Community Bushfire Shelters - Considerations Outside the Square

Given the inherent risks of the Australian Eucalypt landscape, surely the concept 'Complete Bushfire Safety' can only be an ideal, less so when state planning legislation allows houses to be built in high bushfire prone areas, and at the same time that same state government under-resources its bushfire management. Bushfire Management should not descend to one of desperate wildfire fighting with inadequate resources. Any wonder, bush residents are considering personal last ditch defences. But is this last ditch focus where our prime bushfire management strategy and resources should go? Once we start focusing on bunkers, aren't we being defeatist by assuming that all the lead up causes of bushfire cannot be dealt with? Thinking outside the square is one problem solving approach. People that build in bushfire prone areas could always not. That would be thinking outside the square. But perhaps a better approach to protecting Victorians from the risks of bushfire (the problem defined) is the approach of Root Cause Analysis (RCA). This problem solving approach recognises that there is usually more than one potential root cause for any given problem. It looks at investigating the known causal relationships between the root causes and the defined problem. Significantly, RCA involves identifying which causes if removed or changed will prevent recurrence. Recommendations are implemented and tested. If bunkers are to be one of the recommendations, then the Victorian government ought to commission research to the organisation best qualified to research and evaluate the design options and merits of considering a bunker strategy. The CSIRO's Co-operative Research Centre [Bushfire CRC] is arguable the best placed. "Co-operative Research Centres (CRC) bring together researchers from universities, CSIRO and other government organisations, and private industry or public sector agencies in long-term collaborative arrangements that support research and development and education activities to achieve real outcomes of national economic and social significance." Under its Bushfire Research Fund, it undertakes research on bushfire research projects. However, no information can be found about bushfire bunkers on the Bushfire CRC website. Perhaps there should be, but then what government would publicly guarantee any bunker in the event of a bushfire?

Following the tragic February bush fires, I was desperate to build a fire bunker. It was a brief period of 'loss of logical thinking' since this home was originally built 16 years ago with the threat of fire in mind, even to the point of simple metal fire shutters for days of potential fire threat, slab, sprinklers, etc. Up until Feb this year, I knew little about the Victorian Native Vegetation Act and how it applied to my area until I rang my local council's planning department concerning another matter and was told in no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to cut or lop a single tree on my property without first putting in a planning application which would cost $99 (money grab) and if that application didn't involve a building, dam or other necessary improvement, then the application probably wouldn't be allowed if the only purpose was to remove native vegetation. In other words, I could wave goodbye to my $99 and remain surrounded by acres of miserable, stunted re-growth forest. I now fully agree with the above author concerning potential fire bunker money being better directed towards greater fire protection for the home, but am increasingly frustrated by the Victorian Government's unwillingness to consider applying the law to require a buffer zone (for those that want it) around their homes in bush settings. Now before anybody sees red over my comments and calls me an eco-vandal, let me point out that I love the bush. It's the appeal of the bush, the tranquillity and distance that brought me out here all those years ago, but there's bush and there's bush. Back in the 1800's and early 1900's, my area was barren of trees. What the old miners hadn't cut down, the local wood cutters had in their quest to keep local homes in the Ballarat and surrounding areas warm in winter. Natural gas and the widespread use of gas for heating didn't occur until the late 60's. Everything called a tree around here at present is the result of overwhelming regrowth. The Eucalypt has a cunning defence against other competing species. The rotting leaves of the Eucalypt release a 'poison' that effectively prevents many other species from encroaching on it's territory. It's why veggies gardens won't grow well near Eucalyptus. The regrowth is so prolific that the trees themselves compete for sunlight which results in acres of stunted and useless native vegetation that I refer to as "woody weeds." Were I allowed to thin them, many of those trees would grow to become majestic specimens, but sadly, under current legislation, they'll be left to struggle, fall and rot creating even more mess on the forest floor. Because of current drought conditions, these spindly trees compete with each other for water, which is lacking to the degree that the trees become stressed and dump tons of leaves and fine fuel around my home each year and as I get older, I struggle to clean up the massive amounts of debris that collects and find a place to dispose of it. As the author asks "Isn't it cheaper and better all round for specific funding to be provided to municipal councils to help less able householders put their properties in a safe state before summer?" The answer is yes, but wouldn't it be cheaper again to allow those occupying bush properties to thin the bush which in turn would allow landowners to better keep the area clean? The Government is only too willing to pander to the developers who open up these vast areas of bushland to housing estates, but they're not so willing to provide money to help clean up the debris around such areas. Money flows only one way where Governments are concerned and that includes local Government. Just over five months have passed since those terrible and devastating February fires. For many people living in large cities or well away from the affected areas, life has returned to normal. The loss of life at the time made newspaper selling headlines and glued horrified viewers to the small screen. Unfortunately, many non connected people who bought those newspapers or watched the horror each night on the television news week after tragic week have largely forgotten the plight of those left to pick up the pieces. If this sounds harsh, it's not meant as a condemnation. Life is life and for some who were not affected at a personal level, it quickly returns to the mundane. For those who suffered horrendous loss of life , pets, animals and property, my heart goes out to you. You'll never fully recover from that terrible and unimaginable ordeal. You've suffered the worst that could be imagined, yet there is another group of people who continue to suffer, albeit not as badly. It's those who continue to live in bush settings hoping in vein that someone in Government will have the foresight and common sense to revisit the Native Vegetation Act and change it so that those whom the fire missed this time don't have to face the devastation that occurred earlier this year when the next blast of hot summer wind breathes down their necks. My biggest fear is that this issue won't be address by the Royal Commission, or if it is, then it's recommendations will go the same way as have past Royal Commissions into loss of life during bush fire events. I'm not a praying person, but this is one time I pray that I'll be proven wrong.