[LINK] No cash for phone alert system

Karl Auer kauer at biplane.com.au
Tue Feb 17 23:49:19 AEDT 2009


On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 12:07 +0000, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> If we can't agree on ideal even-in-part-tech-solutions? maybe a wet-ware
> community-emergency plan which is very widely known and agreed upon? I'm
> not aware of any such community plan even in my tiny-pop900 country town.

Sometimes, lo-tech is best.

If the Feds (or even the States) are serious about preventing a repeat
of this, then they should institute a campaign, running every year from
about August through December, that tells every able-bodied person to do
three simple things:

- prepare your house (if you can)
- get inside your house when the fire comes
- get out of your house as soon as the fire is gone

Whatever people are saying about "firestorms", "houses exploding" and
people "dying of asphyxiation", the fact is that unless you leave your
house *days* ahead of the fire, your home is the safest place to be,
especially if you are able to prepare it. Fires need oxygen and fuel in
huge quantities - they can't stay anywhere for long, and generally take
only ten or fifteen minutes to pass by. It takes way longer than that
for a house to get well alight, even a wooden one.

People are treating lost houses as failures. They should instead treat
live people as successes. If the house burns to save you, that's a
success, not a failure. Stay outside dealing with embers as long as you
can, then go inside, safe from radiant heat. Do what you can to keep the
inside from burning; you only have to hold out for a few minutes. Then
get out. If you have the wherewithal to save the house too, that's a
bonus.

You might stay in your house and still die. It's just far less likely
than if you are *anywhere* outside when the fire comes.

Regards, K.

PS: Highly recommended reading: "The Complete Bushfire Safety Book", by
Joan Webster.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)

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