Vic: Firefighters' union slams soft approach on evacuations
Mon Aug 17 19:49:55 EST 2009
MELBOURNE, Aug 17 AAP - It is ludicrous that Australia is one of the only countries in the world without mandatory evacuations from bushfires, the firefighters' union says.
Speaking after an interim report by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission recommended communities could `relocate' rather than `evacuate' in the event of a fire, United Firefighters Union national secretary Peter Marshall said he was concerned the report would be lost in politics and spin.
"We're extremely disappointed we're the only country in the world that has a policy that does not mandate evacuation," Mr Marshall told reporters in Melbourne after the report was tabled.
"It is ludicrous, we haven't learned from our failings or loss of life that we've seen.
"Certainly we're very concerned that we are going to see a repeat of it.
"Evacuation is evacuation, not relocation.
"It has a sense of urgency for a reason. That is you need to evacuate people because they are going to lose their life."
Mr Marshall said there needed to be a compulsion for the government to implement the commission's recommendations.
He said he was concerned about the level of spin surrounding the report.
"We need to get back to fundamentals. Without fear or favour the royal commission is charged with investigating why 170 people lost their lives, why (113) people were in their home when they lost their life.
"We're very concerned that this will be another case of do nothing, other than media spin."
