Fire sparks plea

By Kath Gannaway
STAY-AT-HOME mums and dads are being asked to ‘man’ the hoses as Healesville faces an explosive fire-season.
A fire which burnt out four acres of bushland and threatened houses in Healesville last week sparked the call by Healesville CFA captain Graeme Bates for more day-time firefighters.
More than 100 CFA volunteers and firefighters from Melbourne Water and DSE were part of a strike force which fought the Myers Creek Road blaze.
Fanned by ferocious hot winds the fire sent a chilling message to firefighters and residents to prepare for an early start to a potentially disastrous fire season.
Having so many people on the job so quickly played a big role in containing the fire.
But Captain Bates said a growing shortage of local people who can leave their jobs, coupled with the numbers of people working out of town, is putting that sort of response at risk.
He was working in Box Hill when he got the call just before 2pm and there are many others like him.
The days have gone, he said, when people could close their shops or leave their desks when the fire siren went off.
Losing Healesville Shire, the Board of Works, Telstra, and the sawmills has meant the brigade has lost a lot of members who were available during the day.
“We have 40 members on our books but 80 per cent of them work out of Healesville during the day.”
“I would love to have a Healesville Sanctuary on our door step,” he said, a reference to four Sanctuary staff who are also volunteers with the nearby Badger Creek brigade.
“We were lucky this time that it was school holidays and there were more people available to make up the numbers.
“It’s going to be a busy season so, hopefully, we can pick up a few more volunteers and train them up,” he said.
He admitted that training would be ‘full-on’ to get new recruits up to minimal training standard by the summer, something usually done over six months. Captain Bates also urged people to clean up their properties.
“With the winds we’ve had lately, trees and branches will be down and we don’t want people to wait until fires are on their doorsteps before they start cleaning up,” he said.
He warned, however, that before burning off, people need to be sure the weather conditions are safe by checking with the Shire of Yarra Ranges, or their local CFA brigade. The fire restriction period will start on Monday, 18 December this year but Captain Bates said Total Fire Bans would be put in place if conditions warranted it before that date.