Article item posted on Thursday, July 2nd 2009 at 12:20 am

The photo on the left is the street my sister, her family, her friends and her neighbours once called “home”.

My sister and her family were amongst the “lucky” ones, who lived in one of the 47 houses on Pine Ridge Rd Kinglake West, all of which were utterly destroyed.

Twenty one people – neighbours, friends, human beings – were not so fortunate and died.

This is not a death you would wish on anybody.

As Australian citizens,  we must, despite the personal discomfort, reflect on this to ensure it is never allowed to happen again.  Stopping fires isn’t the issue, it’s about saving lives.  To do that, we must  cut through the confusion of “green” politics and look at balancing human survival and environment management.

That the Victorian Dept. Sustainability and Lands are exempt from appearing at the Royal Commission into Black Saturday speaks volumes.

I stood in the ruins of my sisters home, before the mandatory property clearing was undertaken, shortly after Saturday February 7th 2009.  Nothing prepares you for this.

Nothing.

I’ve stood and seen, directly opposite where her home stood, the police cordons where the remains of people were found and the different coloured tape that showed areas  “cleared forensically of human remains”  I’d been inside some of those homes before that day, filled with the sounds of families, friends, music, children’s laughter and love – just like your home in every regard.

We can’t allow this to be swept under the carpet with another “Royal Commission”, like all the Victorian inquiries before it – going back to 1939 – to do absolutely nothing.  We must not let soulless bureaucrats fudge, flounder and throw a facade of concern over an issue that could have been avoided, all the while spraying excuses, platitudes and justifications for actions or lack there-of.  All Victorians, all Australians, must be disgusted and angry about this outcome.

I’ve seen house fires before.  But this did not resemble the house fires we see from time to time in the suburbs or even other bushfires. Brick turned to powder, metal twisted into abstract shapes like a fresco from Dante’s Inferno, refrigerators bore no resemblance to any kitchen appliance, and nothing of one’s life remains, barring a few pieces of charred crockery.  In minutes, with temperatures in the thousands of degrees everything was erased – including people – forever…

Most of you didn’t hear from the victims, nor did the Royal Commission, as I did locally.  Their description of the approaching wall of flame and smoke, the colours and the roar as loud as  standing on the runway next to four 747 Jumbo Jets on full thrust.  The nightmares of the children who survived – and their parents -  replay in therir dreams.  The agony of and for their loved ones, friends and even their beloved pets who perished in an agony of flame and toxic smoke.

Scientists have estimated the fire to be the equivalent to 9.6 Megatons of TNT.  To put that in perspective that’s over 640 Hiroshima nuclear bombs or three low yield hydrogen bombs – or just short of one “average” yield hydrogen bomb.  The “McArthur’s fire danger index” was in excess of 100 on Ash Wednesday 1983.  On Black Saturday February 7th 2009 it was 180!

Consider that coming at you in a legislated “green canopy” zone – imagine surviving it – imagine not surviving. ..

Most of you saw the news from the safety of your urban abode.  But locally it wasn’t like that.  It wasn’t safe.

Here in Hurstbridge, where I live,  the sky turned black, the air we breathed was yellow, pale beams of off yellow sunlight filtered through a pall of disaster taking place only 7 kms away in St Andrews and nearby Strathewan.  According to the CFA official website there were no fires there.  Several “false alarms” were listed.  Hurstbridge was warned of “imminent ember attack” and told to “activate our bushfire plans” two hours after everything had been erased just minutes away to the North.  Later that night, the threat message was changed to state that the township was within the path of the blaze “imminently”, as opposed to “ember attack”.    By a miracle, Hurstridge  was spared – this time.

The Region Is The Most Wildfire Prone In The World

If the wind change had not come through at precisely the time it did,  the townships of St Andrews, Panton Hill, Hurstbridge, Kangaroo Ground, Diamond Creek and perhaps even Eltham would have made the news.  The loss of life would have been even more horrific, even if that doesn’t sound possible.  Our fortune was the devastating misfortune of others, as we are all painfully aware.  I won’t speculate on how bad the toll could have been if the fire had reached Research, Warrandyte or even  Templestowe.  This horror scenario was mapped out years ago by bushfire scientists whom our state, federal and local governments studiously disregarded.

The region sits in the federal seat of McEwen – an electorate contested by me in 2007 Federal Election for the Australian Democrats and won by the Liberal Party’s Hon. Fran Bailey MHR – is considered the most wildfire prone area in the world.

In McEwen it’s not if there’s a super firestorm- it’s always been when.

In a letter to The Australian newspaper of  February 10, 2009, David Packham OAM, an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University’s school of geography and environmental science, wrote:

“It has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation’s capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed…”

This is a pretty damning statement from a man who studies bushfires all his life.  But he goes on:

“The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat…”

For a person who lives in and appreciates the natural splendour of the Australian bush you’d probably think I’d be concerned if not have my heckles raised at the scientist’s words?  Loving the green and the bush is not a justification for the environmentally bankrupt policies of our state and local government.  We’re not talking “green” here, we’re talking about “Greens”.  Make no mistake:  it’s not politics at work here, it’s a doctrine so powerful it borders on religious fervor and shares the fundamental flaws of many religious groups whereby disagreement is heresy.

Locally, “green” groups have been promoting the absurd notion, using news footage, that the fire was worse over open ground and that bushland some how acted as a buffer.  To that I and others in this electorate say take a long, hard, compassionate look at the photo above because what your claims are is unadulterated bollocks!  Shame on you!

David Packham OAM continues:

“The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes…”

Now David Packham is talking about “Green” and where the rubber meets the road.

“The politicians who willingly accept this rubbish use it to justify the perpetuation of the greatest threat to our forests, water supplies, homes and lives in order to secure a minority green vote. They continue to throw millions (and no doubt soon billions) at ineffective suppression toys, while the few foresters and bush people who know how to manage our public lands are starved of the resources they need to reduce fuel loads…”

“It is hard for me to see this perversion of public policy and to accept that the folk of the bush have lost their battle to live a safe life in a cared-for rural and forest environment, all because of the environmental fantasies of outraged extremists and latte conservationists…”

I know or knew of several people who died in that thick smog.  One I went to school with.  Her daughter was found wandering alone after the fire had passed in Strathewan, found by local police officers, and even now is recovering from her terrible burns in hospital.  Her mother, father and siblings did not make it and were found in their home.

I know personally several people who lost their homes, in places forgotten by the media, names like “Flowerdale”, places I visited to attend various functions and debates during the 2007 Federal election campaign.  Places near where I grew up and indeed still live.  It is a sobering thought to consider that people who voted for you are not only affected by this tragedy, but in some cases are no longer with us.  It’s impossible, it’s inhumane, to allow this to pass us by.

While the administration of the CFA comes under ember attack in the Royal Commission in Melbourne and struggles desperately to justify actions, or  lack of actions that day, one has to wonder – do these people care?

It’s a good question because on that terrible day, as reported in local press and the Royal Commission, Nillumbik Shire council refused to assist CFA and SES efforts to assist, rescue and mitigate the agony of victims in St Andrews and Strathewan by point blank refusing requests to provide bulldozers to clear roads blocked by fallen and burnt trees.

The CFA volunteers, the SES, the emergency service personnel worked beyond and above their duties – they have earned our respect and gratitude – a debt that cannot be repaid.

Yet from the administration, we hear of jurisdictional jockeying  before the fire, during the fire and now afterwards.   We’ve heard the spotting tower in Kangaroo Ground spotted dead people in the IZone at St Andrews yet the CFA administration did not acknowledge the event in any capacity and Kangaroo Ground spotting tower yielded control to the Kilmore tower.  We’ve also seen at the Royal Commission that certain CFA employees and the electrical power company were notified five hours before the fire hit the McEwen communities, that the CFA believed the fire would impact heavily.  However, are we  supposed to believe the Emergency Services Coordinator saying he had no idea the scenario would unfold as it did?

To again quote David Peckham:

“In a letter to my local paper, the Weekly Times, on January 25, I predicted we were facing a very critical situation in which 1000 to 2000 homes could be lost in the Yarra catchment, the Otways and/or the Strezleckies; that 100 souls could be lost in a most horrible and violent way; and that there was even a threat to Melbourne’s water supply, which could be rendered unusable by the ash and debris. Horrifically, much of this has come to pass, and it is not yet the end of the bushfire season…”

Emphasis mine.

David Peckham, and other scientists, warned us and our government prior to the event.  Not just warned, but predicted with a suprising accuracy.  In forthcoming posts from me, on this matter, I’ll share some more devastating scientific predictions, like the one above, from other scientists reported in the media, government reports and submissions prior to February 7th 2009.

You would expect the State Government of Victoria and the Shire of Nillumbik, at the very least, would now be taking heed of this – right?

You are forgiven for thinking so.  The reality is actually quite different.

While the State Government is “awaiting the final report from the Royal Commission” Nillumbik Shire Council is spending $400,000 on fuel reduction.  That sounds pretty good.  But dig down.  The council spends more on fighting planning appeals, including actions against residents performing reasonable fuel reduction clearing, than it’s shiny new fuel reduction plan.  To add insult to absurd injury the regions targeted are those impacted by Black Saturday’s fires in Arthurs Creek, Strathewan and St Andrews.  This was the “IZone” (Impact Zone), to use CFA and SES terminology.  While fire could occur there next season, the most likely candidates for a Super Firestorm in coming years are the unburned areas of southern St Andrews, Panton Hill, Hurstbridge, Kangaroo Ground, Research, Wattle Glen and Eltham, stretching across into Warrandyte.

The “Green Canopy” enforcement remains unchanged, prohibiting the clearing of dead and fallen foliage from nature strips, prohibiting the removal of  explosive gum trees adjoining family homes, the lack of clear guidance to residents on what they can do – as opposed to the abundant advice on what they cannot do in relation to “fuel reduction”.  This hasn’t changed.  It won’t change short of a State government dismissing the council and replacing it with an administration with the intestinal fortitude to stand up to “green” interest groups for a balanced and humane fuel reduction and environmental policy.  Nobody wants mass clearing here.  All residents are asking for is a hefty dose of common, humane, sense.

Yet we read in Diamond Valley News letters to the editors of the “green” answer to residents asking for reasonable fuel reduction.  I paraphrase: “If you don’t like it you can leave.”

How humane is that?

I’ll conclude with the words of David Peckham again:

“In the face of this inferno, the perpetrators of this obscenity should have the decency to stand up and say they were wrong. Southeast Australia is the worst place in the world for bushfires, and we must not waste any time in getting down to the task of making our bush healthy and safe.

But don’t hold your breath. Do you hear that lovely sound the warbling pigs make as they fly by? “

He’s right.  Sadly.  But then, we knew that when Premier Brumby chose the politician’s tools of choice to inquire into the Black Saturday Super Firestorm – a Royal Commission and not a Coronial Inquest – didn’t we?

Each time the platitudes, excuses, justifications and pseudo-scientific hogwash is spouted in our community by the “cult of green” they should be required to look carefully and closely at the image directly above.

It shows Pine Ridge Rd Kinglake – not “open cleared land” as depicted in “Green” propaganda – but homes sited inextricably in forest land.

I’ve spoken to witnesses: it came in from the forest from several directions at once.

The first half is a before shot from the air.  The right hand side needs no explanation.  For me the red dot with the number “19″ says everything.

Scott Kane

Tags: activists, ash wednesday, australia, australian citizens, Australian Democrats, Australian Greens, australians, Black Saturday, blog, bombs, brumby, bureaucrats, bushfire, Bushfire Risk Eltham, choices, democrat, democratic, democrats, dinkum, facade, feb 7th 2009, february 7th, february 7th 2009, forestry, fran bailey, friends music, green politics, human beings, human survival, journalists, justifications, kinglake west, laughter, liberal party, lucky ones, mcewen, music children, necessary balance, neighbours, nillumbik council, obfuscation, obliteration, one people, oppositions, personal discomfort, pine ridge rd, platitudes, police cordons, politics, power and bushfire, premier brumby, proclivity, royal comission, sustainability, victorians, who

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