Safety up to you

VULNERABLE residents are being told to take responsibility for their own safety in bushfire prone areas.
A new Yarra Ranges Council report has found that vulnerable people living independently in high risk fire areas were ignoring or wouldn’t accept bushfire preparedness messages.
It also poses the question – why does the larger community owe a duty of care to those who insist in remaining in high risk areas despite their functional inability or limitations to take action?
The report focuses on ensuring that all vulnerable people had a bushfire plan, and were aware of how to respond to bushfire messages.
The Bushfire Awareness and Preparedness for Frail Older People and Vulnerable Residents in the Yarra Ranges was endorsed by councillors at last Tuesday’s (24 August) council meeting.
The Municipal Association of Victoria recommends that councils shouldn’t be the “sole custodians” of lists concerning vulnerable people and their plans, and should not be responsible for alerting and managing the evacuation of vulnerable people.
Council has spent the last 18 months sending out brochures and relocation kits to residents, and interviewing residents, conducting surveys and holding community information sessions to come to their conclusions.
Telephone case studies found that barriers to people accepting that they had to be bushfire ready were an unrealistic reliance on emergency service provision, not seeking help from personal networks, a denial of risk and a sense that factors such as luck or faith would act to protect them.
Group sessions found many individuals would not bother their children for support during relocation because they didn’t want “to be considered frail and relinquish a sense of dependence to their adult children”.
The report found that vulnerable people incorrectly believed they had a right to expect council would open relief centres on hot days; and many older males felt strongly about their “right to stay” even when they didn’t have the capacity to defend.
Of the Shire’s 2500 Home and Community Care (HACC) clients, 60 clients were unable to organise their own bushfire relocation arrangements until council officers sat down to talk them through their plans.
Sixteen clients required council support to plan and prepare for bushfire relocation, where council would provide transport to leave the area and private accommodation arrangements were made.
Most of the recommendations in the report required the help and funding of State Government and its departments to co-ordinate networks and systems for bushfire preparedness for vulnerable people.
The council itself took responsibility to develop and fund a department dedicated to emergency recovery within the shire, and to develop kits for new residents on their rights and responsibilities of relocating into a high fire risk area.