Committee for Lorne – A word from the Chairman

What an amazing Easter Week! Brilliant weather, so much to do and visitor numbers at unprecedented levels. It was a weekend that, as predicted, had it all and Lorne was on full show in all her glory and didn’t for one moment disappoint. Even the forecasted 5ml of rain scheduled for late Sunday didn’t arrive and with only a few drops hitting the ground it was the “perfect” Easter Long Weekend – but please; may it rain soon!

The arterial roads leading into town were at absolute capacity all the way through until late on Sunday afternoon and what is becoming increasingly more and more noticeable is the number of International visitors we are now seeing on a year round basis. The Great Ocean Road Northern entry was backed up to Cathedral Rock for most of the day on Saturday while the Deans Marsh Road entry was constantly backed up to the speed signs entering Lorne.

The scheduled planned burns were all but complete and with a little inconvenience in the week prior to Good Friday, can be heralded, in the main, as a major success.

I was exposed to a handful of negative comments surrounding inconvenience and interruption to businesses which I will
always respectively listen to and my stance, is like that of many, certainly in favour of the planned burns or any other proven fuel reduction processes.

I’m sure you will recall Good Friday some years back with the planned burns fully ignited and actively burning which saw a dense smoke descend onto town for almost the entire Easter break. Since that time, we have been working closely with the authorities to ensure a repeat of the past was not to happen again. The communication has been first class and wherever possible, we have looked to broadcast and share the joint messaging to keep inconvenience to a minimum.

This year added another layer of difficulty in that Good Friday was in the second week of the traditional school holiday break, Anzac Day toward the end of the following week, and for many, by taking annual leave days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday following Easter, all of a sudden a 10 day mini break was guaranteed as Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMC) looked to juggle the times of least inconvenience.

To most, there was only one “not negotiable” – no burning or smoke through the peak four-day Easter long weekend, and other than “drifting smoke” on Easter Sunday we were relatively smoke free for that period. It is such a tough balancing act
when the window of opportunity to burn is so heavily reliant on weather conditions and fuel moisture levels, and I know there were some that were adamant that the burns should not have proceeded.

Having lived through the Ash Wednesday fires of February 1983 and experienced first-hand the holocaust of devastation in such a short period of time any work, for me, on fuel reduction burning will always be a priority over “off peak and shoulder” holiday periods, especially when we look to ensure and protect our “peak periods” that are the not negotiable.

Ian Stewart
Chairman – Committee for Lorne