An official report has cleared firefighting agencies over the destructive Wye River Christmas Day fire.
The Inspector General for Emergency Management report said a lightning strike on 19 December sparked the fire before it jumped containment lines despite back-burning operations, destroying 116 houses at Wye River and Separation Creek.
But the report criticised some management of the fire.
Date and time markers for some incident and planning documentation were inconsistent or absent, the report said.
The inspector also found “discrepancies” between the records of the numbers of firefighting resources applied to the fire.
“This situation has the potential to impact both fire-fighter safety and the effective utilisation of available resources,” the report said.
Other records including mapping were either undocumented or poorly kept, the report said.
However, the report found that the issues did not negatively affect the firefighting efforts but had potential to become an issue in future emergencies.
The fire could have had its classification elevated to level three earlier because of its complex nature fire and the difficulty of the terrain, the report said.
State Government said it would accept all the report’s recommendations.
Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett said the fact nobody died during the 34-day fire-fight was testament to emergency services workers.
“This report is another step in the continuous improvement of how agencies work together to respond to emergencies in Victoria,” Ms Garrett said.
Environment Minister Lisa Neville said over 1000 firefighters and emergency staff worked on the fire.
“We’ll continue to stand by the Wye River community as they continue to recover.”
But federal Member for Corangamite Sarah Henderson said she was concerned about delayed bushfire-recovery services.
Residents at a recent community meeting in Wye River expressed frustration at a lack of counselling services and support for home-based small businesses, Ms Henderson said.
A promised one-stop shop for welfare, planning and rebuilding services was established in Melbourne instead of Wye River, she said.
“Despite a wide range of funding being announced, to which the Commonwealth is contributing, including for clean-up and emergency grants, only one person has received an emergency re-establishment payment.
“(Residents) Tony and Lesley Maly, while receiving some initial assistance, are still waiting to find out if they can access this grant after their home and all their possessions were destroyed in the bushfire.”
Ms Henderson said Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley had agreed to review the criteria for the grants.
Mr Lapsley had confirmed he would move quickly to provide more services on the ground and to establish Wye River’s one-stop shop in March, she said.
