Australia: Fires spotlight falls on 'fight or flee' policy

FORCED evacuation of residents in the path of advancing bushfires might be the only option for saving lives in areas considered indefensible, the Black Saturday bushfires royal commission has been told.

Senior counsel assisting the inquiry, Jack Rush QC, said the "stay or go" policy used in all states, where residents were left to decide for themselves whether to stay and defend their properties or to leave early, was unique to Australia.

Evidence to be presented to the inquiry would show that in other countries with high bushfire risks, forced evacuation was seen as the safest "emergency management approach".

During fires in California in 2007 nearly a million people were evacuated, Mr Rush said in his opening address to the inquiry yesterday in Melbourne's County Court. Although more than 3000 homes were destroyed, only 10 people died. In Victoria on February 7 about 2000 homes were destroyed and 173 people died.

"Some particular areas of this state as a consequence of habitat and topography, the evidence will demonstrate, are indefensible from a firefighting point of view and thus the issue of evacuation will be one directly raised," Mr Rush said.

Yesterday's start to formal hearings was overshadowed by bitter complaints by many Black Saturday victims that they were being shut out because they had been denied the right to appear.

The commission, headed by Bernard Teague, attempted to head off the row by promising a number of victims from fire devastated communities would be called to give evidence.

Mr Rush told the crowded hearing the initial focus of the commission, which has to produce an interim report by August 17, would be the lack of adequate warnings on Black Saturday and the potentially confusing "stay or go" policy.

He said the lack of adequate advance warnings meant many people who had planned to leave early stayed in their homes "unaware of approaching fires until it was too late".

"Persons who chose to stay and defend property did so entirely unaware of the severity, the extremity, the intensity of the fires they would face," he said.

The "stay or go" policy was based on people being given sufficient advanced warning, yet on Black Saturday there was little fire activity before midday and no reported fires in communities such as Kinglake, Marysville or Strathewen, which would be virtually wiped out within hours.

"Why would a resident of any of the affected regions implement the 'go' part of the policy if they were not aware of any fire threat?" Mr Rush said.

The heat and speed of the Black Saturday blazes were "phenomenal", he said, resulting in a "fire catastrophe" that became Australia's greatest peacetime disaster. "Fire spotted kilometres ahead, fireballs seemingly of atomic force came before the fire," Mr Rush said.

The inquiry would rigorously examine how well fire agencies were able to track fires during the course of the day, their ability to analyse ground intelligence and monitor emerging risks and whether they were able to predict "future impacts". "The evidence will demonstrate that the less informed people are, the less likely they are to believe a threat and see the significance of any danger," Mr Rush said.

The inquiry would also look at the performance of the 000 service, which many of those in devastated communities have said was hopelessly inadequate.

The recommendations of a 2004 investigation into bushfires by the Council of Australian Governments that a nationally-consistent form of bushfire warnings be introduced had been "lost in a myriad of reviews and committees between state and federal governments", Mr Rush said. Building standards and the fire-proofing of homes would also be examined by the inquiry.

The royal commission has now been adjourned to May 11, when the first witnesses will be called.

Source: theaustralian.news.com - Link