Stay alert says CFA

By Kath Gannaway
STATISTICALLY, CFA captain Nic Rodway is well-advised to be preparing his Badger Creek volunteers for an eventful February.
The Badger Creek captain is doing what the CFA advises everyone should be doing – hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
Mr Rodway said a few hot, windy days are all that stands between an uneventful end to summer and a bushfire disaster in the Yarra Valley.
He warned residents not to become complacent over the coming weeks, historically the most dangerous time for bushfires in the region.
“This month is when residents of the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges are usually most at risk,” Mr Rodway said.
“We have endured serious bushfires in mid-to-late January, most notably in 1962, but historically the worst fires in the Yarra Valley have been later in summer,” he said.
For five days in February 1926, Healesville and the surrounding countryside were besieged by bushfires.
That year’s 14 February became known as Black Tuesday and exacted a heavy toll across the valley and beyond.
Around Powelltown, 21 people were killed on that day while in Warburton many people took refuge in the Yarra River as spot fires destroyed buildings in the township.
In 1983, on 16 February, the Ash Wednesday fires again brought devastation and suffering, with the people of the Upper Yarra area most affected.
“The mountain ash forests that surround some of the townships in the Yarra Valley are normally among the last parts of the state to dry out,” Mr Rodway said.
“But the prolonged drought across Victoria has meant that the landscape has been ready to burn for much of this summer. “Timely rains and some cooler weather since Christmas have helped reduce the risk of ignitions but it wouldn’t take more than a few hot days and dry northerlies for us to be up against it again,” he said.
Mr Rodway said it was as important for residents to be prepared as it was for the Badger Creek and other CFA fire-fighter across the region.
He urged residents to review their bushfire plans and ensure preparations and equipment were in place for the last few weeks of summer.
“Meanwhile, CFA Yarra Area Community Safety spokesman Geoff Deacon called on residents to be careful when using solid fuel barbecues and angle grinders.
“A number of serious fires were started in the north of the state over the Australia Day weekend due to careless or improper use of fire or machinery,” he said.