‘Safe haven’ more like a death trap

USE of Old Coach Road, Harkaway, as an escape route from fire has become a hot issue.
Residents say the road, which is a fire access track, was built after the 1983 Ash Wednesday conflagration as a way out of Harkaway if fire strikes.
I see it as a death trap.
I was told the bridge on the track would not hold a fully loaded fire truck, making the road useless for fire fighting, but this is nonsense.
The bridge is built with large ‘H’ girders and CFA trucks use it during training exercises.
I’m not an engineer, but I’ve seen a few bridges in my day and I believe the bridge would hold a Sherman tank or two.
But, the problem is, what if a fully laden firefighting vehicle is stopped on the steep slope just over the bridge.
It would have trouble getting traction to get going again if it had private vehicles in front and behind.
While photographing the bridge I parked 20 metres uphill and later couldn’t get enough traction to start the car moving.
I had to reverse down to the bridge for a run up the gravel slope.
In a crisis and a panic situation there won’t be any reversing and there won’t be room to pass a vehicle in trouble.
Also, you can bet that most vehicles will be fully and even overloaded.
Try heat, smoke, anger, fear, panic, a stalled vehicle with two or three or more cars behind, and a couple of fire trucks on the track.
Please don’t let it happen.
One resident called for a trial run with a convoy of private cars to show that the track provided safe haven.
My view is that a trial run with one or two fire trucks involved and two or three small cars would confirm the CFA and council policy that the track is off limits.
CFA experience strongly shows that most firerelated deaths occurred when people were caught in the open so residents must abide by the CFA advice that decisions be made now on whether to stay home or flee an approaching fire in good time.
We should heed what is being said about this fire track.
Casey Council in conjunction with the CFA has declared the track closed for public use and only to be used for fire fighting vehicles in an emergency.
A community lobby insists that the track was built as a fire escape route, but My view is that it is totally unsuitable for this purpose.
This emerging conflict has caused enormous confusion that must be settled before Christmas because people will not know what to do if fire hits in the January and February fire season.
If they think the track is available as an escape they will delay getting out when fire looms.
The council and CFA must take strong action to prevent further confusion or we will have deaths.
One way is to close the gates to the fire tracks and place signs around the town and on access roads advising accordingly in order that alternatives to selfprotection will be found.
We need a community fire safety committee in the area to advise people on how to make their homes safe from fire and to develop a place of refuge that people can get to within five or 10 minutes in the event of an approaching top level wild fire.