The Bushfires Royal Commission set up after the devastating Black Saturday fires in Victoria has released an interim report with a number of recommendations to be in place by this summer:
- One-stop website for bushfire information and community warnings
- Alerts to be sent to landline and mobile phones according to billing address
- More equipment and staff provided to Victorian Bushfire Information Line to deal with surge of calls in extreme event
- Existing locations such as car parks and football grounds to be designated neighbourhood safer places in 52 bushfire hotspots
- Online tool for assessing defendability of property in a bushfire available
- School refuges to be improved
What won't be ready:
- A deal is yet to be reached with commercial radio stations to disseminate bushfire information as the ABC does
- Alerts will not be sent to mobile phones according to their location until the technology is available, not predicted until next year
- Not all improvements to school refuges will be completed by the start of the bushfire season, while seven refuges requiring total rebuilds will also not be completed