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Wednesday May 23, 2012

What we're talking about

Siren ban jeopardising thousands?

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 17 January, 2012 - 4:36 PM
Fire

Today’s temperatures in Victoria are in the high 30s and we’ve had strong, hot, drying winds. That means we are edging into bushfire territory again.

True, we haven’t got those drought-fed tinderbox conditions that fuelled Black Saturday and killed 173 people back in February 2009 but it’s that time of summer to be on high alert again.

*Scroll down to hear Derryn Hinch's interview with Deputy Chief Officer of the CFA, John Haynes*

This week we will see the results from research conducted by a team of Australian and American scientists under the auspices of the ANU.  They examined 500 houses lost or affected by Black Saturday and took about 12,000 measurements.

I understand that after all that, their main advice is common sense. The best way to reduce the impacts of bushfires?   Clear vegetation growing close to your house.

Fuel reduction is the best early weapon against bushfires. Starve the blaze. It wouldn’t have saved all the lives in that February inferno which also injured more than 400 people – but it would have helped.

You should clear vegetation for 40 metres around your house. But a lot of greenies on suburban, and even country, councils won’t let you. A cutback on burn offs because of Greenie pressure didn’t help when the Black Saturday fires tore across the state.

There’s another issue involving selfishness that doesn’t help in times of fire alerts either. And that’s the ban on CFA units from testing their sirens.

I raised this issue some years ago, pre Black Saturday, when a caller said the siren had gone silent in the Dandenongs because some locals didn’t like the noise. I think it was a siren ban at Emerald.

I said at the time I guess they preferred the sound of a bushfire roaring through. That sounds like a 747 sitting on your roof.

The siren bans are still happening. While I was under house arrest I received an email from a resident at Mt. Martha where their siren has been banned. And I promised to chase it up when I legally got my voice back.

This CFA is overlooking the Balcome Creek Valley. Apparently their siren was killed two years ago when somebody new moved into a block of units near the fire station. They complained.

You’d think when you lived next to a fire station you could expect to hear sirens occasionally. I’m sure you’d want to hear it if your place was going up. I know when I lived in the country, with a farm at Mt.Macedon, even the testing of the local fire siren gave you a sense of security.

Also my farm and vineyard manager, Colin Neate, was heavily involved in the CFA and the siren was an automatic call to arms. I’m told that units now rely on pagers to contact  the volunteers. But pagers are not always reliable, especially in the country and a farmer might not have his pager with him on the tractor or out in the yard.

This is Noddyland. We are talking about lives at stake here. And CFA Headquarters has some questions to answer.

PLAY: CFA's John Haynes discusses the CFA safety approach on high temperature days

Drive with Hinch

Hinch Hinch is a former police rounds reporter, former foreign correspondent, former newspaper editor, former host of national current affairs shows, former novelist, former radio host in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, former MIDDAY host and former jailbird

 

Blog comments Your Say

  • Anyone who complains about a CFA siren is un-Australian. Turn them all on and leave them on. Retro fit double glazing to any one who lived there before the CFA station was built. These people are like the wingers who buy cheap houses next to an airport and then campaign to have the airport closed. We don't need these wando's in our society.

    Bert Tuesday 24 January, 2012 - 8:26 AM

  • Neil Mitchell and derryn Hitch dont forget even if it is a new year that the victorian public hospital nurses are still fighting to keep their conditions and a reasonable pay rises. The public din't want to go to hospital and end up being looked after by a pca.

    Pat Currie Wednesday 18 January, 2012 - 4:15 AM

  • Our siren is on a timer and will only operate between 8am and 8pm. So the people who whinge about it at night waking them up have nothing to complain about. Easy solution.
    After all, they roll over and can go back to sleep, I have to get out of bed and respond!

    Glenn Tuesday 17 January, 2012 - 5:05 PM

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