AN emergency representative is calling on people to act responsibly leading into the upcoming fire season following recent acts of vandalism at one of the region\u2019s reserves.<\/p>\n
In an unofficial capacity, Inverleigh CFA Captain Andrew Collins often patrols the town\u2019s river reserve in his downtime and said his recent visits to the site have brought disappointing discoveries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were two young fellas who found a campfire that wasn\u2019t put out properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen while I was there we saw a growing tree that council had discovered a few days prior had been cut down, and the people had been trying to burn the green limbs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d also left broken bottles, cans, food waste, everything in the campfire. That was Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people coming from god knows where, and just abusing the Barwon and Leigh rivers. It ruins it for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Collins said he\u2019d discovered a similar occurrence the following day with campers from Lara performing burnouts, leaving rubbish in their fire, and cutting branches off native flora.<\/p>\n
With winter now over, he said it\u2019s important people are using public reserves respectfully and understand how safeguard against bushfire hazards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m about educating,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of these people don\u2019t know about the rules and regulations like having campfires dug into the ground and having water available and ready to put it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re moving into possibly a dryer fire season this year so if people don\u2019t extinguish their campfires properly, the day after they leave we could end up with campfires reigniting.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Golden Plains Shire spokesperson said the municipality has a single employee to respond to events at the reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil has an on-call community safety officer to respond to emergency animal events and they attend Inverleigh Reserve during long weekends on an ad-hoc basis,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the incidents are ad-hoc and often occur on weekends or public holidays and after hours, council staff are either not available to conduct patrols or not patrolling when damage occurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not much of an issue in other reserves in Golden Plains Shire. Most campers in this reserve respect the area and do not cause damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, a few campers demonstrate inappropriate behaviour and cause damage, rubbish, and disruption in the reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AN emergency representative is calling on people to act responsibly leading into the upcoming fire season following recent acts of vandalism at one of the region\u2019s reserves. In an unofficial capacity, Inverleigh CFA Captain Andrew Collins often patrols the town\u2019s river reserve in his downtime and said his recent visits to the site have brought […]<\/p>\n