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BY ALEXANDRA FALLS AND
AMY HUME
THE Black Saturday Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Report has called for the some of the most drastic changes to fire services and emergency management in Victoria’s history.
The Commission conducted an extensive investigation into the causes of, the preparation for, the response to and the impact of the 15 major fires that burned throughout Victoria in late January and February 2009.
The report, comprising four volumes and a summary, included 67 recommendations in more than 900 pages of detailed findings.
Commissioners Ronald McLeod and Susan Pascoe found the overall system was incapable of supporting such an unfathomable catastrophe.
The Kilmore East fire was the deadliest of the 15 Black Saturday fires, killing 119 people, destroying 1,242 houses, burning 125,383 hectares before finally being contained nine days after February 7.
In the Commission’s view the lack of pre-planning for the Kilmore Incident Control Centre had significant effects on the Centre’s preparedness and ultimately its ability to manage the Kilmore East fire.
It also meant there were inadequate systems and protocols for providing accurate and timely information about the fire to the public.
The Commission refused to accept the explanations given for the “complete lack of effort made to allocate staff to specific ICCs in CFA Region 12” and found it to be “unacceptable for the day”.
Both CFA Chief Officer Mr Russell Rees and CFA State Duty Officer Mr Gregory Paterson believed Kilmore ICC was ready for a ‘hot start’ as a level three ICC on February 7.
The evidence before the Commission shows, however, this was not the case.
The Commission stated communications with the Kilmore ICC remained problematic throughout Black Saturday, causing confusion about command, responsibility and aircraft information.
Commissioners said, “The lack of preparation for the Kilmore ICC affected its preparedness and ability to manage the Kilmore East fire, meaning it was unable to provide accurate and timely information.”
Region 12 CFA Operations Manager Peter Creak told the Commission it was not possible to have all level three ICCs in the north-east of the state prepared for a hot start.
“Simply, we don’t have the numbers of incident management team personnel to pre-position people into every control centre that is identified in north-east Victoria,” he said.
Further complications arose from the fact that initially the fire was managed from the Seymour Regional Emergency Co-ordination Centre, before the ICC was moved to Kilmore Fire Station.
In addition, Kilmore Fire Brigade captain Gregory Murphy was made incident controller despite only being a level two and had no expectation that he would be given the task during a major level three fire.
Due to a lack of communication, the Commission found that “people were appointed roles that they were not equipped for.”
The Commission also found that “other regions were much better prepared” in terms of leadership and organisation than Kilmore.
“The CFA Chief Officer, State Co-ordinator and State Duty Officer should have known that the Kilmore ICC had no level 3 incident management team pre-positioned and that it was not ready for a hot start on February 7,” the Commission stated.
However the Commission states that “the initial operational response to the Kilmore East fire was appropriate and prompt.”
Member for Parliament for the Northern Victoria Region, Donna Petrovich, acknowledges the lack of efficient management on Black Saturday.
“It is high time that emergency services have unified messaging, communication and computer systems integration. This has been a great source of difficulty for our volunteers in times of crisis,” she said.
“We need a practical and organised system of recovery right now.”
The horrific Kilmore East fire was one of three Black Saturday fires sparked by electricity failure due to ageing power lines.
The Commission considers faulty electrical assets as “one of the primary causes for catastrophic fires in Victoria during the past 40 years”.
Commissioners recommended that all single wire power lines should be buried or replaced with safer aerial bundled cables, within 10 years for bushfire prone areas.
The report also calls on power distribution companies to conduct safety inspections every three years rather than every five.
Commissioners assert that as electrical equipment rapidly ages “there will probably be an increase in the number of fires resulting from asset failures unless urgent preventive steps are taken.”
The report made many recommendations to address the serious issues that arose in the wake of Black Saturday.
It suggested that a new position of “fire commissioner” be created to sit above the other fire agencies and manage them.
The controversial “stay or go” policy was found in need of a major overhaul with recommendations that CFA and DSE issue warnings to the community about approaching fires as being as important as fighting them.
It called for at least five per cent of public land to be burned every year to reduce fuel for potential fires and suggested the state should designate hundreds of shelters and refuges in fire prone areas.
The report also made a controversial recommendation that restrictions be enforced on new housing developments in areas identified as high risk for bushfire activity.
The Commission stated that buying back properties would reduce the amount of people in high risk areas.
However, recovery reconstruction is already well under way in most bushfire-affected areas.
Commissioners said the recommendations were made with “priority to protecting human life, and they are designed to reflect the shared responsibility that governments, fire agencies, communities and individuals have for minimising the prospect of a tragedy of this scale ever happening again.”
“Bushfire is an intrinsic part of Victoria’s landscape, and if time dims our memory we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.”
Mitchell Shire Council mayor Cr Bill Melbourne welcomed the report but states it will be some time before action can be taken in response.
“Naturally, both the Victorian Government and Mitchell Shire Council will need time to review and consider the Commission’s findings, which are quite lengthy,” Cr Melbourne said.
“I, along with senior officers will be attending a Municipal Association Victoria briefing session next Wednesday, August 4, and will also participate in the Government’s consultation process over the coming weeks.”
Member for Seymour Ben Hardman believes that the community reaction to the Commission will influence the government’s response.
“Some of the recommendations will impact on how some people have lived their lives and conducted their business so their views will be of great significance,” he said.
The Black Saturday Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Report can be reviewed in full online at <www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au>.