Chapter 4 - Warnings - 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission

2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission—Interim Report
4 WARNINGS
4.140 Mr Illiya Ananiev of St Andrews said his family was relying on a ‘trigger’ from the internet or the CFA
scanner. Mr Ananiev was aware of the high fire danger, but his first awareness of a fire in his area was being
showered by blackened sticks in his family swimming pool. At that time, the only information on the website
was that a Kilmore fire was ‘going’ and Mr Ananiev was not concerned by this information. In the end his
family had to evacuate at the very last minute. 186
4.141 Mr Bevan Gobbett of Clonbinane planned to commence his preparations when he received word that
a fire had started in his shire. Mr Gobbett was first notified by a friend that a fire had started in Kilmore East.
He accepted that due to a family function on that day he had not heard or seen some of the earlier
warnings. Mr Gobbett had access to a CFA scanner, and the CFA and DSE websites, but found that
the substantive web pages were inaccessible. He also listened to ABC Radio. 187
4.142 Mrs Joan Davey was aware that her son and daughter-in-law from Kinglake were making preparations while
monitoring the CFA website and looking for information about fires in their area. The fire consumed the
family home and tragically took the lives of the young family, including Mrs Davey’s two grandchildren. 188
Informal sources AND visual cues
4.143 Some who gave evidence were not aware of a fire until they saw smoke in the area — for example,
Mr Daryl Hull working in Marysville. 189 Others first heard of fire in their area from friends and family. 190
Others heard information on CFA scanners — or later expressed the wish that they had been able to do so. 191
4.144 Mr Christopher Casey of Long Gully heard nothing about the fires as he was listening to a commercial radio
station. His first indication was noticing smoke in the distance. Ultimately Mr Casey went out into his local
area and was advised by a police officer of the need to evacuate. 192
4.145 Ms Sharon McCulloch of Kinglake was aware that the weather conditions leading up to 7 February were
as bad or worse than Ash Wednesday, but the first indication she had that the fire was approaching was
when she saw smoke and was informed by a relative. She did not hear any warnings for Kinglake on
ABC Radio during the brief period she listened to it. 193
4.146 Mr Douglas Walter of Taggerty had been listening to 774 ABC Radio and heard notification of a fire in
Kilmore that was moving quickly. However, the first indication he had of the progress of the fire was his
direct observations of the smoke. 194
4.147 Mr David O’Halloran and his family monitored ABC Radio and the DSE and CFA websites. He did not
hear a warning for his town of Flowerdale, although he accepted that a warning was broadcast on the
ABC shortly after ten past six. He heard from a neighbour that fire was approaching Kinglake. 195
4.148 Ms Anastasia Scott of Marysville was aware of the forecast weather. But her first indication that a fire had
started at the Murrindindi Mill came from a phone call from a friend. She also received advice personally
from a DSE employee who happened to live nearby. 196
4.149 Ms Christine Glassford of Reedy Creek was aware of the weather forecasts and knew it was going to
be very hot. Ms Glassford’s first information concerning the fire was when she noticed smoke; she then
checked that information on the CFA website but it did not appear to match her observations. 197
Lack of timely warnings
4.150 Chapter 1 describes the main fires on 7 February and contains information on the provision of warnings.
For a number of the fires there is a serious time lag from the point of activation of emergency services to
the provision of information, alert and warning messages to the community. The Commission will hear
further evidence on the timeliness and accuracy of the warnings given for each major fire in future hearings.
4.151 Mr David Brown of Strathewen was aware of the predictions for fire risk for Saturday 7 February. He said
that they were waiting for a trigger, that is an indication a fire was in their vicinity. The fire that came upon
them had started over four hours before it reached them. 198 Mr D Brown said:
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