OK Jaff - I apologise to all. Won't happen again !
I'm glad you've finally pulled you head in Chook. You should know full well that the Fire Services core business is complaining, moaning and whining about anything and everything. Not getting to go to Mexico is seamlessly incorporated into that. How dare you think anything else
Now, on a more serious note, there is a large part of me that wonders what would have happened to the death toll had people heeded the basic bushfire safety messages that the Fire Services have been pushing for years. With the number of people yet again dead in cars, and around their properties with inappropriate clothing, I can't help but wonder, "What if". From the aerial footage of some of the impacted townships, yet again we see many properties that don't look like they were bushfire ready, or had had much preventative work done around them at all. There is something to be said for being responsible for your own well being and survival, especially when you live in a very bushfire prone area like most of those people do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to take anything away from the horrific disaster that has occurred and the significant loss of life, but in all honesty what will it take for people to take notice?
I'm very interested in what the announced Royal Commission into the disaster will find, especially in relation to the "Stay and defend or go early" campaign. I can't help but suggest that if your bushfire action plan is, as many people have said in their media interviews "Stay and try to defend my house, but if its too big, get in the car and go" you are looking for trouble in a bushfire situation. I understand that the conditions were extreme, and that the rate of spread of the fire was just phenomenal, and that, yes, some people who died could well have had the most prepared house in the world and still perished, but on the whole, it just looks like people failed to listen.
If you live in a Bushfire prone area of Australia (eg: Anywhere that isn't in a capital city or desert) how hard is it, at the very least, to prepare your house to the best of your abilities, and if you don't want to clear the land around it, be prepared to leave early and know that chances are you will lose your house, make your home defendable (get the local firies out to give it the once over and see what they suggest) and if you're going to defend your home, get a decent set of overalls to wear, gloves etc etc.
Did anyone see the couple on the news last night that had the property at the top of a hill? Large cleared area, fire hoses and proper civilian PPE? Surprise, surprise, they got out with the hoses, knocked down the fire and their home is a-ok.
I'm sorry, I just need to vent. I feel like so much of the loss of life in situations like this can be prevented if people listen and use common sense. It angers me to see people dying, as they always do, unprepared, ill-equipped, and doing things that fly in the face of what Fire Services have been trying to hammer home.
When will people listen and learn?
