The RFS has added the Council Chambers and car park at Katoomba, Pioneer Place at Katoomba and Mt Victoria Park to its list of safer places shoud residents seek a last minute refuge in case of catastrophic fire.
Still no sites between Leura (the golf course) and Glenbrook (Whitton Park), which remains concerning.
Full list at the RFS Website.
With the terrible bush fires in Victoria fresh in our minds, now is a good time to review plans to cope with the bush fire risk in the upper Blue Mountains.
The BMCC has developed a Local Disaster Plan that covers roles and responsibilities in the case of bushfire or other serious situations. It can be downloaded here:
http://www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/sustainableliving/bushfireandemergencies
It rates the risk of fire throughout the mountains as ‘major’, the highest level.
This plan also notes the major avenue of communication to the public in the event of a disaster is via the media, with mobile PA systems on emergency vehicles and door to door as back-ups.
The second document of help when considering bushfire preparedness is the
http://www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/download.cfm?f=4D3FC5B6-423B-CE58-AE4BCDEDE75D4247
This document, provided by the RFS, takes a simple approach to developing either a stay and defend, or evacuate early plan.
The media is reporting that the NSW state government will no longer fund over time pay for full time Fire fighters to cover staff shortages if retained (part-time) staff call in sick.
This will cause approximately 30 stations in NSW to close peridically, including Leura.
The potential savings from this move? $1.5million.
It doesn’t seem like a good cost/benefit trade off. A pretty paltry saving against a $800m budget to needlessly put people in danger, particularly in a bush fire prone area such as the Blue Mountians.