By Tyler Wright
Residents in Kalorama and nearby areas can expect to smell and see smoke between 5.30pm and 7.30pm on Wednesday 9 November as the CFA undertakes planned burns.
Firefighters will ignite the candling burn at Kalorama Oval, burning tree bark to reduce an ember attack during a bushfire, in partnership with Yarra Ranges Council.
CFA vegetation management officer Joshua Hodges said the planned burns are an attempt to reduce the amount of infrastructure damage in the case of a bushfire, with Kalorama Oval being an informal evacuation area.
“If a fire were to start and move into that area, candling, which is burning off the bark, would actually prevent a lot of that bark burning and showering embers down onto the infrastructure,” Mr Hodges said.
“It also reduces the intensity of a fire by reducing the likelihood that it’s going to climb from the surface up to the canopy of the trees.”
The candling is expected to be low intensity, with residents potentially seeing fire trucks on Mount Dandenong Tourist Road.
Residents should not be alarmed by the planned burning, but are advised to keep their windows shut if they suffer from respiratory issues such as asthma.
“We are planning next autumn to undertake some burning, which will be part of the joint fuel management plan which is available online and if people subscribed to the planned burn notification system they’ll be getting all the alerts for those burns as they come available,” Mr Hodges said.
To find out when and where planned burns are happening near you, go to or sign up at www.vic.gov.au/plannedburns or call 1800 226 226.
