Take your own action: report

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
VULNERABLE residents are being told to take responsibility for their own safety in bushfire prone areas.
A new Yarra Ranges Council report has found that vulnerable people living independently in high risk fire areas were ignoring or wouldn’t accept bushfire preparedness messages.
It also poses the question – why does the larger community owe a duty of care to those who insist in remaining in high risk areas despite their functional inability or limitations to take action?
The report focuses on ensuring that all vulnerable people had a bushfire plan, and were aware of how to respond to bushfire messages.
The Bushfire Awareness and Preparedness for Frail Older People and Vulnerable Residents in the Yarra Ranges was endorsed by councillors at last Tuesday’s (24 August) council meeting.
In the report, the Municipal Association of Victoria recommended councils shouldn’t be the “sole custodians” of lists concerning vulnerable people and their plans, and should not be responsible for alerting and managing the evacuation of vulnerable people.
The council has spent the past 18 months sending out brochures and relocation kits to residents, interviewing them, conducting surveys and holding community information sessions to reach conclusions.
The report found vulnerable people incorrectly believed they had a right to expect council would open relief centres on hot days and many older males felt strongly about their “right to stay”, even when they didn’t have the capacity to defend.
Of the shire’s 2500 Home and Community Care (HACC) clients, 60 clients were unable to organise their bushfire relocation arrangements until council officers sat down to talk them through their plans.
The council took responsibility to develop and fund a department dedicated to emergency recovery within the shire, and to develop kits for new residents on their rights and responsibilities of relocating into a high-fire risk area.