In 2001, ten years after the city's most dangerous industrial fire at Coode Island, the State Government funded a Community Alert trial for three hundred households in the Footscray area. Another has been trialled across this summer for communities threatened by bushfires.

"The state government is yet to learn the lessons of the Coode Island fire," said Colleen Hartland. "With houses, schools, an aged care facility and workplaces very close to the fire, there should have been a 'phone based community alert system ready to swing into action."

"However, there's nothing like that in the south east or anywhere else in Melbourne. Yesterday, people had to rely on, often conflicting, advice from talkback radio," aid Colleen Hartland.

While initial reports indicate the smoke from the fire was not toxic, it can take quite some time to fully assess smoke samples.

"We also need a register to track people exposed to potentially toxic substances by fires, spills or other accidents," aid Colleen Hartland. "This was another lesson of the Coode Island fire, yet nearly fifteen years later, we are still waiting for State Government action on a register and a Community Alert system across Melbourne and Victoria."

------------------------------------------ For more information and interviews please contact: Colleen Hartland, Greens spokesperson on the urban environment, on (mob) 0400 043 881