Extreme fire danger day declared for the south-west

THE Country Fire Authority (CFA) have declared Monday, December 16 a day with an “Extreme” Fire Danger Rating for Victoria’s south-west.

As a result, several facilities around the Surf Coast Shire will close and there will be some changes to shire services in high fire risk areas.

Under the shire’s policy to protect the safety of employees and the community on days rated as Extreme or Catastrophic, employees and contractors will not work or travel into fire risk zones at the highest risk times.

This will mean several service closures and changes will be in place on December 16:

· Lorne Kindergarten, Jan Juc Pre-School and Anglesea Kindergarten will close

· Anglesea Landfill will be open from 5am until 10am, Anglesea Transfer Station from 9am until 10am

· The Anglesea Re-sale Shed and Lorne Transfer station will be closed

· Scheduled kerbside bin collections for Lorne and Deans Marsh will be carried out between 3am and 10am. Residents will need to put their bins out this Sunday night

· Public litter bins in high bushfire risk areas will only be serviced before 10am and potentially in the evening, depending on conditions, and

· Lorne, Anglesea and Winchelsea visitor information centres will be closed.

The shire’s general manager of community life Damian Wright said the shire was on alert for the possibility of fires and thanked the community in advance for their understanding.

“The safety of the community and our employees is our absolute highest priority and the expert CFA advice is to avoid high risk areas on Extreme or Catastrophic fire danger days.

“We understand that service disruptions and facility closures are inconvenient, but we are absolutely clear that we will always put people’s lives first.”

The shire’s Facebook and Instagram pages with provide further updates once available.

Residents are urged to prepare and download the VicEmergency app, have a fire plan, know when to leave and follow the advice of the CFA.

For more information on Fire Danger Ratings, head to cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/total-fire-bans-fire-danger-ratings