Victorian Publics’ Lives at Risk #4

9th January 2010

Once again a hot day and once again the CFA site was down for some period of the day.

I drove today into an area that had an advice issued, stating “The coupe is surrounded by areas burnt in February 2009, there is no risk of the fire escaping, and no properties are under threat.”

After 2009 fires, we know longer know what safe is, even with the help of the CFA website (which was woefully behind) we had a glimmer of hope, being able to predict the movements, even if the professionals couldn’t.

But with the CFA site being down, it’s like letting a blind man loose in the city, without a guide dog or white stick.

So with 6 reasonably hot days under out belt – the CFA (and intermittently the DSE) website have been down.

Let’s re-cap:- (Days Above 30’c)
16.12.09 - 39.9’c CFA website down for approx 2 hours 12-2pm
23.12.09 - 39.9’c
30.12.09 - 41.1’c CFA/DSE website intermittent problems ALL day
31.12.09 - 37.5’c
08.01.10 - 39.7’c
09.01.10 - 38.4’c CFA Website down for approx 2hours 12-2pm (Again)

So far the failure rate is 50% - is this an acceptable risk?

I was in the car for 2 hours and heading into an area that was reported as being under advice. There was nothing on the radio to alert me to a possible problem, so I could have been heading into who knows what. Why was I on the road? I was headed for Marysville, which thanks to the 2009 fires is probably one of the safest places in Victoria at the current time, to drop one child into what I consider a ‘safe’ zone and return with another.

A 50% failure rate is NOT acceptable in any area that concerns life and death of the Victorian Public. I understand the government wants people to be more personally responsible, but how can we, when the 1st point of contact is NOT working and the 2nd (the media) will only broadcast events that are news worthy?

How can I protect myself, my children, my family, my neighbours and my friends – If I am unable to ‘see’ what is going on in this state? As covered here Why the CFA Site is so Important without the CFA site we are blind.

Previous Posts on the same issue
16.12.09 - Outage No. 1
16.12.09 Excuses for Outage
30.12.09 - Outage No. 2
01.01.10 - Outage No. 3