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Community Update – 1130 hrs Wednesday 1/29/03

Informing the local community and visitors about fires and their control measures

By Gippsland Fire Information - 27th January 2003 - Back to News

Tune in to the following radio stations for updates on the situation: ABC Gippsland on 100.7FM or 720AM, High Country Radio on 97.3, 3TR on 99.9FM, Cooma 2XL on 92.1FM or ABC Bega on 810AM


The Fires

The north east section of the Bogong Complex fire has joined the Pinnabar fire. The fire now stretches from about 10kms south west of Hotham to the NSW border, covering more than 370000 hectares.

New joint Incident Management Teams are being established at Orbost and Bairnsdale by DSE/DPI and CFA staff. These will ensure more focused management of the fire as it moves further into Gippsland.

The fire is expected to move south today, driven by the predicted northerly winds. Many high country communities could be affected, from Hotham through to Gelantipy and south to Dargo and Buchan. Residents must be prepared to enact their bushfire plans and stay alert for falling embers and resulting spotfires.

Fighting the Fires

All efforts today will be focused on protecting lives and assets in affected areas.

Most of the spotfires from Sunday’s flare up have been contained, except for Splitter’s Range between Omeo and Bindi, which crews worked on overnight. This is a high priority for today.

Bacburning has been successfully completed at The Brothers north of Benambra.

Monitoring the Fire

No aircraft have been able to get up today because of low visibility, but conditions are starting to clear at Hotham.

Mt Mesley, north of Omeo is being closely monitored as conditions have become too windy to attempt more backburning.

The Weather

Extreme fire weather is predicted for today and part of tomorrow, followed by a change bringing calmer weather and patchy rain late Thursday.

Where to from here?

Community meetings are listed in the Contingency Plans section below.

Meetings held so far have proved very successful in assisting residents to learn more about the fire situation, how it may affect them and how to prepare.

Community noticeboards are displaying information at: Omeo Hall, Omeo Fire Station, Omeo Staging Area, Benambra Fire Station, Blue Duck Hotel, Swifts Creek General Store, Ensay Store, Ensay Little River Inn, Cassilis Winery.

How will it affect you?

School closures:

Primary schools at Bruthen, Buchan, Dargo, Goongerah, Omeo, Tubbut, Clifton Creek, Swifts Creek and Swifts Creek Secondary College.

Residents in high risk communities are reminded to enact their fire plans now to protect themselves and their properties. Make the decision about whether to leave, or to stay and defend your property in plenty of time.

The more decisions you make now about what to take and what to leave behind, the quicker you will be able to move if the time comes to do so.

For residents in the Omeo and Benambra areas, the Omeo Oval is your designated refuge area. For residents in the Swifts Creek and Cassilis area, the Swifts Creek Secondary College is your designated refuge area and for Ensay residents, the Ensay Hall or Bruthen Hall if preferred. For Buchan residents, the Buchan Recreation Reserve is your designated refuge area.

Other Emergency Refuge Centres are: Tubbut Hall, Bonang Hall, Delegate River Tavern, Karoondah Park, Gelantipy.

If people are going to move livestock, they need to do it well before the fire approaches while the road access is ok. Trying to move your stock after the event will be difficult as the roads could be unsafe.

Residents are urged to call the Gippsland Community Fire Information line on 1800 668 066 to report stock losses and to get help with the care or humane destruction of injured stock. DPI Vets and Animal Health Officers are available to assist with these tasks.

DPI and East Gippsland Shire are coordinating burial pits for affected landholders. This is a free service, please call 1800 668 066 for assistance.

If you leave your home or town you are requested to inform the Australian Red Cross staff at your local refuge area, who are keeping track of all movements during the fires for safety reasons

If you have already registered but you then change your plans it is important to inform the Red Cross. Also, if you leave your vehicle at a staging area they should be informed.

Road closures:

  • The Great Alpine Road north of Bruthen is closed to all vehicles except emergency vehicles and local traffic.
  • Omeo Highway between Omeo and Mitta Mitta
  • Great Alpine Road north of Omeo
  • Benambra-Corryong road, between Omeo and Corryong
  • Benambra Road between Uplands and Colac Colac
  • Benambra-Suggan Buggan Road (Limestone-Black Mountain Road)
  • Bogong High Plains Road between Falls Creek and Omeo Highway
  • Dargo High Plains Road between Dargo & Mt Hotham
  • Gelantipy Road, north of Buchan
  • Snowy River Road
  • McKillops Tourist Road
  • Cabandra Road
  • Dellicknora Road
  • Benambra-Limestone Road
  • No public access to Bogong High Plains, Bogong Village, Mount Hotham Village and Falls Creek.

Safety Messages

Tune your car and house radio to local stations (ABC Regional Radio on 100.7 FM or 720 on AM band, 3HCR, High Country Radio on 97.3, 3TR on 99.9FM, Cooma 2XL on 92.1FM, ABC Bega on 810AM) and keep listening for fire location information, spread of fires and weather conditions to monitor your local situation so you have an up to date snapshot of what is happening.

Tips for today

Interruption to electricity supply may occur during bushfires and should be planned for.

Ensure you have on hand:

  • Portable radio and spare batteries (Remember you can listen to the car radio if necessary)
  • Torch and spare batteries
  • Cordless phones with "remote handsets" require electricity to run and recharge the unit battery. Consider what other communication you have access to: a mobile phone, a CFA listening set etc

Protecting your building from radiant heat

Intense radiant heat very close to a window may cause the glass to crack. (eg, a burning shrub right outside the window).

To protect vulnerable windows:

  • Use metal flywire on the outside of the window glass. Metal flywire absorbs 70% of radiant heat.
  • New or old sheets of roofing iron covering the glass. Doesn’t look good but it works.
  • Cover other openings, such as skylights, with metal flywire or metal sheets that are well secured/attached.

To help reduce ember entry:

  • Metal flywire: cut, folded and placed into brick vents.
  • Flywire or other solid covering (eg roofing iron) for open "underfloor" spaces
  • Cover open chimneys with metal flywire, folded to fit and secured.
  • Timber verandahs can be wetted down with a sprinkler. This also damps the leaves or other fine fuels etc you can’t get to with a rake.

Write yourself a note to remember to remove the gutter plugs at the end of this fire situation!

Ensure garden hoses are connected, ready for use. Remember if you need to shelter inside (if it gets too hot outside), take the hose AND the plastic or metal connectors with you. Generally a garden hose can be connected to the washing machine taps in the laundry.

Close all windows and doors and use wet towels to block gaps between doors and floors. Hose down gardens and the house. Block downpipes and fill gutters with water. Fill buckets and have a ladder ready to look in the manhole and to remove embers from high places. You should shelter inside from the radiant heat while the fire front passes.

Once you are able to get outside, patrol the perimeter of your house and put out spot fires and burning embers. Ensure you return inside and into the roof to check for fires.

Contingency plans

Staff from the Department of Primary Industries and the CFA are endeavouring to ensure that communities most likely to be affected by the fires in the region are kept well informed and up to date with the situation as it develops.

This section of the Community Update is directed at those communities to help prepare them for the possibility of fire threat.

Community meetings will be held at the following places over the coming week:

Wednesday 29 January: Fernbank Hall, 7.00pm

Thursday 30 January: Goongerah Hall, 11.00am

Thursday 30 January: Orbost Football Ground, 4.00pm

Thursday 30 January: Nungurner Hall, 7.00pm

Friday 31 January: Old School, Club Terrace, 10.00am

Friday 31 January: Newmerella Recreation Reserve, 7.00pm

There are bulldozers working in the Deddick / Tubbut, Bonang / Delegate River and Bendoc areas for asset protection.

Work has commenced on the preparation of control and containment lines south of the Bogong complex fire, with DSE/DPI and the CFA working closely with communities on this.

The CFA is also liaising with landholders with properties adjoining public land with a view to consolidating firebreaks in the grassland.

A new Gippsland Community Fire Information Unit has been established at the Traralgon DPI office for the Gippsland region, jointly managed by CFA and DPI staff and the Police. A community contact line has been set up here for anyone affected by the fires to obtain information relevant to their situation.

This number will give you information on every aspect of the fire situation in Gippsland, your bushfire preparation and planning and further contacts that you might need. It is also to report stock losses and get help to treat injured stock.

Please note: this number is for information only, not for reporting fires. Call 000 or your local fire station to report any new fires.

The Gippsland Community Fire Information Line: 1800 668 066

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com



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