Thread: Code red in VIC tommorow

No authority in Victoria has the power to force you to leave your home in a fire emergency. They can suggest, advise, beg or cajole but that is as far as it goes.

Most people in Vic would have no idea either.

We live in a real nanny state here.................... problem is that nanny has dementia.

cheers, DL

Originally Posted by Grumbles

No authority in Victoria has the power to force you to leave your home in a fire emergency. They can suggest, advise, beg or cajole but that is as far as it goes.

What about being in public areas?

What happens to toursts when there is a code red?

Interesting...

I thought that there was now an Australia wide set of codes. I thought that "code red" didn't exist and that the word "CATASTROPHIC" was going to be used - at least it is in SA.

Perhaps Vic. just likes to be different? My take is that if the variouse States are not going to conform to a national standard people could get confused.
Just my take.

Edit: Just found that NSW is using CATASTROPHIC rather than "code red".

Mike

Sparksdisco

Not really sure about the comparison between cyclones and bushfires however I can tell you that when a red alert is imminent for a cyclone they DO evacuate some areas of Karratha, and Wickham (particularly some caravan parks) due to storm surge tide issues. I have some mates in local SES and police and they have been saying for years that they wish they had the power to enforce it as some people simply did not wish to leave their property. This places the emergency staff in the position whereby they have to endanger their own lives to attempt a rescue should things go bad.
Like I said, I'm unsure of whether the new laws that now apply for bushfires, also apply for cyclones.
You mention that you are not allowed to leave your house on cyclone red alert and this is true, but we have prior notice that a red alert is going to be issued for cyclones and that is when the evacuations are carried out. Been there, done that. It's the same at your workplace in Hedland, on yellow alert the final site safety is carried out and most staff are then sent home.
Look at the carry-on 2 years ago with FMG when they did not evacuate their mining camp and 3 people subsequently got killed when the place was devastated....that led to all sorts of enquiries, finger pointing and changes in the laws for such events.

Cheers
Mick

Public land is a whole different ball game to private property.
Tourists - I guess it depends on where they are but in reality there are uncountable 'what if' scenarios here.

Dont kid yourself, if you tell the police to get stuffed when they tell you to leave they will find something to arrest you for, its much less paperwork to arrest you for something pathetic than it is for a bunch of bodies in a burnt out house !!

Seriously though if lessons have been learnt then most people who think they will be affected would have already loaded up their cars ready for evacuation and done all the preperations around the house that they possibly can. The really smart ones will leave early avoiding all the traffic and smoke and not get themselves into trouble on the roads.

Would be great to see nil fatailities this time around.

Its really only those living in rural or bushy areas that need to be on alert, although on live in the green wedge i am not concerned, my parents on the other hand 10 mins away live on 5 acres surrounded by bush.