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Evacuation Why don’t you force evacuation?
CFA and other emergency service personnel do not have the authority to order the removal of a person from a property if they have pecuniary interest in the relevant land, building or goods within it.
The Emergency Management Act (1986) and the Country Fire Authority Act (1958) gives residents the right to stay with their homes during a bushfire.
The decision to leave the area or stay with their property during a wildfire is the responsibility of the individuals concerned and should be made before there is fire in the area.
The available research suggests that late evacuation by residents is a dangerous option.
If a resident is away from home at the time of the fire they can legally be prevented from entering the fire area and can be prevented from returning to their residence.
Victoria Police manages road access in and out of the fire area. While safety is the overriding concern every effort will be made to allow residents and landholders to reach their properties before the fire impacts and as soon as possible after the fire has passed.
CFA does not encourage any resident to be travelling on the roads when there is a bushfire in the area.
When should we leave? People who intend to leave must leave before there is a fire in the area. Leaving early means going to safe places on all days when there is a severe fire risk. Sometimes this may mean leaving the night before a high risk day.
In extreme fire conditions fire travels very fast. It is too late to leave when there is already a fire in the area.
If you see flames it is too late to leave as it is far too dangerous on the road.
Radiant heat is the biggest killer in a bushfire. Being in a car during a fire is highly dangerous. Many recent fatalities have occurred on roads. Cars do not provide adequate protection from radiant heat. Roads are unsafe to travel on because of poor visibility due to smoke, falling trees and a large number of emergency services vehicles.
If there is any doubt or you are unsure about your stay and defend plan than CFA advises you to leave early.
Communal Fire Refuges How come CFA or the Council (Municipality) does not supply communal fire refuges?
It is your local municipalities choice to provide Fire Refuges within the municipality.
In Victoria Fire Refuges are not compulsory.
The CFA has no legal responsibility to provide a refuge, however we have made ourselves available to local government in an advisory capacity.
CFA supports the Royal Commission in further investigating fire refuges and we expect the Commissioners will examine this matter taking into account all the research available.
Extra Information if required Reasons for municipalities not having fire refuges may differ from council area to council area however some reasons may include; the issue of maintenance of the refuge, who will open it, when it will be open, how will it be resourced and how many people can it safely hold. And also how it will be defended in the case of fire impacting directly on the Fire Refuge.
CFA currently, does not support communal fire refuges as this requires residents to travel from their home to the shelter encouraging last minute evacuations and cars on the road.
According to the Fire Refuges in Victoria, Policy and Practice report (2005, OESC); the problem with refuges is that they can cause confusion as to what people should do in the case of bushfire. The report states that refuges “may encourage people to delay decisions about evacuation, and this may increase the likelihood of them being caught in the open or in a vehicle as a fire front passes.”
This report also mentioned that many communal fire refuges, built following Ash Wednesday in 1983, were located too far from the population, were too small and in some instances they were not maintained. In some cases people did not even know where they were, despite efforts to ensure appropriate signage.
Version 1, produced March 6 2009. This document is uncontrolled in printed form.
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