Sirens, fire refuges planned

Sirens, refuges and changes to the "stay or go" policy could be included in a report set to dictate what immediate action should be taken to prevent another Victorian bushfire disaster like Black Saturday.

The Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission will hand down its interim report today on the devastating February 7 fires that killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2000 properties.

The report will be a key indicator for Victorian authorities to implement changes to the way it manages major bushfires before the next fire season, which is just nine weeks away.

If dire predictions by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) prove true, the bushfire season promises fire conditions even worse than those on Black Saturday.

In that light, today's recommendations by commission chairman Justice Bernard Teague and assistant commissioners Susan Pascoe and Ron McLeod are more important than ever.

Victorian Premier John Brumby has already foreshadowed steps the Government plans to take soon, much to the ire of counsel assisting the commission, Jack Rush, QC.

Brumby last month announced the Government would work towards establishing "township protection plans" and "neighbourhood safer places", a move Rush said pre-empted the interim report.

Rush released his own set of recommendations on July 2 to assist the commissioners in their report.

These included sirens and messages to mobile phones to warn people of a bushfire threat and the construction of a network of fire refuges, phased out by the state government.

He recommended the controversial "stay or go" policy should be changed to allow senior Country Fire Authority (CFA) officers to advise communities in imminent danger to leave before it became too late.

The existing policy came under question after it emerged that 113 people of the 173 Black Saturday victims died sheltering in their homes.

Teague has made it clear he believes refuges should be reinstated.

"There is a need for refuges," he said during the hearings. "The state should accept it and get it done."

It's also likely, if the commissioners follow Rush's recommendations, that the job description of CFA chief officer Russell Rees will be rewritten.

Rees was recently reappointed to the top job despite harsh criticism of his role on Black Saturday by Rush at the royal commission.

He was "divorced from fundamental aspects of the responsibilities of the chief officer", Rush said in his scathing assessment of Rees.

Other recommendations could include the reintroduction of the Standard Emergency Warning System (Sews). This is a signal which alerts people that a public warning is about to be broadcast on radio or television.

- AAP