Chapter 5 - Information - 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission

2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission—Interim Report
5 INFORMATION
5.29
5.30
5.31
In their submissions, Counsel Assisting proposed that the FDI ought to be published and more readily
available to the community to assist individuals to assess the level of bushfire risk on particular days. 41
The State agreed in principle with this recommendation, but said it did not intend to implement it until it had
had the opportunity to examine the outcome of AFAC’s consideration of this issue. 42 The Commonwealth
supported the proposed recommendation, but indicated it wanted to consult with the fire agencies before
deciding on the best way of providing the FDI to the public. 43 AFAC endorsed the proposed recommendation,
but called for an accompanying national public education campaign. 44
This is a simple matter, but one worthy of immediate action, to ensure that the FDI is readily available to
the public. Drawing on the comments of Mr Rees, it would be desirable for the FDI and the revised fire
danger rating to be as well publicised and as well known as the UV rating. To that end, the FDI should
be included in fire weather warnings and general weather forecasts to promote the visibility of this tool
in predicting fire danger.
RECOMMENDATION 5.2
The Bureau of Meteorology include the Forest Fire Danger Index and the Grass Fire Danger Index in its fire
weather warnings and general weather forecasts on its website and in material distributed to the media.
Building A Single, multi-agency bushfire information website
for Victoria
160
5.32
5.33
5.34
5.35
5.36
5.37
The CFA and DSE maintain separate websites. Mr Rees explained that the State Information Desk at
the Integrated Emergency Coordination Centre (iECC) currently publishes information on the CFA website,
based on information received from Incident Control Centres (ICCs) in the field. 45 Mr Ewan Waller, Chief Fire
Officer, DSE, described the DSE website as providing ‘rapid access to critical incident updates, map based
information, warnings and other related information’. He said the DSE website had evolved to meet ‘rapidly
increasing public demand’. 46
Members of the public rely on fire agency websites for accurate and up-to-date information about fires in
their area. A number of lay witnesses attested to seeking information from websites. 47 On 7 February, ABC
staff also monitored the CFA and DSE websites as one of the sources of information available to them. 48
The Victorian Bushfire Information Line (VBIL) staff also relied on the websites. 49
The public reliance on websites was reflected in the interviews analysed for the purposes of the Bushfire CRC
Victorian 2009 Bushfire Research Response Interim Report (June 2009). The preliminary analysis in that interim
report noted that, ‘many interviewees sought information from the CFA and DSE websites ... There were no
positive references to the websites. There were several negative evaluations of both websites’. Information on
the sites lagged behind fire events. 50
Professor Handmer provided expert opinion on the use of websites to gain information about fire risk and
location. He expressed the view that ‘web based material has become the primary source of information in
our society, both official and unofficial’. 51 He noted, however, that websites are often unreliable under heavy
demand. 52 Professor Handmer stated that the public should have access to one website with the relevant
information but, to reduce overload, there may be more than one site with identical content. 53
Several witnesses agreed with the need for a single website. For example, Mr Alexander Caughey,
Community Education Coordinator for the CFA, agreed there should be one site. 54
Ms Kathryn Venters, Manager of Customer Service at DSE (based at the VBIL Customer Service Centre),
also expressed the view that VBIL staff find it confusing to have to consult two agency websites, and said it
would be a great advantage to have a single website. 55