Recommendations made by authorities after the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire?

Answer 1

There was a Royal Commission of Inquiry following the Ash Wednesday bushfires which covered many aspects of the fires, including the combatting authorities, granting of "permits to build " to prospective home owners by the various municipalities, the effects of the drought and a range of other topics. One of the major discoveries of the Commission was that those people who stayed with their homes, not only survived the fires, but saved their homes as well. This philosophy became a major feature of all subsequent bushfire preparedness and survival advertising and literature, along with having a well prepared house and a disaster survival plan. One recommendation from the Commission fell to the local Fire Brigades and Municipalities to implement being, to give the "local" area a "Fire Danger Rating" based on a point system covering 25 topics. The higher the points, the higher the danger. The idea being that local councils look at "permits to build" outside the metropolitan area and assess them against the local "Fire Danger Rating". Homes to be built in High Fire Risk areas would need to have good access and egress from the property, trees cleared from around houses, overhanging trees cleared away from roads and include private fire fighting equipment such as substantial water tanks fitted with fire brigade compatible connections, diesel pumps, suitable firefighting hoses and external sprinkler systems and a host of other mandatory requirements before a permit to build was granted. This was the one Ash Wednesday recommendation that seems to have failed to be enforced very seriously. Viewing news footage from the Black Saturday fires reveals this failure very obviously. Other recommendations were that all new fire fighting vehicles were to have diesel engines and be fitted with protective heat shielding for the crew. Existing petrol engine vehicles were fitted with "anti-fuel vapourisation" kits and protective heat shielding. All of the combatting authorities were to be mutually supporting and cooperative and have closer communications and familiarity with each other. These were some of the new ideas that were to be implemented on top of what many people considered to be the existing draconian rules and regulations.