help for fire victims...rally, page-126

123 ..

compliance with fire safety standards in rural areas is an ongoing problem...some people still refuse to take steps recommended by local CFS..

negligent..?? SOME will be guilty of this,im afraid..
ignorance..?? MORE will be guilty of this..

I dont know what directives were issued in these areas preceeding Sat..We were expecting the same conditions here Sat. but they didnt eventuate..but..
The CFS and MFS issued strong warnings here from Thurs. telling residents that if these conditions prevailed dont wait for a fire to start...and that if it did IT COULD NOT BE STOPPED..so get out the area and to safety NOW...

Listen very carefully to horrific stories that will come out over the next few days and weeks..then get hold of the interviews 26yrs ago from Ash Wednesday..the similarities will amaze u..Have we learned nothing..?? And yes as much as it seems ill timed and heartless I apologise for nothing ive said because unless we can actually learn from this ,we will have the same conversation again in 10/15/20yrs..If it means rural areas are evacuated when we get these extremes,once or twice every few years,then so be it..If it means we condemn noncompliant housing in these areas,so be it..It is simply too important an issue to wait until everyone is non sensitive about it as we appear to have learned nothing in 26yrs..from Government down..