PRESS RELEASE: Perth Hills Community demands action following the 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire.
Perth Hills Community demands following the 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire.
Dr Ken Strahan, the author of a community report on residents’ experiences of and responses to the 2021 Wooroloo bushfire that burnt approximately 11,000 hectares and destroyed 86 homes, has called on the DFES to address major issues identified in the report and enable meaningful and extensive community discussion and learning to increase community safety. The limited and operationally focused enquiry established by the government after the devastating February 2021 bushfire did not address these issues. Dr Strahan has researched bushfires for 30 years and consulted with thousands of Australians who have experienced bushfires, including hundreds in the Perth Hills.
The government and DFES need to ask and listen to people about their experiences of bushfires rather than trying to minimize criticism and control the discussion. They need to learn from the community, so our next major bushfire doesn’t cause the devastation we have seen in Europe this summer.
Residents want:
• Much improved warnings and communication from the emergency services preceding and during bushfires so that they could make better decisions about their safety. Warnings and information need to be accurate, in plenty of time and location-specific.
• Significant improvements in DFES’ firefighting performance management and effectiveness, so DFES fire trucks are where they were required, and firefighters are adequately trained to fight bushfires.
• Emergency services to provide practical support for them evacuating or remaining to defend, reliable information about the fire, and expert management of bushfires in cooperation with residents.
• Much greater institutional support, including emotional and psychological support for residents who remain while the fireground is locked down.
• Reform of roadblock policy and practice to ensure access to food, water, fuel, and vital supplies such as medications and animal feed following the fire and not force residents to circumvent them illegally.
Dr Strahan said he produced the report to serve the Hills community to ensure that what they had learned through the Wooroloo bushfire was not lost. He said:
Governments and fire authorities need to understand what people think and why they respond as they do in bushfires to work with local communities to save lives and protect property. The authorities should not continue to tell residents how to respond and expect them to accept without question. They need to work with the diverse needs and views reflected in the community, and listening to the views of the Hills community reflected in this report would be a positive step.
Contact: Dr Ken Strahan 0418 532 472
[email protected]
4 August 2023
