Fire Danger Period ends for 2022-23

LOCAL fire crews and brigades across the Surf Coast, Bellarine and Greater Geelong regions had a “busy” fire season, which came to a close last month.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) announced April 24 as the end of the Fire Danger Period for the region.

CFA District 7 Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Wayne Aylmer said that despite the lack of large-scale fires, local crews were required to attend over 480 incidents from December to April.

“The summer fire season might have seemed quiet for fires, but we still had numerous events,” Mr Aylmer said.

“Especially grass fires towards the end of the season along with Saturday, March 18 where we provided strike teams for township protection at Lorne, Eastern View, and Moggs Creek.”

District 7 received a slight increase in incidents in 2022-23 compared to last year, responding to 485 calls, up from 455 in 2021-22. Service calls also increased from 50 to 62 over the fire danger period.

Fire and explosion incidents and false alarms dipped in 2022-23, decreasing from 127 to 121 and 104 to 75 respectively this year.

“Beginning in October District 7 provided Strike Teams, District Duty Officers and Incident Management support to the communities affected by the flood event from Echuca to Swan Hill along the Murray River, this continued for several weeks,” Mr Aylmer said.

“We provided support to our brigade at Lorne over the busy Christmas New Year period and up to mid-January at the Pier to Pub weekend with volunteers around the District spending a day in Lorne, increasing the capacity of the Lorne brigade to support the large increase in population.”

District 7 crews also assisted at events including Beyond the Valley Music Festival, Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, Day on the Green, Avalon Airshow, and the Meredith Music Festival.

CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan thanked every CFA volunteer for their ongoing commitment to protecting their local communities for another fire season.

“As the 2022-23 fire season draws to a close, I want to express my gratitude to the more than 52,000 volunteers across the state who have supported Victoria through another summer.

“CFA volunteers don’t stop their valued work now that fire season is over, we know that the colder months brings a new set of challenges, with a focus on responding to fires inside the home and supporting landowners with private burn-offs.”

The end of the Fire Danger Period will allow landowners to burn off again, but the CFA urges them to adhere to safe weather conditions when doing so.