Warwick Glendenning, Syd Pargeter and Bill and Eleanor Peeler want changes made before next fire season to ensure the safety of Harkaway.30965 Picture: Luke Plummer
By Jade Lawton
HARKAWAY residents have prepared submissions for the Bushfire Royal Commission detailing how the village narrowly escaped disaster on Black Saturday.
Bill and Eleanor Peeler, Syd Pargeter and Warwick Glendenning have made a joint submission, with the Peelers also making separate recommendations.
The submissions condemn The City of Casey and other authorities for what the group calls a failing in their duty of care.
“The events of 7 February are a serious wake-up call,” Mr Peeler said.
“If it wasn’t for a change of the wind and the arrival of Elvis, hundreds of people could have burnt to death.”
The group’s main concern is the use of Old Coach Road fire exit, which they say was built as an escape route after Ash Wednesday came close to destroying the village. In a recent report, Casey Council said the track was constructed as a path for emergency service vehicles.
“I was involved in the construction of the original fire trail – this was part of a network of trails put in to enable people to escape,” Mr Glendenning said.
“This was changed to being for emergency vehicles only in 1990. Then we have a big problem – how do you get people out of Harkaway?”
Mr Glendenning said people were directed to the route when fleeing the village on Black Saturday.
The group’s submission suggests the road could be widened to allow access for both incoming fire trucks and outgoing cars for its 650-metre length.
“The council have put up a scheme to make it twice as wide, with an unwanted twice as high bridge – the councillors are putting up a gold standard proposal knowing it is not going to get in the budget,” Mr Pargeter said.
“They say it will be done in two and a half years – but that is three fire seasons. They are pussy–footing around and so we are going straight to the commission and saying this is silly, this is foolish.”
They request the commission provide funds to widen the fire access road before next fire season.
In his submission, Mr Peeler also said police told some residents to evacuate, but the message did not reach east of Baker Road; that some residents were unable to access a standpipe and therefore left without any means to fight spot fires; and that on returning to Harkaway, residents were refused access east along King Road, and told to park their cars and walk, exposing them to radiant heat in the event of a further outbreak.
The group also recommends a fire siren be installed, with different tones to signify an alert, call for evacuation, and when the immediate danger had passed.
Mr Peeler said he hoped the commission would listen to the group’s concerns.
“I don’t think we will get a lot of attention, because nobody lost their life and there was limited property destruction … but all of the above must be made prior to the next fire season,” he said.
“Had the fire occurred on a week day when the Harkaway Primary School had been occupied, the results would have been both tragic and catastrophic.”
In report on the matter released on 5 May, council said Old Coach Road would remain as a fire access track and maintained to emergency service requirements pending the outcomes of the Bushfire Royal Commission.
