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Hello To Bushfire Self Defenders

Red Eagle sends our Newsletters as the need for comment or clarification arises.

By Red Eagle Bushfire Protection Services - 11th February 2011 - Back to News

It is now the second anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires. We must not forget it, even though the huge rains have recently been attracting our attention. During rain and flooding, bushfire self defenders plan for the next bushfire event.

Incidentally, have you noticed the similarities in government response between floods and bushfire events? The strident calls for evacuation in the face of impending disasters have become almost second nature. These calls are the government’s way of protecting us in a disaster. They might be concerned about our lives, but not so about our valuable property and possessions.

If a community is suffering a repeated "natural" disaster, be open to the possibility that this means the government did not know how to or did not do enough beforehand to prevent the disaster. Red Eagle believes the missing step is preparation and empowerment for self defence. If only the government were as keen to teach us self defence and provide communities with effective and maintained infrastructure as they are to clear us out. Until the government sees the practical and economic value of self defence empowerment, Red Eagle will continue to promote it and teach it to bushfire self defenders.

Back to Bushfires

"It has been two years since the February 2009 bushfires devastated many parts of Victoria and caused the loss of 173 lives and more than 2000 homes. Despite the widespread destruction, strong progress is being made in the reconstruction area with more than 2300 building permits issued for replacement homes, sheds and commercial buildings." The Bushfire Recovery and Reconstruction Authority website.

Building permits approved 2373
This includes: Building permits approved for new dwellings, commercial buildings, shop/ restaurants and accommodation 764

These key statistics are not reported:
How many people are living in houses on their property? They don’t say. We suspect a very low percentage.
How many people got satisfactory settlements from their insurers? They don’t say.

Are we any the wiser? What went so wrong that 173 people died?

So what are the answers?

The Newsletter runs through some dramatic evidence about their deaths and outlines some worrisome findings. We think there are some answers, but we are astonished at what areas the Royal Commission could have examined to find more answers.

Missed opportunity (1):

The Royal Commission studied the deaths in great detail. Its mind set seems to have been how could the toll have been reduced? … but unlike a road toll inquiry [** see box below], it left key areas alone. It has missed a generational opportunity to make a difference.

For example, most of the deaths were associated with people who decided to stay. The Commission examined their mindset and where they died, but not the causes. There were several potential contributing causes of their deaths. Were they assessed?

• Was their knowledge or skill adequate? – not assessed
• Was their property properly prepared? – not assessed
• What was the source of their knowledge and was it correct? – not assessed
• Were the municipal or National Park or DSE fire protection plans adequate and what was their condition? – (remember the Premier assured us the night before that the State had never been better prepared?) – not assessed

Its answer to reducing the death toll was focused on more government sponsored action (even though government actions over decades has never coped with severe bushfires at their worst) - strengthen the Agencies, get the people out fast, or better still, don’t let them live in there.

We wonder why did the Commission not ask these questions:

Are there other approaches?

Can proper self defence be a tool to help reduce the death toll?

We sent in several submissions urging this approach. Rather than encourage more government control over people, why not encourage people and neighbourhoods to be more knowledgeable and self-responsible?

Missed opportunity (2):

Because self defence is not yet on the government agenda, the Royal Commission has missed another opportunity for generational change because it did not examine this fact - many more people and houses survived than were lost. Surely to have asked questions like - how did people survive on their properties, how did people evacuate safely? – would have enabled people to use the answers for their future benefit and to improve their self reliance.

Astute observers of bushfires have known for decades there are three indisputable facts about severe bushfires:

• That a severe fire cannot be controlled by fire fighters’ equipment
• That a severe fire stops when it runs out of fuel.
• That ember attack can’t be stopped, but embers can be extinguished when they land, if people are there.

We believe people discover the answer to reducing the bushfire damage toll when they understand these facts and implement genuine self defence strategies. Nobody in government has yet seen the light. They are happy to give fire fighters more and more equipment and more and more dollars, yet the damage toll keeps growing. Neighbourhood or regional self defence is not yet on their agenda. Until it is, we bushfire self defenders must continue to organise our own self defence.

So bushfire self defenders, as we said in the previous Newsletter,

Nothing changes - you are still on your own in a severe bushfire. The choice remains the same as always – either you learn to self defend properly or you rely on luck.

** How can we reduce the road toll? One approach is more police and stronger laws (= more government controls). Another approach is to improve the overall standard of driving – with skills and knowledge, and to improve people’s defensive driving skills (= more self responsibility).

Regards

Denis

-- 


Denis O'Bryan
Red Eagle Bushfire Protection Services
03 9826 3315

redeagle@redeagle.com.au
www.redeagle.com.au

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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