Vic: Bushfire devastation rivals combat scenes: major general

AAP General News (Australia)
02-13-2009
Vic: Bushfire devastation rivals combat scenes: major general

MELBOURNE, Feb 13 AAP - Victoria's bushfire devastation ranks alongside some of the
worst combat scenes witnessed by a top Australian military official.

Major General John Cantwell, the interim head of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction
and Recovery Authority, has toured the hardest hit towns of Kinglake and Marysville with
Premier John Brumby.

"I am a soldier and I have been in some pretty unpleasant situations, and I have seen
some pretty awful things in the last 24 hours that ranks alongside some of the worst I
have seen in combat," he said.

"It really brings home the extent of the damage and the work that needs to be done."

Major General Cantwell, who heads the authority until Victoria Police Chief Commissioner
Christine Nixon takes charge next month, said its role would be to help communities rebuild.

Of immediate concern were issues including sanitation, meal preparation, laundry, water
and showers, he said.

Major General Cantwell is a military veteran of more than 30 years and was posted with
coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait between
1990 and 1991.

AAP mok/sjm/tnf

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC CANTWELL

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