Fears over Island residents’ safety in a major fire emergency
Australia’s devastating bushfires have sparked community fears over Bribie Island evacuation plans if access to the Island’s bridge was cut. What do you think?
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Fears for the safety of Bribie’s residents in an evacuation emergency have been raised by State LNP MP for Pumicestone Simone Wilson as the drive to replace the island’s bridge ramps up.
Ms Wilson said the “number one concern is getting across the bridge in gridlock”.
“We have many older residents and many without vehicles, evacuating is very concerning to them,” she said.
“In January and August last year bush fires broke out on the island and locals were rightly worried.”
Ms Wilson said while an emergency evacuation plan was in place “this is still reliant on getting people off the Island on a one lane bridge”.
“Until the plan is put to test, we cannot be sure that every local would be safely evacuated.” There has never been a population evacuation drill for the Island and I imagine the logistics of doing something like this would be challenging.”
She said it would be “complete mayhem on the island if access to the bridge was cut during a bushfire”.
“A one lane off over the bridge is not sufficient to get people off in any immediate measure and there would be sheer panic in the event of a full evacuation.”
Both the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) confirmed disaster training scenarios where the Bribie Island bridge was “theoretically cut” had been undertaken.
An MBRC spokesman said “officers regularly train for all different types of disasters”.
“We have specifically undertaken disaster scenario training where the Bribie Island bridge was theoretically cut, leaving the island physically isolated,” the spokesman said.
“If this were to eventuate the Moreton Bay Local Disaster Management Group would lead the response, together with agencies including but not limited to the Queensland Police Service, State Emergency Service and Department of Transport and Main Roads.”
A QPS spokesman said planning undertaken by the Local and District Disaster Management groups around “incident impacting the Bribie Island bridge and local community had been undertaken.
“This planning and review is ongoing with significant engagement with government departments and service providers,” the spokesman said.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said a study in 2014 found the bridge had about 18 years of service life remaining and traffic modelling showed no additional capacity required until at least 2031.
“We are also aware some members of the Bribie Island community and surrounding areas are concerned about the potential traffic and development pressures likely to come from higher capacity upgrades to Bribie Island Bridge,” Mr Bailey said.
Ms Wilson said based on 2018 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data Bribie Island had a population of 19,270.
“However it would be well over 20,000 now,” Ms Wilson said.
“ABS data also tells us that in 2016, 9.6 per cent of the local population on the Island require assistance for core activities. This would be higher in 2020.”
“This means around 2000 people would need assistance to evacuate.”
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