The Fire Safety group invites comment from anyone and everyone with a vested interest in the Macedon region. The group needs to gauge community opinion before going any further with this draft plan.
The details of the draft plan can be seen by clicking here, but the gist of it is:
Strategic fire breaks
- facilitate harvest of the primary school pine plantation and convert to a community park
- reduce the fuel load in the Macedon Regional Park
- consult with owners of local commercial pine plantations about setting up fire breaks
- a building protection zone around Tony Clarke stadium
- Middle Gully Ck undergrowth
- Cable St access to TC Reserve
Fuel Management
- the railway corridor
- local township fuel reduction
- promote appropriate fuel reduction on private properties
Two years ago the Royal Commission recommended that State and Local Government create Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSP) for 52 identified high risk towns, including Macedon, in order to enhance protection of human lives. Why hasn't Tony Clarke stadium been upgraded to a NSP as proposed in this community plan?
ReplyDeleteI live near the school pine forest and I'm all in favour of it being made into grassy parkland like they have in Gisborne along the creek near the swimming pool. The school's job is to educate our children - not create fire hazards.
ReplyDeleteGood news about Tony Clarke NSP. Now let's see the idea realized in practice
ReplyDeleteThe primary school pine plantation is too small to be commercially viable and has become a financial liability for the school community. Furthermore there is no compliance with government regulations with respect to fire risk management (perimeter fuel breaks) and general maintenance (noxious weed control, thinning, etc). Harvesting and conversion to a community park is an excellent proposal.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone read or comment on this?
ReplyDeleteIt's the Loddon Mallee Draft Regional Strategic Fire Management Plan.
http://www.ifmp.vic.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=165:loddon-mallee-draft-regional-strategic-fire-management-plan-have-your-say-&catid=53:loddon-mallee-region&Itemid=66
Comment was provided on the Loddon-Mallee Draft Strategic Fire Management Plan. Our Prime Minister put it very succinctly;
ReplyDelete"Dont write crap"
Our congratulations and thanks to the Community Planning Group for producing such an outstanding Bushfire Mitigation Plan. However, not everyone in Macedon lives in fear of an inferno. Early this year we received in the mail, a CFA Community Preparedness Guide which shows that most of the township is NOT in a high fire risk environment and this supports our belief that we can successfully defend our house.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the fire safety Blog in the Gisborne Gazette. The bushfire mitigation plan is comprehensive and well written. I was pleased to read about the Tony Clarke Neighbourhood Safer Place because bushfires, eg, Ash Wednesday & Black Saturday, can arrive unexpectedly and some people will always be caught out. Mass evacuation on every day of extreme fire danger is an unrealistic expectation.
ReplyDeleteIn the USA tornado shelters are common in susceptible areas because, like bushfires, they can arrive without warning. Well done to the Community Planning Group.
We don’t get warnings because the CFA management is a bunch of troglodytes! They still rely on observers in fire towers to alert them of signs of bushfire.
ReplyDeleteJust as we use the Bureau’s radar loop to check on rainfall, so we should be able to follow the progress of a bushfire using an iPad or iPhone.
I'm starting to worry about the Bruce St kindergarten which is just south of the creek and the school pine plantation. It appears to be an unsafe place even when the fire danger is less than extreme. Has Council agreed to the plan and, if so, will it be implemented before kinder starts next year?
ReplyDeleteThe veil of secrecy surrounding the Tony Clarke Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP) project has been lifted recently. Representatives of the football, cricket, netball & tennis clubs were briefed by Council on aspects of the NSP project, which if ratified by Council, will commence next month and be completed by the end of December 2011.
ReplyDeleteThe project’s Scope of Works mirrors the objectives specified in the attached draft Macedon Bushfire Mitigation Plan, an initiative of the volunteer Community Planning Group.
Inclusion of the primary school pine plantation in the NSP project represents a change in Council attitude, in that the plantation is now viewed as a threat, even to the fortified Tony Clarke Stadium. How much greater a threat does it present, in its current neglected state, to the unprotected homes in the northern parts of town?
The two year wait is over for Part 1 of the Plan.
That's wonderful news
ReplyDeleteThank you so much
Great news the shire council now have a draft plan in place for the Tony Clarke Stadium. It would also be good if they could put some information about this on their web site so we can all see what they plan to achieve by Xmas. The last time the Macedon Ranges Fire Management Planning Committee gave us an update was in March this year.
ReplyDeletesee http://www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=2418&h=1#BM8663
It took some effort to find this page. They're not exactly blowing their trumpet.
I have lived here for a number of years and have an adolescent child and on a number of occasions I have been frightened of being caught in a fire. I am so pleased that there is now a safer place in Macedon.
ReplyDeleteOn 20July, anon said they could defend their property because the CFA Community Preparedness Guide indicated that most of the town is NOT in a high fire risk environment. This could be misleading because the Royal Commission into Black Saturday said Macedon is one of the most dangerous towns in the state.
ReplyDeleteGetting the Victorian taxpayer to pick up the tab for cleaning up the primary schools pine plantation was a good move!
ReplyDeleteMacedon’s Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP)
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago the Victorian Government endorsed the Royal Commission’s recommendation that a NSP should be established at Macedon.
Following a comprehensive site evaluation and employing the latest scientific methods, Fire Authorities established the scope of works required to transform the Tony Clarke stadium into a NSP. The Victorian Government approved and agreed to fund the project. A project manager was appointed, work was scheduled to commence on 1 October and the project was due to be completed before the end of this year.
The project was endorsed by the Emergency Management Planning Committee, council press releases appeared in local newspapers and then the project went to council for formal approval on 28 September. However 5 councilors voted to reject the project on the grounds that the proposed NSP is “not safe enough”. None of these 5 is qualified to comment on the scientific integrity of the project. However by rejecting it they are asserting that the bushfire scientists who specified the scope of works are incompetent. Furthermore they are depriving Macedon of its NSP for at least another year.
A bushfire can arrive at any time of the day or night and a person’s chances of survival inside a fortified NSP are 10 times greater than if caught outside in the open. Bushfire fuel loads are the highest on record and Macedon’s long overdue NSP is needed now, before the threat becomes a reality.