- Jul 2, 2018
- 3,686
The Premier would begin.
"Good evening,
Can I just start by acknowledging the incredibly hard work of the entire team behind me, including everybody here within the State Control Centre and all the paid and volunteer firefighters across the state who are now assembling en masse to defend this state tomorrow. Tomorrow we are facing conditions which are unprecedented, these conditions will be worse than conditions seen on Black Friday in 1939 and on Ash Wednesday in 1983. It's just as bad a day as you can imagine and on top of that the state is tinder-dry. People need to exercise real common sense tomorrow. This is expected to be the worst day of fire conditions in the history of the state. "Catastrophic" fire conditions are forecasted for every single fire rating district in Victoria with the exception of the Mallee which is forecasted at "Extreme". A total fire ban is in place for the entire state of Victoria. Let me be very clear, if a fire starts tomorrow and is able to get hold, it will not be contained. I urge all Victorians in bushfire prone areas to begin preparing now. Prepare your properties, prepare your belongings, prepare your family, prepare your way out. If you do not do these things and a bushfire threatens your property, the likelihood of death is high. Whilst nearly half of the entire volunteer workforce of the Country Fire Authority is now deployed and operational, you should not expect that a CFA fire truck will be on your doorstep should a bushfire threaten your property. Resources will be stretched thinned tomorrow if there are multiple fires burning across the state. I will also mention that tomorrow will see extreme temperatures, within the high forties for a lot of Victoria and 46 for Melbourne. Please, keep yourself cool, take care and check on your loved ones. Whilst it is a Saturday and I won't need to issue a directive about schools, I urge all workplaces and businesses that do not have air conditioning to close tomorrow. I will hand over to the Chief Officer now."
The Country Fire Authority Chief Officer would take the podium.
"Thank you Premier,
At the moment we have nearly half of the CFA's volunteer workfore deployed and operational across the state. All CFA captains have been notified about the incoming threat and I have urged them all to prepare their stations and themselves and their volunteers for action tomorrow. We will see temperatures rise to the high forties across Victoria combined with hot northerly winds. If a fire takes hold tomorrow, it may be fast and it may be ferocious and most likely would burn in a south to southeasterly direction. However later in the day we are expecting a cold front to move through. It will bring temperature relief but it will bring the worst case scenario for fires, a wind change. A fire front that may only be 3 kilometres wide would find itself becoming 50 kilometres wide after burning in the same direction the whole day. We are in almost uncharted territory when it comes to the conditions we are facing tomorrow. I urge all Victorians to head the advice and to not put our CFA volunteers in a precarious situation tomorrow. We will work to save as many properties and lives as possible, but poor planning and poor actions may lead to our firefighters having to put their lives on the line to save yours. I will hand over to Forest Fire Management Victoria now."
The Chief Fire Officer of Forest Fire Management Victoria would speak.
"Forest Fire Management Victoria is currently fighting two blazes at the moment within protected areas of Victoria, one in the Bunyip State Park and one in the Alpine National Park near Dargo. Members of the community within South Gippsland will notice an increase in smoke from the Bunyip State Park fire, but I wish to reassure the public that that fire remains contained within the park. Our firefighters are working on both of those fires and the Bunyip State Park fire is now contained. The Dargo fire is not contained but it is burning in very rugged and inaccessible terrain, which means whilst our firefighters are finding it hard to get to the fire, it is not directly threatening any towns or property. Tomorrow all fire towers within the state of Victoria will have members of Forest Fire Management Victoria manning them and will be working the entire day to spot fires which may appear within the state. All national parks, state forests, state parks and any other protected areas under the management of Parks Victoria will be closed tomorrow to all members of the public. Anybody camping in any of those parks should leave tonight. I will hand over to the Chief Commissioner now."
The Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Christine Nixon, would speak.
