Victoria 'not ready' for bushfire season

Victoria will be left dangerously under-prepared for the upcoming bushfire season
because upgrades to 21 fire incident control centres won't be completed in time, the
opposition warns.

Country Fire Authority chief officer Russell Rees said it was impossible to have all
bushfire preparations ready before the start of the fire season on October 28 but
says upgrades at centres in high risk areas will be finished in time.
On Tuesday, Premier John Brumby visited a new control centre at Gisborne in the
Macedon Ranges, an area that was devastated by the Ash Wednesday blazes in 1983.
He said the government was spending $28.9 million to upgrade 43 level three incident
control centres, as recommended by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, only 16
of which will be complete by end of October.
A further 21 will be finished by the end of the year but six won't be ready until
the end of June 2010.
Opposition bushfire response spokesman Peter Ryan said the delay would leave parts
of the state exposed to danger.
"The real worry in this is that there will be parts of Victoria which are
dangerously underprepared to be able to contend with the threat of this season," he
told reporters.
"We know from what the government is telling us that the threat is dire, it may well
be that we are facing a risk that is even greater than that that unfolded (in
February) this year."
Mr Rees said the high risk areas will be ready.
"The facts are that we are trying to do an enormous amount of work in a very short
period of time," he told reporters.
"We know that there may be some things that are physically impossible to get 100 per
cent right.
"Our aim is to have the high risk ICCs ready and operating as soon as possible and
that is why the target is graduated through the next few months."
The upgrades will mean a warning can be generated in one control centre and
automatically sent out to firefighters on the ground, the community and the
Melbourne control room, rather than relying on fax and email, Mr Rees said.
The royal commission said in its interim report released in August level three
incident control centres must be properly staffed and equipped in case of fire on
high risk days.
Talkback callers on Tuesday complained of problems with the CFA's household bushfire
self-assessment tool, which is available online.
Mr Rees said the CFA launched the tool in October to get public feedback and iron
out problems.
Mr Ryan called on the government to reveal how many level three incident controllers
would be on deck this bushfire season.
The commission heard evidence last Thursday that under-qualified Department of
Sustainability and Environment staff were put in charge of the Murrindindi blaze
that killed 38 people in and around Marysville on February 7.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also issued a warning on Tuesday
about web-based retailers selling bushfire bunkers claiming to comply with
Australian standards when no national standards exist.