Black Saturday compared to wartime bombings

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29 June 2009

A bushfire expert has told the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission the intensity of the February 7 blazes was comparable to World War II bombings.

Monash University bushfire researcher David Packham says the conditions of the Marysville fire were comparable to the wartime bombings of Dresden and Tokyo.

He also told the royal commission the mass evacuation being promoted as a viable alternative to the contentious “stay or go” bushfire response strategy “could increase the life loss in a bushfire”.

But St Andrews resident Carol Matthews said her family’s decision to follow Country Fire Authority (CFA) guidelines to the letter failed to protect her 22-year-old son Sam, who died in the family home.

The royal commission continued to hear how the events of Black Saturday overwhelmed co-ordination of the emergency services. Telstra national triple-zero manager Jane Elkington said more than 70% of calls on February 7 were abandoned because emergency services were unable to take calls from operators.

CFA duty officer Greg Patterson told the royal commission he believed the Melbourne-based control centre was inferior to the facility it replaced. He admitted he didn’t see predictions of where fires might spread, despite having access to those resources.