VICTORIANS have to remember that Code Red days are not the only times the state has experienced deadly fires, says BRUCE ESPLIN
Earlier this year, the well-known fire historian Tom Griffiths was reflecting on Victoria's fire history: the 1939 Black Friday fires, the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires and now the 2009 Black Saturday fires.
In his article he wrote: "for in those histories lie the intractable patterns of our future. There is a dangerous mismatch between the cyclic nature of fire and the short-term memory of communities."
After everything that Victorians have experienced, I am worried that some people still have not made plans of what to do ahead of a dangerous fire forecast, but instead will wait and see what happens on the day.
Shared responsibility between the emergency services and the community is not transferred responsibility.
Everyone can and should play their part in being ready for fire.
Emergency services have undertaken massive amounts of work to be prepared for this season, to make the changes necessary, and to do everything they can to prevent another Black Saturday. But without the community also prepared, the job is only half done.
Victoria's fire risk is great.
Historically, our state has been known as one of the most fire-prone parts of the world and Victoria has sustained the majority of recorded bushfire-related deaths in Australia.
Once you add climate change, a prolonged drought, and longer, hotter summers, there is absolutely no room for complacency.
There is no room for not planning for bushfire well before fire threatens.
Understandably there has been much focus on the new fire danger rating for our worst fire risk - "Code Red".
But it is important that Victorians remember that the state has experienced deadly fires on days that have been rated "high" and "very high".
Each of the new fire-danger ratings have specific advice linked to them about what to do.
Make sure you get that advice all through summer, not just on a Code Red day.
Technology is playing an increasingly vital role in our safety, but there is still a need for people to connect with their environment.
Many spend hot days inside with the television and air-conditioning on, and the curtains drawn. But taking the time to step outside, to listen, to feel the heat and wind and smell the air is really important.
Many did this on Black Saturday and survived because of it.
The Bushfire Royal Commission is a once or twice in a hundred-year opportunity for change, and there is major change already under way.
We have new fire-danger ratings, new warning systems, a stronger emphasis on when to leave, new command and control arrangements, new partnerships with media to help get the message out, new tools for assessing housing risk, enhanced information lines and websites and 1000 extra community meetings being held.
None of this will matter though if Victorians don't participate, don't prepare, don't know where to get information and don't know how to act on the information they are given.
Being prepared means having a plan A, B and even C.
Bushfire preparedness is not something we do just on the forecast of a bad year - it's not a project - it is something we must do all year, every year.
Bushfires will happen every summer, and Australia no longer has the luxury of that short-term memory.
