Yarra Valley left off fire ‘risk list’

By Melissa Meehan
DESPITE being in the line of fire last year, not one Yarra Valley township has been included on the State Government’s list of 52 towns most at risk this bushfire season.
Opposition MP Christine Fyffe said she was very worried about the coming season.
The list of 52 townships most at risk was released last week, after the State Government received advice from fire agencies for the need of individual township protection plans for specific towns.
Those listed were highlighted as needing plans over and above the standard municipal fire prevention plans already in place.
“If what we are told about the indices being worse this coming bushfire season than the last are correct, the only safe areas will be those already burnt,” Ms Fyffe said.
“I am still very worried about Healesville not being on the list due to the large amounts of unburnt forest.”
Also concerned by the decision to leave Yarra Glen and Chum Creek off the list, Ms Fyffe has called on Premier John Brumby to explain the precise criteria for towns to be included.
“I call on residents to contact me with other areas they believe are a fire danger in the Yarra Ranges,” she said.
“It is only through people-power that the government is going to get the message about the level of threat felt by residents.”
Mr Brumby said that as part of the royal commission the government has asked to identify the first 50 most at risk areas according to a set of objective criteria.
This took into account location, population, entry ease and exit, population density, bushland, rainfall patterns.
He said this information was then all fed in and the 52 towns identified were what came out.
“These are the ones identified as more vulnerable but that’s not to say there is not extensive work being undertaken in towns across the state,” Mr Brumby said.
Labor MP Ben Hardman said the government was taking all necessary steps to preserve lives and property but that a whole state effort was needed to ready Victoria for the bushfire season.
CFA spokesperson Lex De Mann said while there would be a focus on Mt Dandenong and Warrandyte, he was confident that fire protection would expand through to the Yarra Valley.
“We already did a lot of work (in the Yarra Valley) last year,” he said.
“So it is not a case of being forgotten.
“Our job is to get the message out to be fire ready and then to work with the community.”
A State Government spokesman said that the government was taking action to prepare the most at risk towns, and would invest additional resources to individually develop those plans.
On Thursday, the government announced a $500,000 grant to the Municipal Association of Victoria to prepare Township Protection Plans and identify Neighbour Safe Places (fire refuges) ahead of the bushfire season.