It is one thing to say you "have a plan". Quite another to have spent the required time, energy, and money to prepare your place to be defendable. We did, and made it. As tragic as these recent fires were, and as right as some of the blame may seem, the places that went up were not defendable, period. The city councils had required in some cases intensive landscaping, exterior walls were old, weathered cedar or other soft woods, people did not have the proper tools, or petrol-powered fire pumps, or tanks of water, or or or. I know from personal experience that had they truly made their properties defendable, many if not all would have survived. The Aussie fire booklets available are excellent, tho they lack a few clarifications; to wit:
Fleeing at the last minute does not mean you will have to bear some flames like diving thru a fire-barrel for a few seconds. It means choking smoke, so thick you cannot see your own windshield, nor can you breathe from the heat searing your lungs. It means you, and everyone else, are driving blind, and fast, in a panic. Someone is going to plow into another, or go off the side. Then it's your turn. Trees and poles are falling like dominoes across the road. THAT is why you don't flee at the last minute.
Leaving early means leaving when you know the temp is going to be 115 and there are going to be high winds and there has been an historic drought. That is warning enough.
You have no business thinking you are going to fight a fire if you cannot picture yourself surrounded by 2 story flames, hotter than hell and burning your skin, dragging hoses this way and that, all the while staying calm. You also have no business fighting a fire with a garden hose and in flip-flops. Finally, if you have a disability, or are old or ill or too young, the same goes. Leave early.
Finally, "a plan" to defend your property means you have included the very most important aspect; which is having a defendable space.
We fought fires similar or worse. We did the right thing and prepared for 3 years prior. If you check out my website at: www.shelter-in-place.net, you can see the video and fotos, and read my story of the event. Politicians are politicians, and they may or may not try and take away my right to defend my property. I do not in any way blame the victims of the recent fires. As a matter of fact, I blame no one, including the ones that Dave blames. It was a huge act of nature, and people will be people. Blaming only makes it worse.
All I have to say is this: If anyone tries to make me leave my property the next time a fire hits, they better have a gun and be prepared to use it.
Jeffe Aronson, to Black Saturday Commission, 2009
