, the people of Victoria are beginning to ask questions.  

A fearful sight

As Firefighters union secretary Peter Marshall said in Thursday 12 February's (2009) Age, it isn't about 'the blame game'.  Nevertheless the questions need to be asked.
"To stay is not an option".  That's what Marisa Robbins told the Age newspaper should have been the instructions to her parents.

Those parents, Lloyd and Mary Martin died defending their home of 30 years in Humevale near Kinglake West.  
Peter Marshall is right to raise the question of the nexus between global warming and the severity of those bushfires. His article can be found via the following link:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/face-global-warming-or-lives-will-be-at-risk-20090211-84od.html?page=3

Time to evacuate?

Yet even without global warming the same questions must still be answered. And not surprisingly, those questions are beginning to find their way into the public discussions and on to the lips of politicians. And, as irony would have it, trees and undergrowth density too will be on the agenda.

Peter Marshall should also be commended for having the political courage to ask whether the terms of reference of the  Royal Commission will be broad enough and for reminding people that the last thing we want is a whitewash. Too often throughout history Royal Commissions have done no more than offer findings that serve a government's interests.  Many people believe all wasn't right in the way we prepared for this bushfire.  The Royal Commission needs to resolve that question. 

Jason Lynn's Story

The firestorm was within 15 minutes of engulfing Jason Lynn's Kinglake home when his wife Ruth made her decision. In an instant the two children, one in nappies, were in the car and she was gone. It was not a time for a quiet or romantic interlude. As she drove out the gate Ruth came across the veteran TV news reader Brian Naylor.

Naylor had, like Ruth's husband, decided to stay and fight. Ruth would liked to have argued the point but the survival of her children was far too pressing, and if she couldn't convince her husband to leave, what chance did she have with the 77-year-old Naylor?

As she powered her car towards Whittlesea Ruth Lynn, mother and wife, quickly realised how perilous her journey was about to become. Struck by panic a succession of cars had run amok slamming into trees and on-coming traffic as they disappeared in the smoke created by the fires. Instead of fleeing, they were driving straight into the inferno.

CFA at work

Realising the folly of trying to outsmart the firestorm Ruth swung her car around and headed for Yea, the wind now at her back. She could barely bring herself to imagine what had beset her husband. While she put some distance between her children and the fire he drove his body against the embers and the smoke, firing bursts of water at the flames that soared over his house. By now the noise was deafening. It would be several hours before Ruth discovered the fate of her man.

Exhausted from flaying at the wild red beast that sought to destoy him and his earthy belongings Jason finally succumbed. After the house went up and the machinery shed exploded, sending him to the ground running, only the dam could save him. With the water cuddling his almost lifeless body and neck and a hat protecting his head from the embers he now had no option but to let nature have its way with him.

Ruth Lynn didn't have time to shed a tear at the thought that her husband was dead. She hoped it hadn't been an horrific death. But with her babies to protect there could be no tears......... to be continued...

Imagine seeing this...

 

One blogger’s view

Whilst this is a disaster of tremendous proportions, the facts are that the “stay, prepare and defend” stance doesn’t work. The only definitive study ever done on this was done in 2007 on the Hobart fires of 1967. Of the 64 fatalities 54 died either defending their homes, sheltering in their homes or leaving well after being told to evacuate. NSW is the only State with enforced evacuation policy and statistically has the lowest number of bushfire fatalities in Australia. This is a time for empathy not blame but, after the poor souls who lived through this disaster are resettled perhaps the rest of the country needs to have a look at forced evacuation policy and towns be given safe evacuation areas.