By KATRINA BRANDON

 

FIRE season will soon be upon us.

Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch and other emergency services representatives last week gathered together at the Country Fire Authority (CFA) District 27 Headquarters in Morwell to discuss the outlook for the coming season.

Speaking with the Express, Mr Wiebusch said he had visited 16 spots, briefing emergency services and councils about preparedness for the “higher risk weather season”.

“We’re expecting another year where we could see an increased risk of bushfire, particularly in the East Gippsland area,” he said.

“Fires can occur anywhere, and we’ve just seen that in the last 24 hours down around Loch Sport and Golden Beach in particular.

“The preparedness session that we have here today (September 21) is about understanding the risks that we could see this summer, which are bushfires, increased storms, heatwaves, but also epidemic thunderstorm asthma is still something that could come about.”

Looking ahead to the high-risk weather season, the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a variable spring and summer period ahead, with drier and hotter conditions and the possibility of heavy, intense rainfall during storm events.

Mr Wiebusch said that communities need to be prepared for all types of emergencies as we head into summer.

According to Mr Wiebusch, the forecasted El Niño is one of the “strongest signals that they’ve had for some time”.

“What that means is hotter and drier conditions, typically, and we know that in East Gippsland conditions are already drier than normal with some of the underlying dryness,” he said.

“With further above-average temperatures and hotter nights as well, we could see further drying of the landscape and fuels.”

Mr Wiebusch said the example of Loch Sport, where a bushfire around 800.49 hecatres (according to the VicEmergency App) had occurred at Golden Beach on Sunday, September 20, was a timely reminder that fires can occur at any time.

In preparation for scenarios such as these, Mr Wiebusch said communities and residents should be cleaning up around their properties, removing unnecessary fuel loads such as long grass, leaf litter and debris from around their homes, clearing out gutters to reduce risk from ember attacks by nearby bushfires, and putting together emergency plans in case they need to leave their homes.

In the meantime, before the season kicks in, Mr Wiebusch said local agencies will start their own preparations.

“We might see Forest Fire Management Victoria doing some planned burning. We also know that the SES will be bolstering their swift water capability for those flash flood events that occur, and our CFA brigades will be running some get fire ready campaigns and some open days,” Mr Wiebusch said.

“We are asking everybody to think about their local situation. Make sure you have a plan A and plan B, because sometimes plan A might not be able to eventuate given road closures and other situations could be going on in the landscape.”

Other further advice Mr Wiebusch had for communities was to monitor conditions through the VicEmergency App, not just around their home, but where they might be holidaying, where they were working and making sure to listen to other emergency broadcasting sources, such as local news stations.

For communities cleaning up around their homes via burn-offs, CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said to avoid unnecessary call-outs for emergency services this spring, residents were urged to register their burn-off activities on the Fire Permits Victoria website.

“By registering your burn-off online, it allows CFA, emergency services and the public to understand that the fire is not an emergency,” Mr Heffernan said.

“Receiving notification allows us to manage the fire risk effectively and avoid placing unnecessary strain on local brigades and Triple Zero (000) call takers.

“So far this year CFA crews have responded to more than 200 escaped burn-offs – so we ask landowners to have enough people and water on hand to monitor, contain and extinguish their burn-off safely at all times and only burn off when conditions are favourable.”

To register a burn-off, go to www.firepermits.vic.gov.au/notify

For more information, visit cfa.vic.gov.au or ses.vic.gov.au to download tools and plans to help with emergency planning.