I think its important to remember that no firefighters were lost on Black Saturday. In some cases this was due to luck but better training, tankers and safety first firefighting played crucial roles.
firstly....you may want to review your opening statement out of respect for the one that did in the later days; the campaign and firefighting (and burnovers) continued over many days!
secondly, I take it you didnt go to Victoria did you? The material state of the majority of their Tanker Fleet (that I witnessed) is abysmal. We had one that had no burnover protection at all for the crew deck, no roll down curtain, no blankie, no nothing. Their later build appliances are better, but still stowed much more poorly than ours.
Additionally, read the blogs of the crews that were put up in this forum previously and tell me if u think (seriously) they reflect a safety first attitude. It's not a criticism.....in fact I'm in awe of what they did....but it certainly wasnt a SAFETY FIRST attitude. Staying on the back of your tanker fighting any form of approaching fire ISN'T safety first....its lazy
Better training?....again....not from what I saw