By Callum Ludwig
A shed fire in Launching Place on Thursday 26 September is a timely reminder for residents to make sure any hydrants or water access points outside their home are easily accessible.
A CFA spokesperson confirmed that crews responded to reports of a structure fire at around 12.09 pm on Braeside Drive in Launching Place.
“Eight CFA units from multiple local brigades attended the scene, crews arrived to find a large shed and pine trees fully alight and quickly worked to contain the situation,” they said.
“The incident was deemed under control at 12.34 pm, crews remain on scene as of 1.09 pm. The fire investigation unit has been contacted.”
The fire threatened to spread to a neighbouring property as well as a large pine tree and the property owner’s vehicle.
Hillcrest CFA 3rd Lieutenant Peter Jenkin said the Hillcrest pumper arrived first on scene.
“We were closely followed by Yarra Junction, we rocked up, did a size up and started getting hoses ready, there was a carport on the other side of the property. And after the size up, I realized the shed was fully involved and we couldn’t save it so then we went into asset protection,” he said.
“One of the things we did find is, we’ll be going through the process of checking all our hydrants along the roads because we could not find the closest one to that property because it’s been covered over.”
The location of hydrants in Victoria can be identified by looking for a blue raised reflective road marker in the middle of the road, a white reflective triangle to the left of that and one of either an L-type, Pillar or Milcock hydrant. An additional white marker post with a blue dot and a red top may also be present about 7.5 metres from the hydrant.
Mr Jenkin said one of the things he would stress to residents is if they do have water access points outside their home, do not cover them.
“If they have any one of the three that would identify that you have a hydrant or water point out the front of your home, make sure that they are accessible to the fire brigade,” he said.
“There’s nothing worse than rocking up knowing there’s a hydrant there but you can’t find it because it’s been covered over,”
“Most residents are pretty good, but some think it’s an ugly thing and put a garden over it or cover it over but it doesn’t look so ugly when your house is on fire.”
An old fridge is believed to be the cause of the blaze.
