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Inquiry slams “systemic failings” in killer Australia fires |
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SYDNEY: An official inquiry into Australian wildfires which killed 173 people Saturday found there were “systemic failings” of leadership and chaos had plagued the emergency response. Australia’s worst ever natural disaster, the so-called “Black Saturday” fires in February 2009 reduced entire towns to ash, razing 2,133 homes. Many of those who perished died trying to save their homes, and Saturday’s report recommended a shakeup of firefighting agencies and changes to the “stay or go” policy — under which residents can choose to defend their properties and authorities cannot forcibly evacuate them. The Royal Commission report said the policy’s “central tenets ... remain sound” but there needed to be a greater emphasis on early evacuation being the safest option, and recognition that some fires were simply not defendable. “The rigours of mounting a defence in the face of fires such as those on Black Saturday caught many by surprise,” the commission said. Nearly half of those who died were classed as “vulnerable”, the report said, because they were aged under 12 or over 70, or because they were suffering from some illness or disability. The commission found that the response “faltered because of confusion about responsibilities and accountabilities and some important deficiencies of leadership.” No single agency took charge of the emergency and the chain of command was unclear, with leadership “wanting”, particularly from the then-police commissioner Christine Nixon, who went out to dinner as the disaster reached its peak, the inquiry said. “When considered collectively, the problems illustrate systemic failings,” it said. Widespread problems with radios and telephones made it difficult to track the response and at times “conditions were chaotic on the fireground,” it said. Warnings to communities were too vague and there was inadequate evacuation or provision of shelters and refuges for those in the fire’s path. The report recommended urgent upgrade of ageing electricity infrastructure in fire-prone areas, with one-third of the most dangerous blazes directly caused by fallen power lines or other electricity assets. “The seriousness of the risk and the need to protect human life are imperatives (authorities) cannot ignore,” it said. It also called for the government to buy out and resettle people living in unacceptably high-risk areas and ban building there, as well as requiring buildings in fire areas to adhere to stricter standards. Backburning — deliberately burning off areas of bush to reduce fuel for wildfires — should also be ramped up to five percent of public land every year, the Commission said, from the current level of 1.7 percent. |
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31/07/2010 |
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