By Mikayla van Loon
Just like that, we are on the cusp of another bushfire season and now is the perfect time to start clearing properties of excess debris.
But as much as it is important to be prepared, it’s also important to be safe.
Kallista-The Patch CFA captain Martin Noonan said now is the time where CFA crews are called to jobs where burning off has gotten out of hand.
“It’s this time of year where we’re finished with the common fire events like house fires or car accidents that occur across the winter months,” he said.
“With strong winds and if people are burning off, it’s invariably going to catch into a tree or elsewhere on their properties and that’s something that we’re really wanting people to be very mindful of.”
Mr Noonan said Victoria’s fire season forecast has been marked as a normal fire season, while New South Wales and Queensland are preparing for a very extreme fire season, but that does not mean people can be lenient.
“At this point in time, they’re saying that we’re not necessarily looking at a tough fire season but that can change very quickly and all you need is about six weeks of dry weather, and then things will catch,” Mr Noonan said.
“So we just want people to be very conscious, as they do, but be very conscious of their property preparation.”
The other thing residents need to be aware of are fire hydrants on or near their property.
“Make sure it’s clear of grass and shrubs because we’ve got to get into that fire hydrant very, very quickly and to have to contend with vegetation growth, it just slows the process down.”
While clearing larger items from a property is essential, Mr Noonan said ensuring smaller branches, leaves and other debris is also cleared is very important, particularly from gutters and roofs.
“That’s perfect for sparks that can drift kilometres, as was found in the 2019/2020 fire season in Gippsland, they travel and that’s what we want people to be very mindful of.”
The Yarra Ranges Council has a one metre by one metre burn off pile rule, which must be done away from trees with a hose on standby.
“The one thing that we really want to emphasise is once winds get over 15 kilometres an hour then those little one meter piles turn into big, big problems.”
“The more that people stack their dry debris to burn, the bigger the piles, there is a likelihood of fire going underground and traveling depending on what’s under the ground fires can pop up metres away.”
With a number of properties in the hills also being owned for accommodation purposes, Mr Noonan hopes that residents will take it upon themselves to notify the owners of neighbouring properties should there be any identifiable risk factors.
To find out more information about burning off in the Yarra Ranges go to, https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Environment/Burning-off.
