Roger Skimming has spent a year in hell. He is the man who started the devastating Scotsburn fires that destroyed many houses, livelihoods and killed countless livestock.
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Ours is not a position to make judgement on what the courts have already decided. People can say what they want about carelessness and lack of preparation but we would also point out that this could happen to almost anyone who through oversight, distraction or ignorance makes a simple mistake that escalates into a catastrophe.
Let us be perfectly clear, this is nothing like the sinister motivations of deliberate arson which have caused so much damage and death across Victoria and more recently come precariously close to local devastation in the terrifying grass fires near Lucas. But as Roger Skimming is well aware whatever the cause, the effect can often be the same.
It would be hard to find a man more devastated by his own mistake than Roger Skimming . We challenge anyone who wants to make a judgment to at least listen to his harrowing interview. He is a man fully aware of what he has done and wants to say sorry.
What we do commend is the courage Roger Skimming has shown in coming forward, not to vindicate himself but to highlight just how destructive these moments can be and to warn others of the perils of these lapses. He has lived in the shadow of guilt for one terrible year and it is fair to say what he describes as the worst moment in his life will never leave his memory.
But this is all the more reason why the lesson seared into his consciousness should become the lesson reiterated to all; prepare better and think more about the risks. A warning true not just on high-risk fire days but during and in the approach to the whole fire season. A warning that applies to every landowner whether it is a large broadacre property or a small hobby block. It applies equally to all those who live on the urban fringe and even to those fools who still think it is okay to fling cigarette butts out of car windows. As for the arsonists; it is all our responsibility to keep a wary eye open for this behaviour.
Complacency may seem almost forgivable when the spring has been so wet and the Ballarat regions still seems so green. But people like Roger Skimming know and cannot forget the risk. The grass is very long everywhere and will soon dry out. The hot northerlies are all we need to add to this diabolical recipe. Read Roger Skimming’s story and remember.