Bushfire warning system failed: victims

People escaping the Victorian bushfires have criticised emergency services for not
warning them of impending disaster.
With dozens dead from the Kinglake region after fire ravaged the town, some
complained fire authorities did not tell them to flee.
Tammy Reece from Kinglake West said she was away from her home when the fire broke
out but her partner and six children at the house were unaware of any danger.
"My partner never got any warning at all," Ms Reece said.
"No one came past and said get out.
"They should have got around and should have done more, that is the whole thing.
"They should have done a lot more."
Although her family escaped the blaze, Ms Reece was unaware whether her home had
survived.
Silvo Hercog, also from Kinglake West, listened to radio news to seek information
and was angry he heard little about the fire.
He was driving to Yarra Glen when he called his wife at their home.
"She didn't know anything until I rang her at half-past five and by that time the
fire was already up the mountain," Mr Hercog said.
"There was no evacuation, there was no one to say stay or go now.
"There wasn't enough warning."
Mr Hercog said when his wife Jenny decided to leave she drove in the wrong direction
because she did not know where the fire was.
"A lot of people were heading in the opposite direction and she felt compelled to
follow them and they were actually (going) into the fire."
Mario Florian travelled to the fire zone from his home in Melbourne to help his
brother fight the flames at his Whittlesea home.
"I think the CFA or MFB would have been aware of what was going on," Mr Florian said.
"I think there should have been an announcement over the media.
"These days there is television and radio and whatever but there wasn't a mention of
it."
Victorian Premier John Brumby says communications systems did not work as well as
they should have during the bushfires.
Mr Brumby will this week release the terms of reference for a royal commission into
the bushfires.
"I think communications will be part of everything being on the table," Mr Brumby
told the Seven Network.
"There's no doubt that in some areas communications didn't work as well as they should.
"In some areas there was just massive overload for example on mobile phone systems
and you couldn't get through, and I think many Victorians would have experienced
that on Saturday."
Mr Brumby said he had written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd several months ago about
whether a national emergency warning information system should be introduced.
"This would be like a text message which goes out to everybody in fire-affected
areas," he said.
"What happened on Saturday... the temperatures, the intensity, the wind, by late
Saturday afternoon the fires were just moving so rapidly.
"Some of them were moving at 40 or 50km/h, there were virtually no systems that
could have warned people in time of what was arriving, so we've got to look at the
latest technology."
No stone would be left unturned, he said.
"I'll be releasing the terms of reference later this week but I would want them, the
commission, to make recommendations to the parliament and to the government about
the lessons we can learn from what occurred on the weekend," Mr Brumby said.
"They'll look at all of the facts, all of the information, whether it's the
stay-or-go policy that's reviewed, there'll be so many things I think which will be
on the table and I want from the royal commission recommendations that we can put in
place to make sure that an event like this will never ever happen again in our
lifetime."
Meanwhile, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) has defended the "stay and defend"
policy in the wake of Victoria's deadly fires.
CFA Chief Fire Officer Russell Rees said the stay and defend policy, under which
homeowners remain on their property to protect it from fire, was based on sound
evidence.
"It is the application of that policy and a lack of an alternative that we need to
work on," Mr Rees told reporters.
"People need to understand that a late departure is the most deadly.
"We have said, and it is clearly evident, that fires can come without warning and
very rapidly, and that you may not receive a warning and that you may not have a
fire truck at your front gate.
"The (stay and defend) policy has to be to empower people - if you put in a
directive policy to people you will get resistance.
"The clear evidence is that the most dangerous place to be is on the road."
He said emergency services had warned last week that Victoria was facing a threat
unprecedented in its history.
"The fire service planned for this day - their planning was meticulous and detailed
- it was a thorough plan put into place with efficiency and effectiveness, but the
fires, as you all know, were enormous," Mr Rees said.
"Our emergency services worked well together and I am enormously proud of their
efforts - they did everything possible they could in the circumstances but they are
ready, and stand ready, to learn and further improve.
"Our people can hold their heads up high and I ask you to help them to do that."
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said some devastated communities,
where the fires were believed to have been deliberately lit, would remain sealed
from the public while forensic teams carried out their investigations.
"The CFA in some cases have shut the road because of trees falling or fire that may
still be occurring, in some cases the roads are damaged, and for us, people have
died on the side of the road or footpaths, so we are investigating that and
protecting the crime scenes," she said.
"We are trying to clear these locations as fast as we can, but we need to remember
these are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers... and we need to treat them
with dignity in the way that we go about this process