Fires a tragedy, but response a wonderful success

Justin Leonard - from tragedy
comes a story of success.

The devastating fires that struck Wye River in Victoria on Christmas Day are, from an emergency response perspective, a success story. Despite the loss of 116 houses in the coastal town and nearby Separation Creek, nobody was killed.

The fire may have destroyed homes and in some cases livelihoods but the community presented a united front in terms of supporting one another and heading the evacuation warning, which was issued in plenty of time.

I spent the first part of January working with fire agencies to surveying the damage to houses in a bid to understand the impact of the fire. The community is truly thankful that no lives were lost in this terrible event.

Read the piece by the Team Leader of the Bushfire Urban Design department at the CSIRO, Justin Leonard, on The Conversation - “Future bushfires will be worse: we need to adapt now.”