More about Bushfires

Another bizarre turn to the Victorian bushfires in January; the coroners office has reduced the confirmed death toll from 210 down to 173, for those readers with strong stomachs, this was because the ash and bones recovered had been so scattered that they had been initially presumed to be the remains of more than one victim but had since been identified as a single victim, there had also been cases where animal remains had been wrongly thought to be human.
So on a scientific basis the death toll has been reduced however the sad fact is that there are still many people unaccounted for, if these people fled their homes or other sheltered points and were burned to death in the open the chances of ever finding confirmable remains is unlikely to say the least, we must remember the intense heat reduced bodies to piles of ash and fragments of bone.
No matter what the final outcome is these bushfires are still the greatest natural disaster that Australia has ever faced and for the sake of future generations it is hoped that title will never be taken away from them.
Just to repeat the already expressed views of everyone here in Australia; we owe a huge debt to the many thousands of volunteers who helped out during the horrific week that the fires raged. these volunteers ranged from those actually battling the blaze to those who fed and tended to the injured the tireless fire co-ordinators and wireless operators who directed operations and we should not forget the other services who were involved, the State Emergency Service (SES), the Army personnel, the Police Force, the Red Cross and all the Charity workers who contributed.
It remains to be seen whether we have learned from this disaster that we must take more heed of our surroundings and natures changing ways, in these fire prone areas greater care in the choice of building sites, building materials, house plans and most importantly a plan of action under perilous conditions, I believe an emergency fire resistant Bunker with an entrance clear of the house structure should be mandatory, the location of these Bunkers should be clearly marked on all council plans so that emergency crews could quickly check for survivors.