Not Long Till The Next Fire Season...

It's now weeks before the expected start of the next bushfire season.

We'd like to hope we're more ready for it than we were last season. If sensible people have learnt any lesson from February, it's that any potential bushfire fuel should be cleared well before the expected time. Thankfully, some immediate recommendations from the Bushfires Royal Commission regarding that are already being implemented, with some people already starting to clear such fuel from the immediate surrounds of homes in potentially-affected areas. The CFA is also working on fuel-reduction as well.

Recommendations concerning better warning systems, though, might be problematic to implement in time for technical reasons. However, things like Twitter and some of the other social media will be ready and the volunteers from February and March will be amongst the earliest responders monitoring and ready to provide important safety information. People will know a bit better in coming months that Twitter can be highly effective.

We've already heard that it is expected to be a potentially-worse season than the last. That doesn't mean we want it to turn out like Black Saturday. Far from it. People will be more vigilant, quicker to respond and move.

In the meantime there are two regional hearings of the Royal Commission, at Myrtleford and Horsham. At a later date, there will be a hearing in the Gippland area.

After the 21st of September, the Commission will investigate deaths from the last bushfires, with the intent to evaluate the "stay or go" policy.

Let's hope this next season, some commonsense enables more to be done to protect lives and make the upcoming season far safer than the last. But let's not just hope, let's do.

The Bushfires Royal Commision - Mid June 2009...

Before we get into the topic, this blog has been set up as a continuation of volunteer work started back in February, when I was helping out on Twitter relaying important information via three key bushfire-related hashtags.

I would have preferred keeping this topic range over on my Wordpress blog, but unfortunately there is no way to use Friendfeed widgets over there. Having discovered them today, I find it helpful having some resources to feed to here via such widgets, but for some reason, Wordpress doesn't allow the embedding of such things.

Anyway, in the months since the February 2009 Victorian bushfires, people are still recovering from losses, both personal and materially. There have been numerous documentaries on TV, plus testimony arising from the Royal Commision into the fires. Today I begin documenting such things, utilizing the technology available through current social media.

Where available, discussion via the Friendfeed widget will enable people to see the various opinions on such matters.

First off, a link to the actual Royal Commision website:


Next, an eyewitness account from the Kinglake end of the fires:


And one of today's accounts from the Royal Commission:


However, this next item would raise a few needed questions:


The Royal Commission continues.

Real-time discussion on this post: