After the Victorian bushfires, a majority of Australians want the traditional fire authority advice to householders to stay and defend their property or leave early to be scrapped, according to a national poll.

The survey by the polling firm UMR Research found 59 per cent of respondents favoured a new approach of blanket evacuation orders for all householders in threatened areas, given the experience in Victoria, where more than 200 people are confirmed to have died in the conflagration.

A third of the 1000 adults surveyed by UMR strongly agreed that there should be blanket evacuations, while another 26 per cent agreed with a new approach. Only 17 per cent disagreed with a change of policy and the rest were unsure or neutral on the issue.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/evacuation-is-favourite-survival-response-20090220-8dow.html?page=-1