Guards unite

JIM Viggers was watching lightening strikes from his Yarra Track Winery on 25 February when he saw smoke from a strike in Bleases Lane at Dixons Creek.
As a member of a Fire Guard group, he reached for his mobile phone and within a couple of minutes he’s started a line of communication that saw up to 100 Fire Guard members within a 20-kilometre radius notified of the fire risk.
The magnificent view that is a feature of the winery, also gives Mr Viggers an extensive ‘scanning’ area on days when the risk of fire is in everyone’s minds.
The Viggers are members of one of several Fire Guard groups formed around the valley before and after the 2009 bushfires, including in areas of Dixons Creek, Yarra Glen, Healesville and Chum Creek.
Jenny Reddin, is a co-ordinator of one of the groups who would like to see more formed to ensure people are warned in good time of any fire threat.
She said in the case of the 25 February fire the CFA were onto it in “record-breaking time” and brought the fire under control quickly.
“All this happened way ahead of the CFA warnings and incidents website being updated,” she said.
The system involved groups of residents coming together, in most cases forming a formal CFA Fire Guard Group.
Ms Reddin said in 2010 a network of Fire Guard Groups linked together providing eyes and ears on the ground across a much greater area than they could individually.
“The system is working well and we want to encourage people to form their own groups and the option is then there for new groups to link into the existing groups,” she said.
The system has traditionally relied on a phone tree for the sharing of alerts, warnings and information and while that is still in operation, and used by many of the groups, some groups have also trialled an SMS alert system.
The SMS system involved a Fire Guard co-ordinator sending out a group message.
Ms Reddin said their decision to speak out about the success of their group, and their new system was not about looking for people to join their groups, but to let others know the technology is available for people to do it for themselves.
“It’s so easy. In the past you had to dial people and hope they were home and if they didn’t answer, dial another. This gets information out very quickly – you just type in one message, click and send,” she said.
She said the Fire Guard groups had empowered its members to protect their own properties and neighbours.
“There is a heightened sense of community, and it feels like we’re taking control,” she said.
“We have probably 100 people covered by these groups now and every one of those people is looking out for everyone else and providing early warning alerts is an excellent outcome.”
Ms Reddin said she recommended people contact the CFA to ask for advice about setting up a Fire Guard Group.
Anyone who would like more information about becoming involved in an existing group can also contact Jenny Reddin on 0408 336 790.