RELATED: Risky fire season ahead
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With the fires that tore through 250 hectares of grassland north of Kyneton in January still fresh in their minds, central Victorian emergency services are gearing up for another severe fire season.
CFA Bendigo regional commander Mark Gilmore said brigades were ready for a long summer.
“What happens during this time of year is that volunteers do their off season training and their preparation of equipment, and then from a coordination point of view we do a heap of work with other agencies,” he said.
“If people are rostered on to strike team duty they might take their gear to work with them and go directly from work if they have to respond.”
Victorian emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said all agencies would contribute to ensure the region was prepared for disaster.
“We’ve got the resources and the agencies are up for it as they always are,” he said.
“The CFA (the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) and Parks Victoria are all extremely good in their fire capability.”
Mr Lapsley said the agencies would work with paramedics, police and other emergency services to coordinate their response.
“What we do in our multi-agency exercises is we bring everyone together and run scenarios around how they’ll operate,” he said.
“The main thing is to make sure the agencies work together well, and they actually have scenarios that can test them in a controlled environment, but also make sure they’ve got the capability to do what they need to do.”
The commissioner said the predicted early start to the fire season would present particular challenges.
“Fatigue will be one of the key issues so we need to talk about fatigue management and how we get through three, if not four months of hot weather,” he said.
DELWP Murray Goldfields District Manager Paul Bates said the department had planned burns prepared and ready to go whenever conditions were suitable in central Victoria.
“Planned burning is part of an integrated plan to reduce the bushfire risk to people, property and communities,” he said.
Mr Bates said DELWP would also complete 1500 hectares of other fuel reduction activities on public land near Bendigo, Castlemaine, Heathcote, Inglewood, Rushworth, St Arnaud and Maryborough.