Ed Gannon: Black Saturday lessons are still being ignored
ALMOST 10 years after the Black Saturday bushfires, recommendations to avoid a future catastrophe are still not being implemented, writes Ed Gannon.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
HOW long does it take to forget the lessons of a catastrophe?
In the event of a war, a generation or two. Natural disaster? A decade looks about the standard.
That appears to be the case with the tragic Black Saturday fires. That horrific event of February 2009 burned not just a physical scar into Victoria, but a scar into the psyche of the state.
The sheer magnitude of an event that took the lives of 173 people and ruined many more is still difficult to appreciate.
ON THE TRAIL OF A BUSHFIRE ARSONIST
WHAT WE NEED TO BE READY FOR BUSHFIRE SEASON
But it is events such as Black Saturday from which we should learn the hardest lessons.
Sadly, that does not appear to be the case with the bushfires that swept across so many communities on February 7, 2009.
The 2009 Victorian bushfires royal commission made 67 recommendations it believed would halt another Black Saturday. Three state government later — of each political persuasion — and we still have recommendations unfulfilled, three important ones in particular.
The first is the fuel-reduction burning levels. The royal commission set the level at 5 per cent of all public land each year, or 390,000ha. It was ambitious, but achievable.
But it didn’t take long until it became mired in excuses as to why the target wasn’t being hit. It was too wet or too dry. Or, in the years the target was achieved, it was due to large tracts of northwest Victorian scrub being burnt, not the heavily populated and tricky geography of areas such as the Dandenongs, where it was needed.
The failure to adhere to the burning target can be seen in the fact the residual bushfire risk, a measure of fuel load, in the East Central region that takes in outer Melbourne has risen from 39 per cent in the aftermath of Black Saturday to 76 per cent today.
That risk hit 81 per cent just prior to Black Saturday, so we are heading into the danger zone.
Another recommendation was fire refuges, or Neighbourhood Safer Places, where people could shelter if they did not get out early enough. Only 302 have been completed, less than half the number there should be. Consider, NSW has more than 1000 refuges.
The third major recommendation that has gone by the wayside was revealed on the front page of the The Weekly Times on Wednesday. The royal commission identified that the 100 incident controllers available on Black Saturday were insufficient and there needed to be an increase in training and pathways to boost their numbers.
Well, guess what? Currently, we have only 76 incident controllers. A year ago, we had 154.
Incident controllers are the big deal. They decide how to fight a major fire or tackle a big flood. They co-ordinate the crews and they send out the warnings.
They can be full-timers from the CFA or government department, or volunteers. And it seems the latter is where it is falling down, with little training and support to entice volunteers.
Jack Rush, QC, senior counsel assisting the Black Saturday royal commission, was surprised and disappointed that one of the major recommendations was being ignored. “There were not enough … appointed and positioned on the day (February 7, 2009), so the decline in numbers is extraordinarily disappointing,” Mr Rush told The Weekly Times.
“What Black Saturday demonstrated is that we need more qualified people, not less. These numbers suggest that ball has been dropped with fewer courses and, of course, a constant attack on the morale of volunteers.”
That final point can’t be ignored. As we hurtle towards a state election, with announcement upon announcement of fast trains, tunnels and crossing removals, we mustn’t forget how the attack on the CFA by the state government is still playing out.
Many CFA volunteers remain disillusioned by the attack that still makes no sense. And, it seems, we are seeing the fruits of that in the lack of incident controllers.
Let’s hope we don’t hit another Black Saturday to see its full impact.
Ed Gannon is the publisher of The Weekly Times and co-host of The Ag Show on Sky Business News
Human cost of pandemic goes much further than virus
Whether you are pro or anti-lockdown the grim, unintended consequences of the fixation on coronavirus are undeniable, as other diseases — including cancer and heart disease — go unchecked, and despair from joblessness, poverty and financial stress rises, writes Rita Panahi.
Premier must outline his plan so Melbourne can recover
As the community overwhelmingly complies with the Premier’s stage four restrictions, he must clearly outline his virus strategy so we can make plans to rebuild confidence and employment in our city, which right now is a ghost town, writes Jeff Kennett.