September 20, 2005
Australia Says Let People Defend Homes From Fire
I picked this up from FireWhirl, a great firefighter blog/site. Check them out.
ABC.net.au gives us this;
"The ACT Volunteer Fire Brigades Association says healthy, well-prepared people should be allowed to stay and defend their homes from bushfires.
The Government has rejected a call by Civil Liberties Australia to change laws that make it an offence for people to stay and defend their homes when ordered by police to leave.
The association's Pat Barling says many houses were saved during the 2003 bushfires by home owners who stayed behind.
He says people should not be arrested for wanting to protect their house, but it is a difficult judgement call to make.
"One thing that seems to be the rule, if you're going to leave, you leave early, otherwise you stay," he said.
"The problem seems to be if people change their mind right at the last minute and that's when they get into trouble."
Mr Barling says national guidelines say healthy people who are prepared should stay and protect their property.
"If you make the law too inflexible then it just defeats the purpose," he said.
"I think people should have some say in what they do, but it's a judgement call from each person if they get it wrong, well then there's problems, but as I said I can only go from what I saw in January the 18th, that a lot of houses were saved by people staying behind."
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I have mixed emotions on this one. Sure a resident can be helpful in some situations as long as they don't get in the way and their property has some defensible space. In general I agree with the initiative, the homeowner knows his/her property and has a vested interest in protecting what is theirs. On the other hand there are situations that demand the attention of professionals only.
ABC.net.au gives us this;
"The ACT Volunteer Fire Brigades Association says healthy, well-prepared people should be allowed to stay and defend their homes from bushfires.
The Government has rejected a call by Civil Liberties Australia to change laws that make it an offence for people to stay and defend their homes when ordered by police to leave.
The association's Pat Barling says many houses were saved during the 2003 bushfires by home owners who stayed behind.
He says people should not be arrested for wanting to protect their house, but it is a difficult judgement call to make.
"One thing that seems to be the rule, if you're going to leave, you leave early, otherwise you stay," he said.
"The problem seems to be if people change their mind right at the last minute and that's when they get into trouble."
Mr Barling says national guidelines say healthy people who are prepared should stay and protect their property.
"If you make the law too inflexible then it just defeats the purpose," he said.
"I think people should have some say in what they do, but it's a judgement call from each person if they get it wrong, well then there's problems, but as I said I can only go from what I saw in January the 18th, that a lot of houses were saved by people staying behind."
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I have mixed emotions on this one. Sure a resident can be helpful in some situations as long as they don't get in the way and their property has some defensible space. In general I agree with the initiative, the homeowner knows his/her property and has a vested interest in protecting what is theirs. On the other hand there are situations that demand the attention of professionals only.
