Authorities rethinking policy on wildfires

Authorities searching for answers to the carnage from Australia’s worst-ever wildfires said today they would rethink current policies of allowing residents to decide for themselves whether to evacuate their homes.

Officials defended their preparation and actions during last weekend’s unprecedented infernos that swept unchecked across southeastern Australia and killed 173 people, and said forced expulsions probably would not have prevented all of the deaths.

Disaster teams moving into towns burned out the inferno found charred bodies on roadsides and in crashed cars – grim signs of futile attempts to flee raging wildfires fed by 60mph winds, record heat and drought.

Suspicions that some of the 400 blazes were caused by arson has led police to declare crime scenes in some incinerated towns.

The fires near Melbourne, a southern city of some four million people that is Australia’s second-largest, destroyed more than 750 homes, left 5,000 people homeless, and burned 1,100 square miles of land, the Victoria Country Fire Service said.

Three days after the worst single day of wildfires in Australia’s history, officials said their ferocity, pace and breadth made them impossible to fight effectively.

Still, this disaster would likely rewrite the books on what is considered best practice for handling fires, including the widespread policy of allowing residents in high-risk areas to decide for themselves whether to stay or flee.

The policy recognises that Australia’s wildfire services – made up largely of volunteers – lack the resources to protect every house; thus, homeowners are allowed to try to protect their own property.

“It is the application of that policy and a lack of an alternative that we need to work on,” Country Fire Authority chief Russel Rees told reporters today. But he conceded that evacuation orders were unlikely to be heeded by all, and would be hard to enforce during a fire emergency.

The scale of the disaster shocked a nation that endures deadly firestorms every few years. Officials said panic and the freight-train speed of the walls of flames probably accounted for the unusually high death toll.

“It was very quick and ferocious and took everyone by surprise,” said Jack Barber, who with his wife, a neighbour, six cats and a dog sought refuge with five other people on a cricket field surrounded by trees in Kinglake.

“All around us was 100-foot flames ringing the oval, and we ran where the wind wasn’t. It was swirling all over the place,” he said. “For three hours, we dodged the wind.”

Firefighters today were still battling more than a dozen blazes that burned out of control across Victoria state, although conditions were much cooler than Saturday. Forecasters said temperatures would rise later this week, posing a risk of flare-ups.

Blazes have been burning for weeks across several states in southern Australia, common for time of year. But the worst drought in a century in the south had left forests extra dry, and Saturday’s temperature was 117 degrees (47 degrees celsius), the relative humidity was 7%, and the wind was gusting to 50mph.

“I cannot fathom in my mind anything more hellish, fire-wise,” said Jim Andrews, senior meteorologist at accuweather.com.

President Barack Obama telephoned Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to convey his condolences to the victims. Mr Obama offered US assistance to help with the fires.

Survivors gathered at emergency relief centres looking for loved ones and accepting handouts of food and clothes. Welfare groups began taking in injured animals.

Victoria Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said investigators had evidence that one of the deadly blazes – known as the Churchill fire after a ruined town east of Melbourne – was arson, and it could not be ruled out for others. A task force of 100 officers was being established for what would be a long and complex investigation, she said.

Of Australia’s estimated 60,000 fires in forests and other vegetation each year, about half are deliberately lit or are suspicious, the government-funded Institute of Criminology said earlier this month.

In New South Wales State yesterday, a 31-year-old man appeared in court charged with arson in connection with a weekend wildfire north of Sydney. No loss of life was reported there, and he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Police towns where bodies were still lying in the open or where they believed evidence of crimes may lie would remain sealed off. Some 170 troops were deployed to those towns to collect bodies, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said.

Donna Bateman, whose home in Kinglake West burned to the ground with her pets inside, said firefighters barely had a chance.

“Everyone has a fire plan. People prepare for this for months,” she said. “But the fire service told me that a fire that usually takes a day to travel had travelled three-quarters of a mile in an hour to my property. Now everything is gone.”