Black Saturday 10 Years On: Eye of the Storm | Four Corners
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2019
- Four Corners reporter Liz Jackson traced the path of the Marysville bushfire, talking to those who fought it, those who escaped it and those who lost everything.
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Sorry but ive seen an interview with Glen and his a bloody good man and that is the lone reason as to why he did not walk out of that interview i certainly would have, and not quietly.
I'm shocked by Liz's questions, no compassion for a man who lost two beloved souls and a community as well.
I think she is asking because somebody local, in a very small place, lit that fire outside Marysville. And then messages regarding the fire that were conveyed to the firefighters, were never passed on, or acted upon. Valuable minutes were lost, and they still don't know why those messages were lost. The Marysville CFA is very probably the source of the arsonist.
@@punkybrewstar83 Let me put my hands on your shoulders mate. What you said is complete conspiracy. Nobody in the CFA would do such a thing, also the Police now believe that it wasn't arson.
yes agree!
@@punkybrewstar83 hi
@@punkybrewstar83it was confirmed this fire originated from a power fault
That woman should never be allowed to interview again. Such a heartless question to ask from someone who has lost so much. Prayers that he can find peace!
That woman, whose name was Liz Jackson, passed away from Parkinson's disease in 2018.
Bloody hell. Imagine asking some one, who not only volunteers their time to protect their local community from fires but also lost their wife, son, home, and no doubt many friends and neighbours to said horrific fires, if they wish more people had received the message to flee to safety. What was she expecting him to respond?
That question she asked him about getting more people out
That was not ok
She knew that answer and didnt need 2 ask
Broke my heart. I can't watch this woman anymore. Heartless.
Liz Jackson, maybe you should do some training in trauma and PTSD before you interview victims of such a horrific experience!! Some of your questions could only be asked by someone with no soul.
I agree, she was shocking, that poor guy lost some of his family, unbelievable
Thats exactly what i thought and they need to understand NOT ONE PERSON was expecting
Liz was almost blaming the VOLUNTEER chief... FFS why would you do that to a man who lost his wife and son!!! Absolutely disgusting interview and presentation. The fault lied with head office and the terrible lack of communication, combined with a system of fires and weather which was unprecedented for that time. ABC 4 Corners should be ashamed of this story 😡😡😡
XOX
Very insensitive and stupid questioning of victims who went through the horror of their lives. ABC, bow your head in shame for this; how could you shoot & publish such a terrible documentary ?
my heart goes out to glen: he was in a no-win situation. i’m sure he beats himself up daily.
He probably has survivor guilt :(
"Do you wish more people got the message to get out?" Ahh yeah that is great to ask the man who not only feels horrible about how the day was handled as the fire chief, but also lost his home and his wife and son. This is why it is important to know at least some counselling techniques especially, trauma counselling.
Sapphira's mama what kind of answer was she expecting? Like “oh nah I love that so many people, including my wife and child, died.” His answer was very restrained; I cannot imagine how that made him feel. I understand she was trying to prompt answers and sound bites and to get the story, but it was a pretty shitty question to ask. I don’t think she even considered how that would make him feel ...
I am not sure what answer she was expecting but that line of questioning was so wrong. It seemed like she forgot that his family was included in those that passed and so was asking him as the fire chief and skipped the family bit. Need to always remember every aspect of the person's background or experience otherwise, you will did yourself into a pit that you can't get out of.
(I actually thought you were sort of having a go at me but you weren't lol. Just my perception of what was written was off. But hey that is whst its like to have ASD)
I still remember the day i walked out and saw the sky red. The man did what he could and its disgusting how they tried to hang him out to dry.
That is a horrible question...!!
No compassion at all Liz..
That poor man has to relive that day over and over again, it never leaves him..
Horrible question.
I was married in that beautiful church in Marysville..going back after the fires broke our hearts in 2😢😢😢
The guys from the DSE on that day never get enough credit for the work they did calling out alerts, setting up defensive lines, and coordinating information that other agencies couldn't process quickly enough. Not to take away from the CFA, they're legends too. Here in America, it's every man for himself when disaster is occurring. I notice Aussies really have a solid sense of community, even when the fire is crowning over their heads. I wish we had that here.
A bit more compassion from the presenter please, there is no need for an interrogation.....give that brave man a hug 🤗
I was two years old when this happened and my family (including me) we’re staying in Marysville when this happened, I remember hearing stories of my dad racing down the road as the fire rushed towards us from the hills 😣
Seeing wildfire footage throughout the years here in the U.S., it makes me feel so sad that other countries have and are still experiencing these disasters as well. It's just so tragic for all forms of life involved, be it human or animal. The only thing I would like to have seen in this video is some compassion on the interviewer's behalf as she came off so callous for not having experienced what these people went through and came off accusatory.
I'm 8 minutes in and absolutely appalled and sickened at the attitude of the presenter. WTH? Who is she? Why is she being so cruel?
I paused and scrolled down to the comments. A ha! I am not the only one utterly disgusted. I can't watch the rest of this. I can't watch her sociopathic cruelty. Heartless.
Absolutely despicable to suggest that the station Captain should have done something other than he did in the form of a thinly veiled _’question’_ , intentionally designed to provoke some sort of shame from the interviewee.
He did the very very best he could with the situation at hand......he left his loved ones to the fate of a bushfire to protect the broader community from it.
His response _’what are you trying to ask, Liz?’_ was far more measured and polite than would have been offered from me, were I in his position.
As the national emergency broadcast service, what was the ABC doing during the EXTREME high fire danger period and unprecedented dry, hot conditions prior to black Saturday? From memory nothing much more than regurgitating BOM weather reports and regional fire ban information. Why?......because the ABC had absolutely no idea what was about to transpire.......just like the poor Captain of the fire station.
Cheese-on-toast journalism at its best.........
I was on a agricultural working visa in Queensland, Australia when this happened. That weekend, every break was spent in front of the tv in silence. It was heart wrenching and horrifying. Every time the tv was turned on, the death toll would have jumped up in 10s. Can’t believe it’s been 10 years
Jessi Haddow sadly I feel it will happen again. People have become complacent about fires.
Easy to point fingers when you never experienced it and say all that in hindsight.
Here, here. Wonder where Liz was during this horrible time.
Having spoken with survivors of that terrible day, they all mentioned to me that a lack of hazard reduction burning prior to the fire season was a major contributor to this horrible disaster! Now we have the fires again, this time in New South Wales and Queensland. So I ask, have we learned anything?
Were gunna be bad tomorrow worst conditions since black saturday and youd think so aye but i cant say what i think about our government on here without getting banned
We hazard burn a fair bit over here in the west because the mild winter weather allows. Unfortunately I don’t believe the forests are designed to be burn every few years, they seem barren and stumped compared to areas that aren’t burnt.
i see smoke and flames, i’m not waiting around for someone to tell me to leave.
Yeah, well, I'm a real Australian~a chicken Shiite Australian~when I see the crime rate rising, I'm going to turn in my guns as fast as I can, . . . and worship police government officers to protect me, . . .
I remember that day like it was yesterday. I live 10 km away from the Bendigo fire. Luckily for us the wind was not blowing the fire towards us. I remember driving that day, the wind very powerful and when a strong wind hit my car l pressed the temperature button in my car it said 52 degrees celsius.
Liz Jackson haranguing that poor man. Utterly filthy behaviour, I am ashamed of her. I’m only continuing watching this to hear their words, I’m fuming.
To everyone who lost a loved
one(s) in the fires my condolences such tragic circumstances what a terrible event to go through.
I can remember that day like it was yesterday along with 9/11 and the Bali bombings. My heart broke for all the people impacted. The abc documentary on the fires really showed how scary the fires were as well as how quickly they spread and how lots of mistakes in getting information to people and onto websites doomed people. I live in a rural area and have all our important documentation near the door. As soon as a fire is near, I am grabbing the important stuff and leaving, especially at the moment with how bad the drought is.
I guess Liz got her karma in the end, but jesus christ the people on the ground were not to blame in anyway for this. It was further up the chain Liz needed to be asking these questions to and questioning the protocols, systems and procedure failures which were put in place by higher ups which enabled what already was a catastrophic fire to be much more devastating and tragic than it was.
Liz got her karma in the end? In what respect? I don't know this interviewer, and I can't bring myself to continue watching her appalling, accusatory questioning. I'm hoping she was dragged over the coals for her cruelty?
@@madiantin She got the Parkinson's disease and died. I think that's the karma he means
@@ggurks Oh that's pretty sad. She was a terrible interviewer, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Know your local fire brigade phone number
These battlers have faced hell and we hold them in such high esteem
That weekend is never going to leave our minds
Also the journo's question at 20m17s is so cold-hearted!! How is it even okay to ask a traumatized man who couldn't save everybody why he didn't save everybody! Quite obviously if he couldn't save the ones he loved how can you make him feel even more guilt for not having the chance to save his neighbours and friends etc ! Such a low blow to aim at someone with PTSD like that ! Here's a better question - Why didn't SHE save everybody!?
Underground refuges would also be a great idea as would the old school manual wind (non-electrical) sirens which would be especially helpful for when the power goes out
Heart breaking 💔 10 years on
A lot was learnt during the royal commission. They changed methods of communication and I believe all States also did. The government built an app which notifies all people via their mobile phones. That worked I can attest to that during future fires. It was decided that only ONE Fire Chief per state would direct resources to needed areas and operate as a war room. That worked and helped during the 2019 fires. Centres were set up by wildlife specialists to receive injured animals. Food and refreshment would be offered in bulk for victims and firefighters via local pizza and fast food chains. SCOTT MORRISON we didn’t build a contingency plan. Who knew we’d see such incompetence in one so called leader ?
20:40 is one of the most painful things I've ever seen :( lay off the guy.
"We needed a warning." As if the ominous gigantic cloud of smoke blacking out the sun wasn't warning enough.
it was my 3rd birthday that day and we could see the smoke from Anglesea
I remember me and my family in this fire.
What went wrong ? Well, the early warning system via radio failed in so far, as warnings went out far too late (ie often the warned villages were already engulfed in flames when the 1st warning was received), and the emphasis on "stay & defend" killed many residents too, as they left too late & got caught in the fire.
We moved from Adelaide to Panton Hill (which was miraculously spared by the blaze) the year after Black Saturday; when we made our first trip to Kinglake the destruction and sheer terror was still palpable. One could see that the forrest has begun to recover, but burned timber, cleared burned house blocks and the smell (!!!) was still there. The local pub, normally a bubbly spot, was eerily quiet, and when we started talking to people pain, grief & sorrow surfaced again. Suddenly we were hugging & consoling people we never knew before; it was so sad & tragic, and it could have been much better with better working communications & early warnings.
We left beautiful Panton Hill about a year later, as we were too scared by the previous fires, and moved to FNQ, where we had to deal with storms & flooding, but not bushfires. The decision was fairly easy, as we had only rented the house in Panton Hill, but my heart still goes out to all the victims & their loved ones.
I remember meeting Elaine Jefferson at the Victorian State Library, a couple of years after the fire in Marysville.
I was deeply saddened to hear direct from Elaine, the sad story of her only child, Nicole & son in law who both perished in the fire. Nicole was heavily pregnant- so Elaine also lost the baby, who was to be her first (and last) grandchild.
The interviewer obviously wasn’t affected or at the scene
While it wasn't enough during the Camp Fire in Paradise, I'm gratified to know that when the recent first-time-ever 'bomb cyclone' was bearing down our CODE RED system sent texts to both our phones, sent-emails to both our computers and left a message on the landline. Siskiyou County, California.
doesn't she understand this is a fire that no human can control,
Imagine getting those calls; people begging for help and knowing that there is nothing you can do about it.
My ex husband is a CFA volunteer. He was meant to leave the night before at 11:30pm but was turned back home so he spent the day at the station waiting to be sent up to help, he heard Kinglake & Marysville station over the radio & heard their panic & how quickly the devastation hit them.
The blame lies in the higher ranks of the CFA the whole thing was disorganised chaos with “too many chiefs & not enough Indians” the captains can only go when & where they are told to go! They can’t just jump in a truck and leave. Trucks were sent to help from all over Melbourne & the CFA volunteers went willingly where they were needed.
I remember my husband being sent 24hrs later. He called me that evening & told me about what he saw. It was horrific! He spent the night watching the fire line in a forest area that was threatening more homes, he told me about the trees exploding around them & they took it in turns sleeping under the truck as the fire was slowly burning itself out before the fire break they had made. It wasn’t until first light that they realised the truck was surrounded by kangaroo’s who had figured out that humans with a truck full of water was less scary than the fire!
People in other countries do not understand that these fires were all fought by volunteers, they take time off their paid jobs to go and help other small towns, these are not full time firefighters & they leave their homes & families to go and help others & we can see the price this community volunteering cost Glen Fisk, yet he is still volunteering & helping his community rebuild. That is the type of hero’s these volunteers are.
The CFA had a lot of “dead wood” at the top & that is where the blame lies. There has been a LOT of education following these fires & a lot has been learned from the mistakes.
And to those commenting about people not seeing the smoke & that being a warning!!
The sky on that day was grey I was 1hr45mins away yet I could not see the sun. There were SO many small fires that added to the smoke that no one knew how far the fires were & it stayed like that for several days, we just had NO idea if it was a local fire or being blown from the big fires. We all relied on the warnings on the TV and Radio. I was lucky my husband was able to keep me updated about local fires in our area but the radios were crammed full & power was lost & SO many did not get those warnings!!
liz is so insensitive. obviously there were mistakes made and authorities were under prepared but the cfa and ses want to prevent devastation like this.... this isn't some conspiracy... almost all of these people live in these towns themselves, they have homes and families too. glen lost his wife and son, is she for real....
It's so easy to point fingers and blame people in hindsight.
I think the fire bugs who lit the mirrindindi fire are to blame
Poor form abc Liz if you wanna be heartless go join a current affair.
I hope the reporter is never in this type of situation where she has to be on the look out for the welfare of others and mother nature does her thing she would end up taking her own life if you apply how she treated Glen during this interview. absolutely no compassion you would have thought he lit the match. Never have seen such an uncompassionate interviewer.
This should be Liz's last ever interview. Completely inept.
Mr Fisk Sir, I dearly hope you get your dream of reviving your town. For those that were lost, and those that survived. Because, like you said towards the end, this was home. That reporter should be dragged over the coals for such insensitivity. But there is one question that I can't shake. If you looked out of your window and saw smoke rising a mile into the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon, no more than a kilometer from you. Would you honestly need, or wait, or expect somebody to tell you to gather those you love and get out? You can't beat nature, she is at times beautiful, but she can also be merciless. Dear God don't stay and fight. Save... then rebuild..... together.
I’m sorry but she’s an awful lady. This poor man, doesn’t she understand that he’s reliving this every single day of his life? Why is she being so rude.
Saturday February 7th, my birthday!
Thank God for Hull, the photographer......who sits around when there is smoke and ambers in the sky? Holy moly.
The Captain seems numb from what occurred. Seems like they were all numb.
Oh, they have a siren-warning system? Geez.
Reporter should be disgusted with herself insinuating the Captain should of done more
First of all, this is hardly 10yrs on. This is obviously still in the aftermath of the fire. Second WTF is that "reporter" doing asking a stupid question like that?? Finally, why isn't she making any mention of ABC's lack of proper warnings? Aren't they supposed to be the emergency warniing?
ABC were also found wanting in the 2019/20 fires If you’re the emergency broadcaster you need to lift your game People’s lives on the line
Whole towns were lost
I wasn’t born I was in my mums tummy..... my friend’s brother friend died.....
They were great people......
Heh. And ten years later megafires occured again. Time to start ignoring the greens and burn the bush before it burns us again.
YEAH YEAH YEAH............hindsight is always......20..20......
Hats off to all volunteer fire fighters! I can only imagine how scared they all were. They are all heroes! Nothing could have prepared or prevented the outcome that day. Hottest day on record with gail force winds.
In future, i believe on days of that magnitude, there should be no stay and defend, Get out.
Houses can be rebuilt, lives cannot!
I feel so sorry for all those people...😢 In my country, we got sirenes in case a dam's gonna be broken and causing a tidal wave racing down the mountains. So people got enough time to evacuate. There are regular 'Probe' alarms annually for people's training.
40:02 really sums it up.
The fires were so intense that whole towns were caught in a “trap” . Bodies couldn’t be identified because they were cremated. Fires were estimated at 1000 C
Good grief. Lay off. Don’t question the actions of those who survived, as well as those did their best to suppress a horrific event. They did what they needed to do in order to live another day.
There's a face in the tree over the lady's head! In the clouds!
What an awful way to question Glen, Liz. You should be ashamed. No empathy whatsoever. Also, who on earth did the audio editing for this segment? You can barely hear the voiceover in some instances. Well done to all the CFS crews. But it appears many people lost all common sense. The sky is dark and full of smoke, and you are waiting for a siren to tell you something is wrong. People with such ignorance and disrespect for the bush/mother nature, should be living in the city!
And the Marysville fire man needs to get it together and plan forward, he was a very lucky man and none of his kids died, get with it mate !
So.... there are people starting fires like these?
Baffles the mind.
It was later found this was a electrical fault
So no community alert sirens in dense bushy areas? I lived in the goldfields area as a kid 90s/early 00s and recall every summer they would test the alert siren. Maybe they changed it before 2009 to the pages between cfa. And changed it back after?I just checked on the cfa website and that location isn't listed. Idk. I did see king lake among others now listen. None in goldfields area though. Communication is much better however as a result of this travesty :/ I pray we don't get any biggies this summer and may the victims rest in peace ♥
fund emergency services properly. A country like Australia should have the best equipment and lots of it. Penny pinching numb skills
She wouldn’t like it if the question was asked to her so why bloody ask
So after all these years do we ever know why the public annoucement system didn't worked as planned ? I mean most of the time it went out on the air as the fire was already burning in each city. Messages stuck somewhere in the system and never went out WTF ? Has this been adressed now ?
Ahhhhh, did I miss a coronial inquest that said Glen Fiske is solely responsible for everything that happened on that horrific day when he lost his wife, son & home?! Sounds to me like he’s viewed very much as a hero by the locals (and by me!)
I learnt u NEED a siren even if u think well we got the internet not everyone will always know
3:04
Must be nice being a reporter with zero responsibility for anyone or anything other than getting a tape in on time. How many times has she put her life on the line for anyone? Goading volunteer heroes who did their best and lost loved ones to make a report edgier. Pathetic.
Hard to watch, seems like it was yesterday, we still have more to learn. Catastrophic days are still not adequately planned for, you don’t know where fire will strike, ALL regional schools should be closed. Old tech like early sirens have a place. Firefighter’s families should be looked after because they’re not present to do that themselves.
Tommy Lasorda
The bushfire “plan” has two options: leave early, or stay and fight. If you fail at warning people it’s coming, you’re down to one option.
Also, why does a country known for bushfires rely on a volunteer fire service?
Third, your sound editing is nonexistent.
Finally, how do you predict a wind change?!
Remember, we are almost the size of America but a smaller population than California spread throughout. We do not have a big enough population to have a large, full time, professional bushfire response team. Our volunteers are highly trained and highly respected. Many of our bushfire volunteers are professional firefighters anyway and we also have the backup of the army.
Sometimes the wind change can follow a pattern. So our town was surrounded by fires in the 2019/2020 fires. Our friend told some fire fighters not to back burning as the wind changes direction every afternoon. He knew what time and direction the wind would change as he has lived at the property for 30 years, but because the back burners were not local and relied on technology instead of experience, they lit it anyway and lost control when the wind changed.
I hope this answers some of your questions.
@@hollylouise5051 That is helpful. I do respect the volunteers, I just wish there was more support for them.
What exactly means black saturday
It is just the name we call the event. It happened on a Saturday and left nothing behind but blackness, therefore it is black Saturday.
Clearly looking to blame people.
How did these fires start? Why is there no significant discussion of the CAUSE. If fires don't start by lightning or power lines, there is only one other way.
One was arson and the person was charged and jailed. The main one was caused by faulty powerlines. The power company was fined.
Rest in peace Liz, great sensitivity and work done by you yet again.
The 000 calls to no help, too far gone
It did happen, so sad then , with no help possible
Insensitive questions
Terrible interview
I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but this was extremely cringeworthy 'journalism'. Punch up, not down.
all those criticising the journo, Liz Jackson, for asking hard questions, not beingmore sympathetic dont understand what investigative journalism is. she is after answers, her objective is to uncover the truth and that requires subduing your emotions and asking questions you or i wouldnt. if she doesnt then she may as well pack up and go home. dont forget that others lost loved ones and theywant the truth and as terrible as it is to lose two sons it doesnt get u a pass if youve done something that led to deaths or a crisis worse than it should have been. Liz Jackson was a giant of australian investigative journalism. enormously respected. sadly she died of (i may be wrong) early onset dementia. she made one final appearance as the subject of an interview, where she revealed her disease and her deterioration was heartbreaking. she doesnt deserve disrespect from from ppl who dont understand the diff btwn investigative journalism and puff pieces.
Where’s your compassion Liz 😡
Who would set these fires? Who benefits from them? Where is the money trail? Someone needs to pay for the loss of life and devastation.
The Murrundindi fire was caused by an insulator problem in the electricity grid near Murrundindi. Latisa Medic's comment refers to the Churchill Fire in Central Gippsland.
Paul Hamilton yes sorry should have highlighted that very unfortunate definitly lucky this new one didnt have lives lost
Dew and intercontinental high speed railway might have something to do with it.
The Group officer is open to suggestions...Here's one or two...Communication was the biggest issue. Some people were listening to the news in hope to find some information on where the fire's at and it's direction. This includes warnings to people on its path. That didn't happen and could have given a lot of people heads up and time to make decisions. That fire chief said he had no idea at the size of what they were facing. Perhaps communication with helicopters could have solved that. Maybe instead of buying useless submarines, Australia could invest in a fleet of Firefighting helicopter[ie Elvis]. Not one helicopter was used in the Black Saturday fires to my knowledge and to think that a fire prone country like Oz has to borrow them from the US is a joke.
Terrible.
Why does the fire chief seem like he's leaving something out?
pheenix Rivera hes probably just still tryimg to figure out how it got so bad what went so wrong at the emd of the day they were a breedimg groumd for fires and once lit went further then anyone thought it would
I tend to believe he has unrelenting guilt for his family’s deaths. He may feel he failed the community, too. The idiotic choice of not sounding the siren is troubling to us.
Because the ABC and this heartless interviewer made it seem that way. I've had to flee from a rather minor wildfire before, it is utterly deathly terrifying how quickly it changes from fascinating to life threatening. Surely he must have been panicking beyond belief, surprised by the scale of what arrived at his doorstep, lost his phone, two of his children and his wife spread out over two seperate spots whilst not being contactable and fleeing for your own life. Naturally he must have blanks in his memory of that day that he spent in terror.
River Smith why do you seam like you have some conspiratard agenda to push?