Page 25 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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he told the inquest that he “was reasonably confident that action would be taken to contain and control it”. On 18 January, Mr Boyle was less confident, but felt he would be told if there was a real danger. Fire rolled over him as he descended his ladder. Mr Boyle is a professional in the field of contingency planning and he expressed his feelings as follows:
Decent planning would have … perhaps months before worked out … we have to warn people. If we are to prevent panic, we must warn people—not the other way around.
Another example is David Ferry, an ex-firefighter and a former member of the bushfire council. Mr Ferry had lived in the Stromlo Forestry settlement since 1972. He could see the fires building and knew they were not contained. He remarked:
With the experience I had … whenever there was a lightning strike everything was thrown at it.
When the New South Wales Rural Fire Service broke their camp at Stromlo settlement and left in the early afternoon of the 18th, Mr Ferry knew they were in trouble. He and his family prepared their house and, despite the fury of the fire and his own injury, Mr Ferry’s house was saved. But the coroner’s report noted that Mr Ferry had “no contact from anyone at emergency services, ACT Housing or the Winchester Centre before the fires hit”.
Then there is Natalie Larkins, an ABC journalist. Her rented home in Rivett was destroyed in the fires. She was aware of the fires because she had reported on them the weekend before and had been in contact with a range of people, including a senior official at 6.00 am on 18 January. She had been involved in media briefings and broadcasts. She felt that if information about the fires had been given to the public in the morning, or even after the midday media conference, those extra few hours would have made “a great difference to people”. She said, “There should not be a concern about alarming people because people have a right to be alarmed.” She was concerned for several months, and underwent counselling for it, about whether she had done everything she could to inform people. She told the inquest:
You know, had we had better information, could we have done more; could it change the outcome for people who lost their lives, people who lost everything they ever owned?
Finally, in terms of citing witnesses and victims on the day, I cite Sir Peter Lawler’s evidence to the inquiry. His home was on Eucumbene Drive, Duffy. Apart from following the media stories about the progress of the fires and noticing the unusual morning sky on that fateful morning of 18 January, Sir Peter and his wife carried on a normal day, right up until 3.00 pm, when he walked up the driveway and saw a fire truck filling with water from a hydrant. He asked whether he should cut and run. He was advised to go inside, close the doors and windows, and keep calm. He had started to pack his car when one of his sons arrived and said they had to leave quickly. About 15 minutes had elapsed between speaking with the firefighter and leaving the house. As they left, an official vehicle drove along Eucumbene Drive announcing through a loudhailer that
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