Monash bushfire warning after MFB report reveals risk areas
If you think living in the suburbs means the closest you’ll get to a bushfire this summer is on TV or in the paper, think again. A new study by the MFB reveals there are some metropolitan areas where people better have a bushfire plan in place.
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People living in parts of Monash need to be just as alert as rural Victorians and have a fire plan ready before the start of the bushfire season, the MFB warns.
In a study sure to cause unease among people who previously thought they’d be safe from the ravages of out-of-control fires, the MFB has found suburbs within 10km of the CBD are a fire risk.
The MFB revealed parkland, river reserves and wooden beachfronts were just as likely to be at risk of fire as towns on Melbourne’s outskirts.
And in case people thought it was an overcautious study, anyone living near Jells Park in Wheelers Hill need only recall the large grass and scrub fire from early October.
Thirty-five firefighters from the CFA and MFB were joined by a firebombing aircraft during the two-hour fire fight on October 3.
Professor Alan March, a Melbourne University disaster risk-reduction expert, said the city’s rapid growth meant successive housing estates were being built closer to farmland and protected bushland.
“In addition, some suburbs have substantial parks that pose a risk, while others can come under ember attack from fires many kilometres away,’’ he said.
Monash Mayor Stuart James said the council had 38ha of native bushland reserves in Damper Creek, Scotchmans Creek, Valley Reserve and Gardiners Creek, with a year-round bushfire strategy.
“We have an annual fire hazard program targeted at owners of vacant land that starts in September,’’ he said.
“Fire risk clearance works in our bushland and reserves start in September and continue until the fire season is finished.”
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Cr James said the council send in contractors to clean up the vacant land if the owners don’t respond to requests to take action.
The council will recoup the costs from the landowner and they will also be hit with a $500 fine. The council has a fire management plan for bushfire prone areas and has staff checking reserves on Total Fire Ban days. Among the suburbs listed as being at risk are: Clayton South (The Grange Heathland), Glen Waverley (Shepherds Bush), Mt Waverley (Valley and Fairway reserves) and Wheelers Hill (Jells Park).