`Marysville was safe`, commission told

Almost 24 hours after a firestorm obliterated the town of Marysville and killed 34
of its residents, Victoria's chief emergency body believed everyone in the town was
safe, the bushfires royal commission has heard.
In an embarrassing information breakdown, the Office of the Emergency Services
Commissioner produced a situation report at 8am on February 8, the day after the
fires, and again at 5pm stating: "We understand everyone in Marysville is safe and
are assembled at Gallipoli Park".
The commission on Wednesday heard that the situation report also listed nearby
Taggerty as a "concern", when the fire had been through the town the day before.
Counsel assisting the commission, Rachel Doyle, told the hearing the information was
"just embarrassingly out of date".
Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin agreed, saying the reports were
"unfortunate and wrong".
However, he said he was in the towns of Wandong and Whittlesea with Premier John
Brumby that day and was not in the office.
Ms Doyle suggested that by 4.30pm on February 7, the incident control centre had
lost control of the fire situation across the state.
"No, I wouldn't say that," Mr Esplin responded, adding that staff were doing
everything they could to control hundreds of fires burning across Victoria in
unprecedented conditions.
When pressed about what went wrong on February 7, Mr Esplin said he had believed up
until lunchtime that day that Victoria had the best bushfire policies in the world.
But, he said, all those policies would have to be reviewed following the fires that
killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.
Earlier, the commission heard that Victorian authorities had trialled a telephone
warning system and a town siren in previous years but neither was used on Black
Saturday.
The commission was told Ferny Creek, in the Dandenong Ranges, was the only Victorian
community with a fire brigade siren used to warn residents of a bushfire threat.
"It was something that made a difference to bushfire safety," Mr Esplin said.
Asked if other towns would benefit from a siren, Mr Esplin said he was "certainly
open to solutions".
The commission also heard there had been several thwarted attempts to introduce a
national telephone warning system.
In 2007 and 2008, the Victorian government wrote to the Commonwealth pushing for it
to take action after carrying out a successful state trial.
But it wasn't until April 30, nearly three months after Black Saturday, that the
plan was agreed to.
The hearing continues on Friday.