MANY Victorians who faced Black Saturday's fires failed to prepare fire plans and adopted a dangerous wait-and-see policy.

That's the message from the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre's human behaviour team which interviewed 600 Victorians in bushfire-affected areas.

Are most Victorians ready for the fire season?
• Have your say in the form below
  

The team is analysing at least 1300 questionnaires.

As one Marysville resident told interviewers: "All this talk about putting our fire plan into action, well, to be quite truthful, we didn't have one."

A Wandong resident told another interviewer her household's plan was nothing more than a vague notion that: "If it got to a point where it was dangerous, we would have been out. We wouldn't have stayed."

But in their final report to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, the centre's team warned that waiting to see what a bushfire was like - before deciding whether to stay or go - greatly increased the risk of late and dangerous evacuations.

"Once a fire has reached, or is visible from, a person's home or property the opportunity for safe evacuation is likely to have passed," the team said.

In its report the team stated:"A significant number of residents intended to wait and see what the bushfires were like before deciding whether to stay or go."

"These residents wanted to stay and defend their homes and properties, but were not fully committed or confident in their ability to do so in all conditions."

"Analysis of the interviews suggests that while many residents formed an intention to leave prior to the February 7 bushfires, some made a decision on the day.

"Again, this suggests a low level of planning and preparation, which increases the likelihood of late and dangerous evacuations."

The team found many people living in more suburban locations had not planned or prepared for bushfires because they did not consider themselves at risk.

In contrast they said: "Residents on farming properties were much more likely to describe a detailed fire plan than were residents of residential properties in townships (like Horsham) or on urban-rural fringes (like Narre Warren)."

More than half the households reported that a member left on February 7.

Team member Josh Whittaker said analysis of the questionnaires would show how many people had written down and rehearsed their fire plans.

"You can give people all the information in the world, but they have to want to take it on board," Dr Whittaker said.