CFA has announced the Fire Danger Period (FDP) will begin on Monday, November 18 in Mansfield Shire, after local CFA brigades came together to tackle escaped burn offs and grassfires caused by lightning on Sunday 3 and Wednesday 6 November,
Of the fires of Sunday 3 and Wednesday 6 November Mansfield CFA Group Officer Robert Gardiner stressed the need to take proper caution when burning off on your property.
“People need to take weather conditions into consideration, burning off during the hottest part of the day is dangerous,” he said.
“If you’re going to burn off, you need to have the proper equipment so you can extinguish fires.
“And people have to stay and monitor the burn off.”
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Some fires are unpreventable.
The dry lightning weather event of Wednesday 6 November meant local CFA brigades had to tackle naturally occurring fires in grass and bush on a hot blustery day.
On such a day, escaped burn offs are preventable distractions that spread resources thin.
These latest escaped burn offs come after CFA urged Victorians to take extra precautions while burning-off at the beginning of October.
Aiming to spare the unnecessary use of emergency services resources, CFA reminded Victorians they could receive fines and even prison sentences for not taking proper precautions and allowing a burn off to escape during the fire danger period with the penalties doubled if the incident occurs on a total fire ban day.
Last year, CFA responded to 819 callouts for escaped burn-offs between January and December, with 48 per cent (396 incidents) occurring in September, October, and November alone.
Ahead of the Fire Danger Period, CFA District 23 Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Steve Contessa said now is the time for residents to be aware of the conditions around them and to prepare their properties.
“While we’ve had some recent rain, we are concerned that this has caused significant growth in surrounding vegetation,” Mr Contessa said.
“The warmer weather and windy days will see this quickly dry out, significantly increasing the risk of fire to communities across the North East.”
Residents are asked to take this opportunity ahead of the FDP to clean up their properties and for landowners to conduct safe private burnoffs where possible.
By registering your burn-off online, you allow emergency call takers to allocate more of their time taking calls from people who need emergency assistance immediately.
No burning off is permitted during the FDP without a Permit to Burn, which can be applied for through the Fire Permits Victoria website.
