The beginning of 2009… The days at the end of January and the beginning of February in Australia were rather hot, around 40-45o above zero. The conditions were not stable enough; this is why CFA did not hurry up to inform people about possible danger. The results of such neglect were terrible: on Saturday 5 February, they reached its high points, to 46o, and more than 64 km north to Melbourne were on fire. The Black Saturday bushfires were probably one of the most known accidents of 2009.
Those series of bushfires took so many lives away, lots of people got numerous injuries, and total damage was hard to inspect. People were not ready to such a tragedy that is caused by rather unclear reasons; it became crucially important to find out who’s the blame was, and how it was possible to help and support people. The Black Saturday was a terrible day; that natural disaster took the lives of 173 people and unidentified number of animals.
To my mind, the representatives of CFA are the ones who are responsible for such a huge number of losses and deaths caused by Bushfires: they did not take into consideration the possibility of the threat and did not analyze how dangerous fire spreading may be, and finally, they did not even try to use their relations and connections to prevent fires and save people’s lives; however, the Australian continent is one of the driest continents all over the world, this is why it turns out to be rather difficult to control the weather all the time, and another significant factor is that preparation for fire is the duty by several organizations like local agencies and communities, this is why the inability of these organizations may serve as one more cause for such losses during the Black Saturday.
The main reason why I support CFA’s guilt in the fires is closely connected to their duties, abilities, and connection to any other sphere of life. It is known that the Australian continent is under a terrible threat of being burnt, and numerous fires take place very often under various weather conditions. This is why the work of CFA should care about each detail that may prevent any fire and help people to be saved. However, this time, there was a kind of glitch within the abilities of CFA’s work.
Kissane (2009) admits that it was CFA, who failed to warn communities about the firestorms. The major point is that the employees of CFA, its managers, and analytics should be able to evaluate and predict any possible change of weather and be ready to fight against nature and heat in particular.
CFA just ignored the possible rising of temperature; as a result, the fires took place and destroyed huge territory (Ferguson, 2009). This is why my point of view is rather clear – CFA should re-analyze their work and improve their technologies in order not to promote one more tragedy and allow fires to destroy the land.
However, this very point can be easily rebutted by one simple fact – it is not that easy to control weather condition and have enough opportunities to prevent a natural disaster. Weather like destiny, it will come without any warnings and influence people’s lives in any possible way.
As it was mentioned above, Australia is the hottest continent, and weather conditions usually cause numerous fires, and it turns out to be more important not to prevent fire, but help society to be ready for fires and be protected. This is why it is not always reasonable to make CFA guilty is all the time. Sometimes, it will be better to analyze how weather conditions influence the tragedy, and after a thorough analysis, evaluate why CFA did not protect people to its full extent.
One more peculiarity that may put under a question the complete guilt of CFA during the Black Saturday bushfires is huge responsibility of other governmental organizations, the duties of which are also connected to fire control and prevention, and society’s awareness about the steps to take to be saved during fires.
Let’s face it that people should comprehend that they cannot be protected for 100% by any governmental organization (Collins 2009); this is why it is better to rely on personal knowledge and be aware of the steps to take in case of an accident or any natural disaster. Local government agencies have to cooperate with CFA in order to inform everyone about approaching bushfire season.
It was not that reasonable to wait for temperature rising to start informing people; this very delay cost so many lives. Those communities, which have to care about possible protection for people during fires, did not take into consideration many points and the size of the territory: 173 people did not get a chance to hide themselves during the fires.
Usually, fires make many people evaluate this life and its sense once again and into consideration many important factors. The guilt and inability of CFA to inform people about possible fire danger are obvious. Even if it is very difficult and sometimes even impossible to withstand all nature’s whims, CFA had to work to their full extent to protect people and fight against fires and its fast spreading.
But still, the Black Saturday events should influence and improve the work of CFA and other organizations with similar duties; this accident will be a black point in the history of Australia for a long period of time and will be a good lesson and the answer to the question of why we should appreciate each moment of this life.
Reference List
Collins, S. J. 2009, ‘At Risk Towns to Get Havens’.
Ferguson, J. 2009, ‘Nothing Can Save Us if We Refuse to Lear from Fire’.
Kissane, K. 2009, ‘Errors Led to Tragedy’.