Firefighters union calls for Coronial inquest into Wye River burn-off

The decision to burn off around Wye River just days before fire raged out of control will be reviewed.

But the firefighters union are demanding the government take it one giant step further.

UFU Secretary Peter Marshall told Tony Jones he wants a Coronial inquiry.

‘It’s just totally inappropriate that the Inspector-General for Emergency Management investigate whether Emergency Management Victoria have made a wrong call,’ Mr Marshall said on Thursday.

‘That’s like myself investigating myself.’

Mr Marshall said such an inquest would ultimately reveal the truth.

‘There should be nothing to hide,’ he said.

But Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley told Tony that without the burn-off, the fire would have been three times the size.

‘Nothing else was working,’ Mr Lapsley said.

‘To burn out those little bits to get the intensity down was calculated to be the best of a bad lot of options.’