By KATH GANNAWAY
AN AREA at Dixons Creek Recreation Reserve has been officially designated as a Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP).
Six years after the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires tore through the Dixons Creek area, Yarra Ranges Council last Tuesday heard that a site within the reserve had passed all the criteria required for an NSP.
The addition of Dixons Creek brings the number of NSPs (also known as Places of Last Resort) in Yarra Ranges shire to 15.
The council heard that from July 2014 until October 2014, 20 sites were nominated for assessment and have been assessed according to council’s NSP plan.
Three of the sites were considered not suitable by council criteria, one passed the CFA fire rating criteria but needed further work to comply fully, and one, Dixons Creek, complied with both the CFA fire rating criteria and council’s NSP criteria.
Cr Jim Child moved to support the recommendation for Dixons Creek, saying the recreation reserve was the obvious and appropriate place to have it.
“The site fits the bill,” he said.
“We owe it to our communities to establish this Neighbourhood Safer Place,” he said referring back to the number of lives lost in that district in 2009.
“This is a process we have gone through at length and come up with this recommendation,” he said.
Cr Jason Callanan also supported the establishment of an NSP at Dixons Creek, but took the opportunity to reinforce the message that an NSP is a place of last resort.
“People should prepare,” he said.
“The name says it all. It is a place of last resort, so don’t rely on these places as your fire plan.”
