By JESSE GRAHAM
EMERGENCY Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley has a simple piece of advice for residents as the fire season draws closer – don’t leave it too late.
“It” is clearing excess vegetation, clearing gutters and creating a sound and workable bushfire plan for the whole family before the summer heat sets in.
Mr Lapsley gave this advice late last month when visiting Healesville to shoot a new advertisement, focused on bushfire preparedness in the lead-in to the fire season.
The advertisement was shot inside a Healesville home, and focused on family discussions on bushfire survival plans, how to prepare for the season and minimise risks.
He said that a combination of a dry winter and a forecast for a long, hot summer meant that residents needed to be ready in advance to minimise potential risks.
“When we’re moving into a summer with that sort of forecast, the message we’ve got is that people need to take the summer season seriously,” he said.
“Do prevention works now – take the early part of November to do that cleaning up; cleaning up grasses, cutting back, making sure they don’t have high levels of vegetation in and around their property.”
Mr Lapsley said that good fire preparation works wouldn’t be completed in an afternoon, and that maintaining a clear and low-risk property would take work and regular checking.
“It’s about thinking through what they need to do,” he said.
“Be conscious about heat fatigue, looking after loved ones and looking after people who may not have families themselves, such as neighbours.”
He said that having a bushfire survival plan was one of the key steps that needed to be taken before the season began, and that it was important to ensure the entire family – from children to adults – took part in the discussions and development of the plans.
“One of the most critical things is to involve kids – particularly teenage children,” Mr Lapsley said.
“Teenage children will question you and want to be part of it.
“The other thing to understand is your own vulnerabilities – if you have one car and your car is away, understand what that means for you.
“Don’t put yourself in the compromised position of not having a plan and not knowing what to do.”
He said the advertisement, and the emergency services’ messages about the bushfire season were not about scaremongering, but about ensuring people knew how to best ready themselves for potential fires.
“We have to be careful not to scare Victorians, and make sure they take it into their life,” he said.
“It (fire preparedness) is one of the things people need to take seriously, and they do.”
Mr Lapsley said emergency services were prepared for the season, with additional aircraft around the state and a Healesville-based helicopter going onto automatic response for the first time.
He said the helicopter would respond instantly to fires in the area, rather than having to be called in by CFA crews, and would be on-scene for the “first attack”.
