18 September 2011

Horses over Children? Bimberi not evacuated.

| johnboy
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Much was made during the Mitchell fire emergency of the efforts made to evacuate horses from EPIC.

The ABC’s Jo Laverty did a lengthy piece on the efforts being made to cater for dogs and cats.

We were therefore surprised to hear gossip that the Bimberi Youth Detention centre had not been evacuated.

So surprised we asked Joy Burch’s office:

Was Bimberi evacuated during the fire?

To which we received this direct reply:

No

UPDATE: We’ve now had a slightly lengthier reply:

No, bimberi was not evacuated, based on ESA advice. Precautions were taken, young people and staff stayed indoors etc

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Well given that the young offender population is evergrowing and we only have a limited number of horses in the territory, I believe that the right decision was made.

Who cares really? They are just little s***s or masseys in the making. You say the kids are important, i say neigh.

yellowsnow said :

Guinea pigs?

It’ll be a lot easier to spot the buggers when they grow a second head.

“La la la la. I can’t hear you.”

Genius.

Can you hear this, Joy??

Guinea pigs?

Over coming decades, the Bimberi cohort will no doubt be closely followed in the medical literature on the effects of exposure to harmful airborne toxins on health, IQ and offender recidivism.

Perfect longitudinal case study for epidemiologists and criminologists alike. I expect research grant applications will start flooding in any day now.

We were well inside the exclusion zone, being at the Mitchell end of Palmerston. In fact, we were closer than the media when they were told to move because it was getting dangerous for them. We were certainly closer to the fire than the Bimberi residents were, and were just told to stay inside. They were safer inside their residence than they would have been if they were moved.

Bimberi has 24/7 staff, who were probably more adequately able to make a decision about evacuation. They were likely to have direct contact with those “in the know”. Of all the “schools” in Canberra, particularly those that were un-staffed when ‘the call’ was made, they were likely the most informed.

dks00k said :

And besides that, campers at EPIC were specifically told to leave the horses. I don’t believe officials made any effort to evacuate the horses, just the horses’ owners who chose to defy the instructions to leave immediately.

Mind you, I would stay and make sure my animals were safe and/or removed also…..

That’s the situation as I’m aware of it, too. I don’t know if they were actually told to leave the horses, but I do know that a large number were stuck there for a while and owners were not allowed to go to them. The horses that were evacuated were evacuated by their owners, without official involvement, before the area was blocked off. You can hardly blame them – not only do they love their animals, I’m sure, but it was a pretty big show and some of those horses would have been worth MANY thousands of dollars.

Evacuate horse, leave thugs? Seems sensible to me.

And besides that, campers at EPIC were specifically told to leave the horses. I dont belive officials made any effort to evacuate the horses, just the hosrses owners who chose to defy the instructions to leave immediately.

Mind you, I would stay and mwke sure my animals were safe and/or removed also…..

Well, unlike the people camping at EPIC, the youths were probably inside, as per the direction given to anyone in the vacinity not directly in Mitchell.

Houses in Franklin are closer and they weren’t evacuated. Just told to stay in doors.

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