Expert warns of fire threat to festival patrons Falls death-trap fears

Andrew Mathieson
A LACK of roads out of a popular Lorne music festival could create a death trap for thousands of revellers, a fire prevention expert has warned.
The warning follows concerns that temperatures could also soar toward 50C degrees this summer after record highs in the region earlier this year.
Regional fire risk management officer Chris Piper said a quadrupling of Lorne’s population left the Falls Festival “quite vulnerable” to bushfire.
“You get huge numbers of people and there is just the one link getting in and out on that road to Lorne and particularly east of Lorne, Airey’s Inlet and Anglesea,” he said.
“Potentially, if there is a snarl up on that road and there is a bushfire, people can be caught out on the road exposed, particularly at things like the Falls Festival.
“I can’t understand how they get permission to do it – there is one road in, it’s in the bush, hosting a lot of people and in the wrong conditions.”
Mr Piper said the festival should be brought forward to around September when weather was warm enough but without the threat of bushfire.
He submitted a report to the Black Saturday bushfire commission, saying the Great Ocean Road was vulnerable during major events, which also included Lorne’s Pier to Pub.
“I know the argument is the area to the north is quite wet, so it would never burn. Well, I don’t believe it,” Mr Piper said.
“You see from Black Saturday that everywhere can burn.”
But the Falls Festival poured cold water on Mr Piper’s warning, predicting conditions at this year’s event would not endanger lives.
Organiser Simon Daly said the environment surrounding the site had never been dry during 16-year history of the event.
The Otways region that hosted the festival had more than four times more rain than Geelong, he said.
Region 7 CFA operations manager Bob Barry said this year’s bushfire season was “nothing special”.
However, the Lorne brigade would have an extra tanker as extra insurance, he said.
The Falls Festival would have its own fire service on hand for a third consecutive year.
Mr Barry warned brigades of possible 50C days during a regional briefing last month.
“In the lead-up to Black Saturday, Geelong received its hottest day on record, which was 45.3 degrees, and then on Black Saturday it hit 47.4 degrees,” he said.
“So it is not unreasonable to expect the predictions by the Bureau of Meteorology that we could have a 50-degree day in Geelong this summer.”