Vic: Bushfires report won't solve major fire risk: expert
Mon Aug 17 19:47:52 EST 2009
MELBOURNE, Aug 17 AAP - Major changes laid out in the Bushfires Royal Commission interim report won't remove one major risk in the coming fire season, a bushfire expert says.
The 51 recommendations in the report, released on Monday, focus on establishing early fire risk warnings, relocation plans to include fire refuges and a reorganisation of fire services command.
While those recommendations will considerably help, it is dangerous to assume they will eliminate a known risk that turns small bushfires into out-of-control infernos, said David Packham, a former CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology forecaster of fire conditions.
"The fire doesn't know who's in charge and it doesn't care," he said following the release of the report.
Mr Packham said the overwhelming problem is the high fuel loads of wood and brush laying on the ground of Victoria's forests.
"The state of the fuels leads directly to the state of the threat," he said. "It will not be all right as we go into next season. It will be just as dangerous."
Fuel reductions will be discussed in the second part of the commission's hearings.
A report on those findings won't be released until July 2010 - after this fire season.
Mr Packham said a strong fuel management plan could drastically reduce the state's fire risk.
