THE greater focus on the primacy of life through safer and faster messaging and dramatically improved weather forecasting has spared southeastern Australia large-scale fire casualties.

Fire experts have hailed the response to the emergency in Victoria as evidence of lessons learned but warned that the conditions were well below the severity of the 2009 fire disaster and complacency on the urban-rural fringes remained an issue.

Date: Release: 
Tuesday, 11 February, 2014
Project reference: 
Policies, institutions and governance
Media outlet: