[Neb-Maat-Re]

I think the early warning system issue is a bit of a furphy (red herring) and just the start of the finger pointing. It will be the former Federal Govt saying it was the State's fault and vice-versa.

The fires 2 weeks ago hit so hard and so fast that all communications, mobile (cell) and land-line, were knocked out. Had a system been in place, very few people would have received it in time and many would not have received it at all.

Bushfires are normally rated in intensity from 0 to 100. The fires 2 weeks ago are thought to have been equivalent to around 300 - 3 times the worst possible scenario anyone had ever planned for.

The fires that hit Kinglake travelled 12 miles as the crow flies through hilly country in about 6 minutes.

There has been one arrest of a man accused of lighting the fires in Churchill which killed 21. Just lighting bushfires can get you 15 years but Arson Causing Death carries a 25 year sentence in Victoria, effectively the same as murder. Other fires are being investigated for arson.

There were 2 people reported as arrested for "acting suspiciously" after the fires, I think these were suspected looters who have since been released - they may have been just idiots looking around.

Other arrests have mainly been of people stealing collection tins and other donations, and one woman who was arrested for falsely claiming her father had died in the fires in order to receive $15,000 compensation.

And on a lighter note, since being named "Sam" the koala has been identified as a female.