New fire plan

By Bridget Brady
NEW fire plan is on the way for the coastal villages.
Casey Council has set up a taskforce to review land, fire and emergency management within the city, after worried residents called an emergency meeting at Blind Bight after Black Saturday.
Officers have also recommended $58,000 of the 2009/10 budget be allocated towards the plan.
Casey Council circulated a fire prevention report at last Tuesday’s meeting, with councillors to vote on the plan at a future meeting.
Under the proposal, residents of the coastal villages are to be involved in the design of a fire plan.
Most of the concerns of the Blind Bight residents were focused around the strict laws that prevented them from clearing land.
Resident Bob Wray said the laws needed to be changed after Black Saturday.
“Homes and lives come first. There are miles of dead shrub and it’s a fire bomb waiting to go off. It’s just ludicrous,” he said.
The document acknowledged changes in fire risk from urban growth, with new residential housing often next to areas of scrub and grassland. Included in the plan were suggestions for a program to reduce the amount of weeds and fuel found in Casey’s 61 council reserves, 78 bushland reserves and 161 kilometres of rural road reserves.
Casey mayor Geoff Ablett said there were a lot of anxious people who wanted a clear fire plan after the close calls in their towns.
There are strict environmental controls in the coastal villages that require a permit for the removal of any vegetation, including dead vegetation because of the environmental significance overlay throughout the coastal village area.