While I feel for the people trying to save their properties, when you decide to ignore an evacuation order to protect your own place, you must be self sufficient with your efforts. A lot of coordination goes into fighting these huge interface fires. We have a structural protection unit at our hall which has been deployed a few times these past few years. When it is set in place, incident commanders count on that protection to perhaps cover a flank of the fire. If it gets removed by desperate people, that might open up an exposure that was covered. Firefighting in these extreme conditions has to be coordinated. Otherwise, a free for all results in a lot more damage.
Weather at the time and the forecast for the coming days is always taken into consideration before controlled burns take place. With the extreme winds predicted for the 17th and 18th, I very much doubt they would have risked back burning on Thursday, but who knows. There is always a thorough debriefing and investigations after these events. People are trying their best to learn how to control these firestorms and to minimize damage. Thankfully, no loss of life has been reported yet. We're getting a bit of drizzle at the moment and I hope you are, too.
