Dear examinator,

Thanks for your concern about Fractelle.

I pray that we'll hear from her before too long.

Where we live - there's a thick fog surrounding
everything, and the smell of smoke permeates
the air. I trust that the Royal Commission will
supply some of the answers as to how we can avoid
situations like these in the future.

My big concern is arsonists - how do you stop them?

cont'd

I forgot to add, a girlfriend of mine disagrees
with putting arsonists in jail. Her solution
was to microchip them (as we do with do our pets),
and then round them up prior to the fire-season,
and keep them temporarily in jail, out of doing harm until
the fire-season passes...

She wasn't joking!

Foxy, arson is only one part of the story and solving it,
which you never will, as there always be nutcases around,
will not bring a solution.

In WA for instance, a major cause of fires are power poles.
I read the Victorian Farm Weekly and one of the major fires
there too, was in fact started by a crook power pole.

Then you have hobby farmers who decide to do some welding
or angle grinding near long dry grass, etc. You will never
avoid bad judgement, even if you catch every arsonist.

I heard today that Victoria had similar fires in the 1850s
and 1930s, but just alot less people living in those hills.
So it can't all be blamed on climate change either, as
CJ feels compelled to do.

One thing I've noticed is that when they show all these
burnt houses, what is usually left standing are the
brick chimneys. Why don't more people build in double
brick?

Examinator "My intention was to point out that finding scape goats is both as counter productive as it is diversionary. "

I am not looking for scape goats... I am talking about the cause of hundreds of deaths.. green activists deliberately frustrating the efforts of fire prevention and fire management teams to bujild fire breaks and preserve life and property...

those who seek to impose their personal will over the community by anarchistic activism are killers, not scape goats... killers who deserve to be shot as much as arsonists deserve to be shot (see below)

PEople are responsible for their actions and when those actions cause the death of others... then they are culpable.

YAbby "Why don't more people build in double
brick?"

wholly agree.. my house is double brisk and shallow cambered steel roof.. been up 30 years or so....

"round them up prior to the fire-season,
and keep them temporarily in jail, out of doing harm until
the fire-season passes...

She wasn't joking!"

Arsonists are killers in the making ... it is a waste of time, like pedophiles trying to change them

shoot/hang them or inject with something deadly and stop them breeding more arsonists that way..

I see the one they have caught is safe in police custody.. alot of people believe he deserves more than I have suggested and yet doubtless some bleeding heart will get up their and say how its not his fault because he used to wet the bed or some such drivel...

examinator,

At the very least, I hope the best minds will get together, sort through the various experiences of bush communities and come up with simple, affordable yet effective bunkers of last resort.

At least this gives people some useful alternatives. Depending on the situation, it gives those who are surprised by the speed of bushfires a safe haven in a devastating firestorm, as well as a temporary refuge for people who want to stick around and try to save their houses from spot fires.

It won't be failsafe, but it's better than zero.

RobP,

"At the very least, I hope the best minds will get together..."

Just change that to 'the most practical minds...' and I'll wholeheartedly agree.