A " Death Trap" awaits !

Summer has yet to arrive, but the Weather Bureau predicts that today the temperature will be in the high twenties, humidity will be low - and we will experience winds of between 70 and 90 kph.   They warn that this will deliver a " high fire danger " !

As the fire danger season gets under way it is time to have a long, hard look at that northern suburbs coastal strip that runs from the start of Thirroul to Stanwell Tops.    This delightful ribbon of former fishing villages seems ever expanding and part of it's charm is the closeness of the surrounding bush.

Sandwiched between the escarpment and the sea, there is but a single road running it's length - and in the event of a major bushfire - that would be a death trap !

We have had the experience of hours long traffic chaos when a sudden thunderstorm sent people to their cars and away from the beaches - and residents are all too familiar with the jam at the Princes Highway end in normal traffic peaks.    Just imagine the situation if a fire made evacuation necessary.

We have been lucky.   The last time the escarpment along this strip burned was way back in 1968.    High fuel levels have been building up ever since - and in that time a lot more people have called the area home.

The only evacuation route is Lawrence Hargreave drive - and that is a narrow, twisting, single lane each way goat track that could not possibly handle the mass exodus of it's population.

What is needed is a well rehearsed evacuation plan in the event of fire - and the safest thing to do is to assemble on the beaches rather than jump in cars and try to quit the area.   The installation of sirens to warn that a dangerous fire was approaching would also help, but the main safety item would be knowledge.

Just as the fire services urge us to have a plan to get out of our homes in the case of fire, a similar plan to go to safety in the case of a bushfire could save many lives in the northern suburbs.

One thing is certain.   The law of probability dictates that eventually the right conditions of temperature - humidity - wind - and a dropped match will coincide.

The northern suburbs will burn again.    But will we be ready ?