Too late to burn off

By Kath Gannaway
IT’S too late to burn off… and that’s official!
Even though there are still a few days left before the official fire danger period, the CFA says it is now too dangerous to burn off.
The CFA last week brought forward the declared fire danger period to Monday, 30 October – six weeks earlier than its advertised mid-December cut-off.
Graeme Armstrong, operations manager with CFA Region 13 which covers the Shire of Yarra Ranges, said a lack of spring rains had resulted in extraordinarily dry ground conditions and fires early in the season.
He said the projected December date was aimed at giving people more time to get their properties cleaned up ahead of the fire season but conditions had changed.
“One of our key messages to people now is that it’s too late to be considering burning off.
“People should have been doing that much earlier and need to consider just how dry it is and the implications of burning off now.
“It has been too late, in fact, for a while,” he added.
Mr Armstrong said brigades had been called out to fires which had been lit days earlier.
“People have been doing the right thing and burning off to get rid of heavy fuel but because of the intensely dry ground these fires are going underground and with a bit of warm, windy weather are coming up again and causing fires.”
He said another consideration was the drain of volunteer fire-fighters so early in the season.
“The brigades are consistently being turned out to these fires and it was thought by bringing the date forward we could reduce that a bit.”
Mayor Monika Keane also urged people to clean up their properties.
“Bushfires are a reality in Yarra Ranges,” she said.
“We live in one of the most fire-prone regions in the world. Bushfires have and will occur.”
James Martin, the shire’s manager of community relations, told the Mail the shire will collect green waste across the shire starting on 13 November.
Pick-ups will be done in the first week in Upper Yarra and the following week in Healesville and Yarra Glen.
“We encourage people to make the most of it,” he said.
“This is an opportunity for people to clean up and reduce the fuel on their properties before the fire season starts.”