Threat hits home

By Kath Gannaway
UPPER YARRA residents were given a blunt reality check on Thursday night.
At an emotion-charged meeting at Warburton, CFA and police gave graphic accounts of the peril people placed themselves in by not heeding the fire-readiness warning to go early unless fully prepared to face an inferno.
They said many had died from deciding too late they could not stay to save their homes and properties.
“A lot of people died on the road and the CFA is very clear with its message that it is very dangerous to be in a car; which comes back to ‘stay or go early’,” CFA spokesperson Louise Brown said. “Leaving early means going early on all days of extreme fire risk. It’s too late to leave when a fire is in your area.
“You may not get a warning, and you may not get CFA assistance. How will you make decisions if you don’t have power, can’t access internet or radio? You need to have a battery radio.
“People who stay must be physically and emotionally prepared. You must be very engaged to do this if you decide to stay,” she said.
Police area manager for Healesville, Yarra Glen and Warburton Senior Sergeant Bob Raaymakers reinforced the CFA message.
“We don’t want people to go up roads and perish,” he said. “When we say go, we mean go before it hits the fan,” he added.
Sen Sgt Raaymakers said there had been a lot of talk at the meeting about relief centres and “where do we go?”
There had been a lot of angst in the Healesville-Yarra Glen areas where police had put in roadblocks and people were unable to get to their homes, he said.
He said people could no longer be directed to refuge areas, which could in themselves become unsafe in a fire.
Sen Sgt Raaymakers said he had been part of 12 years of planning for the sort of event which descended on Victoria on Saturday 7 February.
“People have a certain mindset but when it hit the fan at Yarra Glen on Saturday it really was like Armageddon.”
He said police officers put their lives at risk. “We have all chosen to live in these environments but every one of us has to take responsibility for ourselves.”
Someone asked about taking refuge in the river.
Clearly frustrated that the message was not getting through, he apologised, saying: “Sorry, it’s pretty blunt … if you don’t have a contingency plan in that regard, then don’t be here.”
Residents had been attending a briefing by Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Nigel Brennan on the current state of fire threats to the region.
Fires were burning from the Bunyip State Forest in one direction to Healesville and Yarra Glen in the other.
He said the catchments which had been severely impacted were the Armstrong Catchment and the O’Shannassy Catchment.
“These have burnt with some intensity on Saturday into Sunday.”
Those fires were burning slowly towards Warburton, he said.
“At walking pace,” he clarified when challenged on what ‘slowly’ meant.
Loudspeakers were set up outside the Mechanics’ Hall in Warburton when the huge crowd spilled out on to the street, desperate for the latest information.
Many people demanded to know where they would go if a firestorm the likes of that which descended on Kinglake and Marysville erupted in the Upper Yarra.
In the pressure-cooker atmosphere some in the audience railed against the shire for what they said were their ‘too green’ policies which denied people the opportunity to sufficiently clear their properties of ti-tree and reduce the fire threat.
Monbulk MP Tammy Lobato brought some calm to the situation.
“I realise the level of concern. I know that this community has been lacking information, and how concerning that is,” she said.
She said she had spoken with the Shire of Yarra Ranges and encouraged more flexibility on the removal of ti-tree and had arranged for green waste to be accepted at the Wesburn Transfer Station free of charge.