By Mikayla van Loon
On the final day before the official start of the summer season, Montrose and District 13 CFA members hosted a bushfire safety session at Richards Reserve.
The information session spoke about the upcoming season outlook and how to prepare for the bushfire period, particularly putting together a bushfire plan.
Montrose CFA community engagement coordinator Eddie Tichelaar said Montrose Captain Rob Waters spoke regarding fire hazards within the Brigade area and Ben Cash from CFA presented as well.
“Residents who attended were passed on informative information about creating a fire safety plan now, and they were given valuable information and guidance in the ways they can create a safety plan,” he said.
District 13 community engagement coordinator Tarryn Campbell said with the current weather outlook for the summer, CFA crews are expecting higher grass growth.
“We’re looking at a La Nina weather event, which is predicted through the Bureau of Meteorology and predominantly that will bring with it a wetter fire season similar to last year,” she said.
“But what we do get with that is we will get hot days and we will see increased grass growth and grass fire risk in and around the location.”
Ms Campbell said although a wet fire season is predicted, the chance of bushfires is still quite high, especially on those warmer days where grass and vegetation can dry out quickly.
The seasonal outlook for December to February, released by the Australian and New Zealand
National Council for Fire and Emergency Services last week indicated the potential for an average to lower-than-average bushfire season in Victoria but CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said it was no time to get complacent.
“We know it only takes one bad day to have a bad fire season so we need to stay vigilant this
summer,” he said.
“Many people have already prepared their properties, but recent wet conditions mean we’ve seen a lot of vegetation growth, so it’s important to keep maintaining your property by keeping your grass low and any other vegetation cut back as well.
“If you haven’t prepared your property, it is definitely high time to do so.”
Ms Campbell said some of the best preparations can be done in the garden to ensure properties are well maintained but the planning around bushfires is just as important.
“We also would recommend people look at their bushfire plans, their leave early plan and make sure they have a trigger to leave. So at what point do they make that decision to leave early and on what days and making sure that it’s relative to their personal situation.”
With the excitement of Covid-19 restrictions easing and Christmas celebrations coming up, Ms Campbell said it’s really important for people to include their bushfire plan into everything they are doing.
“If you’re traveling, make sure that you’ve got a plan for what you’re doing, how you’ll be staying informed if you’re away from home, and also when you are home,” she said.
This won’t be the last in person session District 13 holds over the summer months, something all CFA brigades are looking forward to hosting.
“The [Montrose] brigade were really keen to get back out in the community and let residents know what’s happening with the upcoming fire season as soon as they could to be prepared.
“The CFA brigades will be going to get back out and about and people will see them around at different events. So we’re really hopeful that people can make use of that when they see the brigade to ask any questions that they’ve got.”
