Hotline failed on Black Saturday: probe

30 Jun 2009, 6:18 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Victoria's main bushfire hotline was understaffed on Black Saturday despite warnings of the most severe fire danger the state had ever known.

A vital Victorian bushfire information service became entangled in a "comedy of errors" when it was needed most on the day of Australia's worst natural disaster.

The Victorian Bushfire Information Line (VBIL) - a joint operation of the state's Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) - responded to the forecast of extreme fire weather on February 7 this year by rostering all available staff on duty.

But according to evidence before the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, it could still answer only 18 per cent of the almost 13,000 calls it received on Black Saturday.

The VBIL offers a wide variety of bushfire-related advice and information, from the explanation of fire ban regulations to the location of fires and advice to individuals on how to deal with them.

On Black Saturday its staffing numbers were greater than on any other day in the organisation's history with 33 telephone operators on duty.

But the manager of the service told the commission nothing could have been done to cope with the unprecedented demand whipped up by the Black Saturday fires.

Her evidence suggested that the service might still struggle to cope in such circumstances.

Customer services manager Kath Venters testified that the VBIL had 90 incoming lines at its Ballarat call centre at the time of the fires.

Although it now has 210 lines, inadequate funding meant it still had only 20 workstations, the same number as in February.

Ms Venters said the call centre had a maximum of 17 operators on duty at any one time on February 7, slightly below capacity, but the maximum number available.

"All the people who could have come into the centre were rostered," Ms Venters said.

"We would never have been able to handle all the calls."

On days of anticipated high demand, the VBIL calls on Centrelink to handle excess calls.

But Centrelink had received no formal notification that Black Saturday was likely to create such a need for help, despite widespread government warnings it would potentially pose the gravest fire threat in Victoria's history.

"We got no formal advice at all," Centrelink deputy CEO Carolyn Hogg told the commission.

Centrelink received a request to assist soon after 2pm on February 7.

But it discovered almost immediately that it could not access relevant DSE and CFA fire information due to a computer glitch caused by a recent upgrade of its system.

Almost three hours later, it was decided to fax relevant bushfire information to Centrelink - only for that organisation's fax to break down.

Counsel assisting the royal commission Rachel Doyle said the "comedy of errors" then came to a head when it was decided someone could take the relevant information to the Centrelink call centre which was only 300m away from VBIL's.

While complete records are unavailable, it is possible that Centrelink's overflow facility handled only 62 calls at the height of the crisis on February 7.

The following day it picked up more than 4,000 calls.

Adding to the difficulties experienced by VBIL and Centrelink were calls from members of the public who failed to take the fire threat as seriously as they might have.

The commission heard a caller from Hampton in suburban Melbourne called VBIL to ask if he could have a spit roast at his home and then spent 10 minutes arguing with the operator who told him he couldn't.

He then rang back a minute later and tried again to get the answer he wanted.

The hearings are continuing.

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