Fire danger period ends

District 8''s fire danger period will end on Monday 16 March. 141894_04

By Mitchell Clarke

The fire danger period across Cardinia Shire Council and the City of Casey will finish at 1am on Monday 16 March, the CFA have announced.

Despite the end of the danger period, emergency services are reminding the community that it’s not a time to become complacent and that fire restrictions remain in force until 16 March.

A zero tolerance policy will continue to be enforced for people found to be responsible for illegal fires, District 8 operations manager Jamie Hansen said.

“Residents that wish to conduct burn-offs on their private properties need to follow some basic rules; register your burn-offs first and foremost, check weather conditions and monitor the wind, and follow local council laws and regulations,” he said.

OM Hansen added that in addition to registering burn-offs with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), neighbours need to be alerted they may notice smoke on set dates.

“CFA crews have been extremely busy this fire season and would like to avoid having to respond to false alarms because people are not registering their burn-offs,” he said.

“By registering your burn-off, when somebody reports that they’ve spotted smoke, the incident will be cross-checked with the burn-off register and prevent a CFA crew from having to respond to a false alarm that takes them away from family, friends, work and other potential emergencies.

“When conducting burn-offs, remain alert and always have resources on hand to extinguish the fire.”

To register your burn-off call ESTA on 1800 668 511 or email burnoffs@esta.vic.gov.au.