Let’s learn from each other.
The Be Ready Warrandyte team held a public meeting facilitated by Steve Pascoe (Black Saturday survivor, community facilitator) which allowed the community to;
– receive a debrief of the fire on 9 Feb 2014 from local agency staff,
– tell their story,
– share their experience
– learn what went well, what didn’t and how we can improve moving forward.
It was observed that we are all much more aware of bushfire planning now than we were 5 years ago. Our plans are a lot further developed.
What did you do?
- Some left on Saturday, some left Sunday morning, some left when they received the warning.
- Of those that were in Warrandyte when they received the warning used words like ‘panic’, ‘complete mess’, ‘traumatic’ and ‘went to pieces in frustration’.
- Of those that left early people spoke about taking longer than they thought to pack, having somewhere to go and relocation fatigue.
- Friends were very concerned – received a lot of phone calls
- Local business assessed risk and changed staffing accordingly.
- Planned to stay and defend – tested plan – 80% worked well – now working on the final 20%. Also had a last get out if all else failed – a bunker.
What was the experience like?
- Something always goes wrong
- Many people had a bad feeling about Sunday
- Took too long to pack the car
- Had nowhere to go – would like a council organised meeting/drop-in place
- Traffic control – congestion on Pound Rd
- The feeling of being home alone and possibly having to fight the fire was very frightening
- Evacuation fatigue – people felt bad that they couldn’t be bothered relocating, again. However the end of the heat wave is the most dangerous.
- Activated fire/phone tree – didn’t work as planned
- International visitors – inexperienced about fire and required looking after
- House sitting – Different/new living arrangements – unfamiliarity led to panic – couldn’t find the plugs for the bath & sinks.
- Usually check CFA website for information but had trouble with the computer and couldn’t get the site up.
- Disagreement within the household – thought they were in agreement but when it came to the crunch there weren’t
- Don’t leave early because nowhere to go
- Children who experienced the fire were very traumatised
- With no power residents were unable to get their car out of the garage with electronic doors. Even with the manual release, the door was too heavy to lift. (Not discussed on the night but raised next day)
What do you have in your plan that others might find useful?
- Have a written list of items to take when you relocate so you don’t have to think about it on the day or forget anything.
- Include backed-up hard drives, important documents, prescriptions.
- Take photos off site in December
- Save photos into the ‘cloud’
- If leaving early in the morning, partially pack the car the night before to save time.
- Plan to use various road routes – some may be blocked/difficult to see with smoke. Don’t assume the fire will always come from the north it could start anywhere. Need to be familiar with the road network and what options you have.
- Arrange with (older) children to go to relief centre if they get separated – established meeting place
- Deal with the fear by planning all the way to Plan F
- Take best frocks
- Plans have changed with age and experience
- Age can affect ability to handle the heat and actively defend
- Play the game ‘What happens if….’ to test your plan. Eg. What happens if the water gets turned off? What happens if a tree falls across the road? What happens if I can’t start the pump?
- Plan B, C, D needs to be written down, talked about and be explicit
- Need to stay calm – knowledge helps
- Plans have to cover various members of the household being home.
- Roads get closed when there is an incident – might not be able to get to school to collect children. Consider keeping kids home from school based on established trigger.
What are the issues?
Where to go?
- Establish trigger point for when to leave. Might be based on Fire Danger rating, but can also include gut feel. Sunday felt like it was going to be a ‘bad’ day.
- Having somewhere to go requires pre-planning, particularly if pets or if household members have specific needs.
- Can go to a relief centre if unable to go to family or friends.
- Use the Go-List available on the Be Ready Warrandyte website
Pets – need somewhere to go
- Cherry Tree Hotel allowed people to have pets in the car park
- Give large animals lots of room – open internal fences
- Pop up cat cages available online – good to put cats in on Severe + days.
- Contact local vets even if they don’t have boarding facilities they may take pets – particularly cats.
What would you do differently?
Evacuating
- Use FDR as a trigger
- Spread evacuations over more friends
- Pack the car the night before
- Make sure neighbours know where you are. Don’t want neighbours putting themselves at risk to see if you are at home.
- Buy spare chargers and include in relocation kit
Knowledge/Information
- Didn’t realise Extreme was rare and that Sunday was the first Extreme day for the season.
- Don’t just rely on official warnings – look outside, use eyes, ears and nose
Communication
- Have a key contact point and make them known to friends and family. People received phone calls from everyone they know which caused their phones to go flat very quickly.
Practicality
- Found it difficult to put heavy clothes on due to health issues.
Preparedness
- Imagine the fire starting in your backyard – what would you do?
- Had a lot of faith in Plan A to leave early but now feel unprepared if surprised by a fire starting nearby and unable to go.
A very strong plea from a resident of Amersham Drive that you must plan for the fire starting in your own backyard. They never expected it to happen to them and always thought a fire would start in the distance somewhere, and probably in the north. The safest option is to leave early and not be there.
In excess of 70 fire-fighting appliances couldn’t save the homes that were lost in Warrandyte. An individual with much less sophisticated equipment has no hope of defending a home in those conditions. Adrian Mullens said “it was like a furnace”.
SEWS – Standard Emergency Warning Signal – How does it work and why didn’t I get it?
**The community needs more information about how the emergency warning system works**
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD NOT WAIT FOR AN EMERGENCY WARNING BEFORE YOU ACT.
Leaving early is the safest option. Use a range of information sources, including radio, websites, phone apps and by stepping outside to use your eyes, ears and nose.
Listed below are links to information about the SEWS which help explain how and when it is used.
Emergency Alert FAQ
Click on this link and then watch the bottom video which gives a 5 minute detailed explanation of how the system works.
Australian Emergency Management
The Be Ready Warrandyte committee extends its sympathy and support to those people deeply affected by the bushfires of Sunday 9th February.