Aussies lack bushfire training: study

Kombi · Post by **Kombi** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:52 pm

Aussies lack bushfire training: study
Wednesday Nov 7 11:56 AEDT
Almost one in five Australians would not know what to do if a bushfire threatened their home, a study has found.
According to a survey commissioned by insurer AAMI, 19 per cent of Australians are not educated on fire safety, despite growing bushfire threats in a time of climate change.
AAMI spokesman Geoff Hughes said many Australians were ill-prepared for a fire threat to homes, according to the 2007 Firescreen Index, which surveyed 2,382 respondents.
"The early start to this year's bushfire season should act as a trigger for all Australians to prepare themselves for a potentially dangerous summer, but the reality is that more than one-third do not have a home fire escape plan in place," Mr Hughes said.
"It is a concern that many Australians don't have a plan whereby all family members would know what to do in the case of a home fire that couldn't be extinguished."
About one-quarter of people surveyed had children aged three to 12, who would not know what to do in a house fire.
Mr Hughes said it was disturbing that one in 10 Australians drivers had thrown lit cigarette butts from their car window and that one in 20 had ignored total fire bans.
"That some people are still willing to persist with such dangerous behaviour in a dry, drought-stricken country such as ours is almost impossible to believe," he said.
Mr Hughes said one quarter of Australians failed to regularly clean their gutters and one in six failed to prune branches and remove foliage near their home.

Â©AAP 2007

Post by **gkoutlis** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:58 pm

Hate to say it - but it's true really isn't it...... Not suprising...

rambler318 · Post by **rambler318** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:07 pm

Hmm, 2382 people out of of population of 20.5 million. Thereâ€™s a good survey to take note of.

Kombi · Post by **Kombi** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:51 pm

rambler318 wrote:Hmm, 2382 people out of of population of 20.5 million. Thereâ€™s a good survey to take note of.

Yeah proberly surveyed the City Beach Joggers,,lol....

woobla · Post by **woobla** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:00 am

exactly

I mean if I lived in the bush I would find out, as I think most people would but as I live in the metro area. Why ?

its just like asking would people who live in the sudan be aware of how to react to a major flood?

err probably not.

Night_Ryder · Post by **Night_Ryder** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:15 am

Yea this is total crap, referring to the survey. Im from the country and everyone I know is well informed of everything to do with bushfires. I think this survey is completely bias.

Fastlane · Post by **Fastlane** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:30 am

Night_Ryder wrote:Yea this is total crap, referring to the survey. Im from the country and everyone I know is well informed of everything to do with bushfires. I think this survey is completely bias.

Don't forget the majority of population is in metro centres, where bushfires are an increasing problem... You also get the 'tree changers', that work in the city and commute out to live.

Looking at some of the houses that are around the outer metro areas and even some country areas, they are a disaster waiting to happen...

WadeH · Post by **WadeH** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:19 pm

Hello all, this is my first post since finding ths wonderful site.

Now back on topic. I find it interesting the comments about "I live in the city so why should I bother with fire readiness training?".

I imagine that this is what a lot of the folks in Canberra back in 2003 thought too.

The average suburban garden can burn very well! As the Canberra footage shows.

Regards,

Wade

WPXZBP · Post by **WPXZBP** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:49 pm

Welcome Wade.

Indeed - a regular garden is a fire hazard.