RSS Feed
September 5th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Police in remote Western Australia, where two runners were badly burned when trapped by a bushfire, have called for organisers of adventure events to consult local authorities to help avoid future emergencies.
Two women, one of them Victorian, are in a critical condition in hospital after suffering burns to most of their bodies when trapped by fire in a gorge in the Kimberley region last Friday.
Kate Sanderson, 35, from Mornington, is being treated for burns to more than 70 per cent per cent of her body in The Alfred hospital.
Ms Sanderson was one of four people injured when fire trapped runners competing in the Kimberley Ultramarathon, part of the Racing the Planet Series, which was staged across 100 kilometres of outback terrain between Kununurra, the Gibb River Road and El Questro Wilderness Park.
Turia Pitt, 24, from Ulladulla on the New South Wales south coast, is in a critical condition at Sydney’s Concord Hospital.
Two men, aged 44 and 56, suffered burns to about 20 per cent of their bodies and are being treated in Perth.
The incident has prompted questions over whether the event should have gone ahead in such a remote and dangerous region, as up to 30 bushfires can burn through the Kimberley daily at this time of the year.
Superintendent Mick Sutherland, the commanding police officer in the Kimberley, said the event organisers were not obliged to notify police before the race, as the ultramarathon was run across private land.
However, he said the only information police had in the lead-up to the race was a generic email sent to officers in Kununurra about two weeks before the race began, while officers in Wyndham received no notification.
Police are still taking statements from event organisers about what emergency responses they had in place.
Supt Sutherland said he would ask force command to urge the state government to make it compulsory for event organisers to liaise with emergency services before holding future events in the Kimberley.
“What I would ask of people to prepare is if they hold events across the Kimberley, they need to hold briefings in preparation of their emergency management plans,” he said.
“They need to provide to all emergency services providers the challenges they could face in the area prior to holding the event.
“I’ll be putting a report up through my commissioners to raise it at the government level or ministerial level that these events need to make sure they have the proper risk assessment.
“That’s not saying that they didn’t do that. However, at the local level we weren’t advised.”
Supt Sutherland said emergency services were best prepared to advise event organisers of the risks in such an inhospitable landscape, where people were at risk from bushfires, crocodiles, snake bites, dehydration and isolation year round.
“It’s unforgiving land. Beautiful, but unforgiving,” he said.
Supt Sutherland said police were confident the bushfire that burned the runners was not deliberately lit. He said the fire was still burning, and likely to burn itself out.
Racing The Planet event organiser Samantha Fanshawe told the ABC today an investigation was under way into how the runners were trapped by the fire.
She said organisers were told there was no chance of a fire occurring on the course.
“We are looking into every detail of the incident. It was a terrible day and a terrible thing to have happened,” she said.
“It was very scary for the people trapped in that gorge … everyone we spoke to prior to the race said there was no risk on the course to fires.
“This fire flared up very suddenly, part of the investigation is putting together a full timeline and also looking at everybody who was involved in the pre-race part. So at the moment I don’t want to disclose those details.”
– with Aja Styles
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
