30pc of bushfire victims not insured: Insurance Council

• 30pc of bushfire victims not insured: Insurance Council - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

  The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says people with no insurance, who were affected by the Victorian bushfires, are becoming a major concern.

  "Figures are starting to indicate that there must be a large proportion of people down in the affected areas that don't have any insurance at all," he said.

  • "The industry's putting a figure on non-insurance down in the affected area of around 30 per cent." With all of the promises of rebuilding the communities lost in the bushfires, what do you do about 30% not being insured? If those homes are rebuilt at the cost of the taxpayer, the Insurance Industry is in real trouble. Why should those of us who but insurance and be billed an extra 60% to maintain the CFA continue to do so if there is no benefit to be gained? - post by gnaylor

Nursing scars of ‘devil’s’ fire

Survivor backs case for mandatory evacuation

Written by JEFF ZEUSCHNER. - Wangaratta Chronicle 16 Feb 09

MUDGEGONGA bushfire survivor, Bill Culhane, believes mandatory evacuation from properties

Image by iamagloworm via Flickr

threatened by bushfires must come into Victoria.

"They’ve got to look at it," said the invalid pensioner, who counts himself among the lucky ones as the massive Beechworth fire, fanned by 45 degree heat and strong winds, ripped through the district on February 7, killing Mr Culhane’s friends, John and Sue Wilson, and destroying more than a dozen neighbors’ properties.

"It was the fire ball from hell and the devil was riding it," he said.

"There was nothing you could do to stop it....trees were ripped out of the ground in the firestorm.

"Everyone I’ve spoken to would never go through that again."

The fires have ignited debate over the stay and defend policy, and Mr Culhane, having seen what he has, believes laws must change.

"If the days are over a certain temperature and the wind over a certain strength, then I reckon people must have to evacuate," he said yesterday, as CFA crews put out spot fires nearby from backburning operations.

Mr Culhane’s home - the former Mudgegonga Primary School building - was used as an evacuation centre at the height of the fires, which had encircled the area.

His former home at Barwidgee Creek went up in flames, but his two beloved horses in the paddock opposite survived.

However, ‘Timber Jack’ , his four year old gelding race horse, suffered serious burns.

"His legs were badly burnt and it was feared he may lose his hooves, but that isn’t the case," Mr Culhane said.

"He’s still carrying burns, and it will be a long process to make a full recovery."

Mr Culhane praised the support he had received from his Wangaratta Parfitt Road trainer, Stephen Cunningham, who is caring for ‘Timber Jack’, and also Goulburn Valley Equine Clinic, which had waived its $3500 fee for initial treatment of the horse the day after the fires.

Conditions made battle at Barwidgee living hell

Written by JEFF ZEUSCHNER. - Wangaratta Chronicle 09 Feb 09

HE has almost 60 years of firefighting under his belt, but nothing prepared Max Allen for the firefight he and his crew endured near Barwidgee Creek on Saturday night.

"It was the worst I’ve ever seen," said the Everton CFA veteran, who captained the brigade for 28 years.

"The blazes at Tatong and Whitfield in 2006 were the worst I’d seen, but this was much, much worse because of the conditions.

"Working at midnight in 40 degree heat and against 80 kmh winds...and the noise was just horrendous."

Max and his crew were one of the first to respond to the fire which started along the Buckland Gap Road, near Beechworth, at around 6pm.

"We were there within 15 minutes of getting the call but it had already got away," he said.

"We went to Stanley but a wind change pushed it over towards Barwidgee Creek, which is where we got in front of it.

"It was touch and go, but we managed to save a few houses.

"But a few just up the road were destroyed, and one of them was where a couple of people died.

"You can’t help but think was there anything you could have done.

"On the way back to Myrtleford, between there and Mudgegonga, we saw about 10 homes had been destroyed."

Local CFA crews help save Taggerty

Written by JEFF ZEUSCHNER. - Wangaratta Chronicle 09 Feb 09

VETERAN firefighter Craig Allen says the shocking devastation he saw over the weekend will be etched in his memory forever.

"It was like an atomic bomb site," said the Everton CFA brigade captain of smoking debris which he once knew as the picturesque township of Marysville.

"There was just not a building left standing...it was unbelievable.

"There were fire hoses left on the main road as members fled with not enough time to pick them up."

Mr Allen, and second lieutenant Ray Glendenning, led the Region 23 strike team that spent Saturday tackling the fires at Marysville, Buxton and Taggerty.

While a delay of two hours, due to a truck overheating, kept them out of the inferno that engulfed Marysville and Buxton, strike team members had to contend with the massive firefront descending on Taggerty.

"The firecrews did a hell of a job to save the town," Mr Allen said.

"We stopped the fire about 200 metres from houses, despite strong winds, by burning the fire back onto itself."

A veteran firefighter of 30 years, Mr Allen said there was not a firefighter he’d spoken to that could recall a worse fire.

"There were times when it got really bad," he said.

"We had to activate the protective sprays on Everton two tanker twice due to the close high flames.

"Some of the homes had towering pine trees 100 years old up their driveways and the fires lept half the height again of the trees.

"A lot of older people were asking me about their homes and it was pretty hard looking into their eyes and telling them they were gone.

"Seeing dead stock on the bitumen and burned out cars on the road was just terrible."

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