I have lived with the threat of fire for most of the last 40 years, I was only 12 when for the first time I was given the responsibility to look after my younger sister and brother while the folks went out for the evening, about 10pm there was banging on the back door it was my school mate from 6 properties down the street, as there was a fire at our back fence- we backed onto the forest of Mt Dandenong and these were the days of a fire bug on a motorbike setting fires in our area for a number of years after that. I of course was scared but we had a big green veggie patch ( 1acre) between the back fence and us.

Some may say this was iresponsible of my parents to leave one at that age in charge but i would say I had ernt the right to be trusted as I grew up very quick taking responsibitity well beyond my years from making the Sunday roast at 8yro for all the family, to starting work after school at 13 handling cash and customers alongside my uncles and performing very well against them in our sales challenges, when i started at Coles as a casual I was incharge of many others within a very short time and only 17 yrs old.

This was only the first of many times we had been treatened by fire or floods when we lived in the country areas.

As a young manager at Richmond years later I got on the roof of our store to see the smoke and flames of our hills on fire. That was 1983- Ash Wednesday

When the horrors of Feb 7th came to so many I know and we had to just sit there wondering when our turn was, i wondered if I could handle the roar of the fire, the smoke and the stress of it all, I have never believed in Luck or taking risks so my plan has always been to leave this place and do the best we could to set it up to hopefully survive.

I have been asking questions of fire fighter friends about what formal training we who live in the hills could do, the answers so far are not good with only 2 options - one to join the fire brigade and complete a cert II in firefighting or to do an online 1 hour course. (this is useless, I could just read a book)

I want to do 3-4 real units of firefighting based on

1. how to use your rake/hoe and put out small spot fires and other such fire fighting tricks of the trade.

2. simulation on what its like to face the tempratures that we would experience in a bush fire

3. there is a unit now where you are put into a room and a bale of hay is lit.

4. I would also like a unit on structure fires and how they work  so I could evaluate if we had any hope in staying and therefore make a decision based on good practise, I would also be able then to modiuy the house to make the chances of it lasting better.

I wish to take responsibility for my own safety and decisisons like I have all my life but to do this I need access to the resourses

We need training not an internet course of one hour but real training.

This could also provide much needed income for CFA in winter and provide them with better prepared home owners who reduce the risks they have to take as well.

I am sure this would be well recieved by the insurance industry and they may even offer a discount if at leats half the occupants over a certain age had such training.

Most of this happens now at a business level- at least they have access to the fire brigade for demos on site and such to train staff and usually it was for free.

I also understand the CFA is no longer allowed to burn down a house set for demolition, this in the past must have given valuable experience to fire fighters especially new ones in what they are set to be up against when it ahppens for real.

I only hope we can learn from this disaster and the powers in control let us make good future decisions based on facts and sensible uncomplicated solutions- not turn this into a circus.  We owe this to those who have lost so much, that its not all in vain.

One last point.

This also means as Permie educators we need to reassess what it is we advocate as design solutions to all aspects of fire prevention in our designs, there seems to me to be equal loss from both the primary and secondary fire fronts on  Feb 7th.

Lectures I have attended since have shown houses burnt but surrounding vegetation almost untouched, while some draw conclusions about embers in roof spaces burning down the house, eye witnesses speak of fire balls blowing up houses.

I still think  the use of fire retarding, ember catching and sheilding plantings are nessisary to help combat the usual fire event we face (maybe there is nothing we can do about these larger more ferocious fire events) but we can plan to combat the normal fires of the past.

I will be waiting to read the findings particularly on fire behaviour to see if this was really a new and unique event or it is inline with current understanding.

I know I will personally be more prepared in future either to stay or leaving the house in a better state to survive.

Our thoughts go out to all those we know who suffered a loss but just as much to those we do not know as well.