In this age of helicopters, when is inaccessible really inaccessible anywhere in Australia?

Since the Christmas Day fire that devastated parts of Wye River - Separation Creek, and continues to burn out of control deep in the Otway Ranges, I’ve listened to radio interviews of Emergency Management Commissioner Lapsley and read comments attributed to him that the lightning strike the cause of the fire was “inaccessible” because it was in a “gorge”.

The Macquarie Dictionary Third Edition defines “inaccessible” as not accessible; unapproachable. It goes on to describe “accessible” as 1. easy of access; approachable.  2. attainable.

I’ve thought long and hard about a lightning strike being “inaccessible” in the Otways.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has a rappel crew in Gippsland that are considered to be remote and arduous area firefighting “hotshots”. Was the rappel crew amongst the options deployed to the lightning strike in its early days? A DSE video on the rappel crew (click here).

The Macquarie Dictionary defines a “gorge” as a “narrow cleft with steep, rocky walls, especially one through which a stream runs”. Does such a gorge exist where the lightning struck that precluded deploying a rappel crew to this particular strike?

If Victoria did not have the crews capable of this type of work, were they available elsewhere in Australia or New Zealand? I suspect they are available in NSW, Tasmania and New Zealand and certainly in British Columbia, Canada, where a crew could have been flown to Victoria virtually overnight for a fraction of the mounting suppression costs. BC Forest Service remote area firefighting capability video (click here).

In 1997 I was a member of an Australian and New Zealand forest fire managers group that went on a USA/Canada Fire Management Study Tour that included attending the 2nd International Wildland Fire Conference held in Vancouver. During the conference we attended Fire Expo 97, where wildfire equipment, services and technology were shown.

At the Expo I was impressed by horse or mule pack loads of remote area firefighting equipment. While not suggesting pack horses or mules for Victoria, such equipment could be lifted in by helicopter.

We also witnessed a Skycrane helitanker hovering while it attacked a fire through a mock up first floor window with a nose mounted water cannon. Do the Skycrane contracts with Australia include the cannons that may have been useful in directly targeting the lightning strike if it was really inaccessible to "boots on the ground"?

During a visit to a wildland fire agency in Canada we were shown examples of equipment it used, such as the portable dam, pumps and hoses.

The following video clip shows the use of a portable dam and hose laid cross country by NSW RFS volunteer firefighters to reach a fire inaccessible to tankers. Was this the problem at the lightning strike above Wye River-Separation Creek, it was inaccessible to tankers, but accessible to physically fit, well trained and properly equipped firefighters on foot? NSW RFS cross country hose lay video (click here).

As the firefight continues it seems we do have DELWP wildland firefighters capable of working in very steep country, as the screen shot from EMV shows. Question is, were those Victorians deployed to the lightning strike in the first few days or was it not until after Christmas Day they brought in their dry firefighting skills?

Having done some wildfire threat assessment work in the Otways, I can empathise a little with the firefighters shown above. At least I've had my feet in "boots on the ground" in similar terrain and vegetation. The following photos are typical of the "wet forest" and damp gullies of the Otway Ranges.

Given the widespread problems the fire has caused, plus the huge compensation and mounting suppression costs, these are serious questions for which only an independent public judicial can find factual answers. The Coroner is well-placed to conduct such an Inquiry unencumbered by political considerations.

Seems that Emergency Management Commissioner Lapsley may have been seriously misled in ultimately supporting the burnout of a larger area to make safe the lightning strike and Premier Andrews owes him and all Victorians an independent judicial inquiry to get to the truth of the catastrophe if we are to avoid another Wye River–Separation Creek.