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Volunteer firefighters are being urged not to blame themselves for a devastating fire disaster as a state premier cops flak for fleeing angry fire-hit residents.
Easing conditions have allowed Victorian fire authorities to focus on containment and burnout operations a week on from bushfires breaking out across the state.
More than 700 structures have been destroyed or significantly damaged, including 228 homes and 450 outbuildings.
Eleven major fires continued to burn on Wednesday afternoon after blackening more than 400,000 hectares.
Volunteer firefighters should not hold themselves responsible for the devastation caused by the fires, emphasized Jason Heffernan, the chief officer of the Country Fire Authority.
“I’m speaking to our volunteers on a daily basis, they’re hurting … they’re blaming themselves for what’s going on in these communities,” he told reporters in Castlemaine, near Bendigo, on Wednesday.
“The reality is there is nothing they could have done other than warn the community, get the community out of harm’s way and fight the fire where it was safe to do so.”
Fronting the media alongside Heffernan, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced a $100 million support package on Wednesday, including $40 million in grants to fire-affected primary producers.
She was also grilled over her failure to meet with residents outside a local health service at Alexandra in the state’s northeast a day earlier.
The premier left through the facility’s back door after a mob of angry locals gathered outside to demand answers on Country Fire Authority (CFA) funding and disruptions to the town’s NBN broadband internet.
During a tense community meeting, locals expressed their frustration by shouting “shame” at the staff of Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan when they discovered she had departed without addressing them. In a case of mistaken identity, some attendees even surrounded a vehicle they believed was carrying the Deputy Premier.
Allan made no apologies when asked on Wednesday why she did not meet with the crowd.
“I met with residents of the local community in Alexandra, community members who I had the opportunity to thank for the way they supported their community,” Allan said.
“I’ll continue to do that like we are here in Castlemaine and Harcourt today.”
She said community anger was being driven by misinformation.
“Spreading misinformation only exacerbates the grief and trauma,” a spokesperson commented, highlighting the emotional toll of the situation.
But Victorian Nationals leader Danny O’Brien said CFA budget questions were being raised “organically” by volunteers and community members on the ground, not the opposition.
“I understand that she doesn’t want to meet angry people outside of a hospital in Alexandra but she also needs to acknowledge those people are angry because they’re not getting answers,” he said.
NBN Local Victoria head Emily Peel assured Alexandra residents the Longwood fire was responsible for a cut to one of its cables and confirmed all services were running on Wednesday.
The Longwood fire has been the most destructive, leveling 143 homes and leaving a significant impact on the community.
Cattle farmer Maxwell Hobson died in the blaze and remains the state’s sole person to lose their life this bushfire season.
The mammoth bushfire is believed to have been sparked by a trailer throwing off sparks along the Hume Freeway but authorities say the cause remains under investigation.
“Such investigations are complex,” a Victoria Police spokesperson told the Australian Associated Press on Wednesday.
Heffernan indicated the length of grass along the freeway would have made little difference.
“Under those conditions, the dryness, the winds, the fire would still cross it,” he said.
He warned the community the threat was not over, with Victoria’s fire danger expected to peak in February.
“There’s still many more weeks of fire danger to go.”
