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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (19 February) . . Page.. 175 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

LINDA MOTTRAM: One month after the Canberra fires that destroyed more than 500 houses and killed four people, a picture is emerging of just how so much was lost.

There's broad agreement that the drought and extreme weather combined to produce a firestorm of extraordinary proportion and unpredictable severity but there are those who are also convinced that if warnings had been heeded, the massive losses could have been contained. And those critics are now beginning to speak out, hoping that the mistakes aren't repeated.

From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Three days before Saturday's disastrous firestorm, the weather bureau warned of impending horrendous conditions.

That Wednesday afternoon, the heavy hitters of fire fighting in New South Wales and the ACT met in Queanbeyan, a stone's throw from Canberra, to discuss what to do.

Sources have told AM that present were the ACT fire chief, Peter Lucas Smith, New South Wales fire chief, Phil Koperberg, and one of his deputies, along with New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife head, Brian Gilligan.

With fires in the ACT and adjoining areas in New South Wales already burning, AM understands the ACT was warned of a massive exposure if the dire weather conditions materialised. AM also understands New South Wales made an open ended offer of assistance.

The ACT asked for just four task forces, that is twenty fire trucks and crews. They were in place by Friday and on the Saturday morning, seeing the dire forecast was right, Phil Koperberg dispatched his assistant commissioner to Canberra. That's a breach of protocol, but the view was circumstances were dire.

At about half past one, Mr Koperberg's assistant advised Sydney the ACT needed a lot more help, faced with houses being exposed to the fire path on a thirty kilometre front.

Extra crews were sent without the ACT asking for them, but it was all too late. The first house burnt to the ground around three pm. Many of the extra New South Wales crews wouldn't arrive for hours.

AM's been told of a number of instances in which New South Wales brigades around the ACT offered to help, only to be told by the ACT they weren't needed.

One fire fighter says the alarm bells should have been ringing at ten that morning, when all brigades in the district heard on their radios that fire trucks and ambulances had to flee as a firestorm broke out in the Brindabella ranges, beginning its dash to Canberra's suburbs.

This highlights the need for an independent inquiry. My great fear is that these are the tip of the iceberg of rumours and stories about the fire that will begin to do the rounds. To avoid speculation, to avoid stories being taken out of context, we as legislators need to show that we are taking this seriously and to the limit that we can.

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