{"id":72753,"date":"2020-11-21T04:57:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T17:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=72753"},"modified":"2020-11-14T10:24:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T23:24:33","slug":"getting-fire-safe-for-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting fire safe for summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

PREPARING for fire season can encompass a variety of tasks and mean something different for every property owner.<\/p>\n

However, whether it\u2019s a thousand acres or a small house on the urban fringe, the commonality is always to protect the house and to, most importantly, stay alive.<\/p>\n

Based in Linton, sheep and crop farmer Kevin Knights said the most important part of prepping his property and land for fire season is to graze heavily around all the houses and buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe critical part about that is to start that work early before the grass gets rank,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do graze our laneways, we have a laneway system on the property quite heavily to provide a road so that provides a significant fire breaker area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI normally graze twice, one in early Spring and one in late Spring, but this year with the forecast I think we will be doing it more often.\u201d<\/p>\n

On larger properties, fire officials often note to ensure driveways are clear and any low hanging trees and branches are cut out of the way for emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about self-protection, we run a fire truck ourselves but in a big fire, it wouldn\u2019t do much and we would still need a lot of help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rely on the volunteer fire brigades so giving them good access is part of it to make it as accessible and clear the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there are significant fires there\u2019s not enough fire trucks to service everyone so it\u2019s a matter of everyone looking after themselves and doing the prevention they can beforehand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although rural fires are typically at the centre of fire preparedness discussions, it\u2019s important to remember even properties located in the urban fringes can be attacked by fire fronts and embers.<\/p>\n

Brown Hill local Hazen Cleary is the coordinator for the area\u2019s FireAware Network which aims to warn residents of the dangers of urban fires and ways to prepare for the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of Brown Hill is within a fire prone area and this urban fringe area is actually in a high-risk area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Brown Hill FireAware Coordinator Hazen Cleary and FireAware mascot Penny Platypus. Photo: SUPPLIED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat most people don\u2019t understand is that if a fire came to an urban fringe area the houses right on the edge might have exposure to the fire front, but embers can reach majority of the houses in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf embers get going in these smaller properties, the authorities are not then dealing with a fire front situation, they are dealing with a house-to-house which could have major implications for the suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even for suburban residents, Ms Cleary said she would encourage everyone to develop a fire safe plan and read up about the ways to prepare their specific properties for the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people can walk around their properties and find where the autumn leaves accumulate, these are the spots where embers can congregate and where you should concentrate on clearing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they prepare their properties now, they won\u2019t only have their own house to come home to if they leave but they also help to protect the neighbourhood as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a fire plan is like house or life insurance, it\u2019s good to have it ready just in case and it\u2019s not a waste of time even if you don\u2019t have to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on how to prepare your house or property for the fire season, visit cfa.vic.gov.au\/plan-prepare<\/strong><\/a>, or for Brown Hill residents specifically, brownhill.vic.au\/brown-hill-are-you-bushifre-ready\/<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PREPARING for fire season can encompass a variety of tasks and mean something different for every property owner. However, whether it\u2019s a thousand acres or a small house on the urban fringe, the commonality is always to protect the house and to, most importantly, stay alive. Based in Linton, sheep and crop farmer Kevin Knights […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":72754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-72753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGetting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PREPARING for fire season can encompass a variety of tasks and mean something different for every property owner. However, whether it\u2019s a thousand acres or a small house on the urban fringe, the commonality is always to protect the house and to, most importantly, stay alive. Based in Linton, sheep and crop farmer Kevin Knights [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruby Staley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ruby Staley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ruby Staley\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1c39b3a145f39b0fcf908463ce6e578e\"},\"headline\":\"Getting fire safe for summer\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Getting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Safe over sorry: Develop a fire safe plan and prepare your home before the bushfire season kicks off. Photo: RUBY STALEY\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Getting fire safe for summer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1c39b3a145f39b0fcf908463ce6e578e\",\"name\":\"Ruby Staley\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rubystaley.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/ruby\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Getting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Getting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times","og_description":"PREPARING for fire season can encompass a variety of tasks and mean something different for every property owner. However, whether it\u2019s a thousand acres or a small house on the urban fringe, the commonality is always to protect the house and to, most importantly, stay alive. Based in Linton, sheep and crop farmer Kevin Knights [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ruby Staley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ruby Staley","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/"},"author":{"name":"Ruby Staley","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1c39b3a145f39b0fcf908463ce6e578e"},"headline":"Getting fire safe for summer","datePublished":"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/"},"wordCount":618,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/","name":"Getting fire safe for summer - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-20T17:57:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Fire-Safe-scaled-e1605309784999.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Safe over sorry: Develop a fire safe plan and prepare your home before the bushfire season kicks off. Photo: RUBY STALEY"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/getting-fire-safe-for-summer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Getting fire safe for summer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1c39b3a145f39b0fcf908463ce6e578e","name":"Ruby Staley","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.rubystaley.com"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/ruby\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72753"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=72753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}