Far South Coast residents are being urged to take care with burn offs with the Fire Danger Period just days away.
Brogo and Quaama Rural Fire Service (RFS) brigades were called to reports of a bushfire on Baldwins road in Brogo around 2:45pm on Monday (August 26).
Upon arrival, a large illegal pile burn was discovered and quickly extinguished by the fire crews.
Inspector Ben Sheppard from the NSW RFS told ARN Bega Bay, anyone planning a pile burn needs to notify an intent to burn 24 hours prior to light up.
“It’s important for those looking to use fire on their property, but they do check the weather prior to actually lighting up,” Inspector Sheppard said.
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen a number of fires that have escaped local landholders.
“So they need to ensure that they’ve got that weather checked and importantly as well have firefighting equipment on hand to try and extinguish that fire or combat that fire in the event that it gets away. But of course, if it becomes hard, please call triple zero (000) immediately and we can look to get fire trucks and firefighters there to assist those landholders.”
Inspector Sheppard said no fires should be lit in the South East over the coming days with the our region expecting some warm and windy weather.
“Please check the weather before you use fire on your property, what we don’t want to see is any escaped fires that go onto impact neighbouring properties or people,” he said.
“Fires can happen anytime of the year, but whilst we’re seeing this little bit of warm, windy weather, we need people just to be mindful that and start preparing for the upcoming fire season. So do those simple things again around your property, make sure that it is well prepared and things are cleared up. But importantly as well start considering your plan about what you’ll do as a household in the event that a fire threatens.”
The Bushfire Danger Period officially begins in the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla on Sunday, September 1, and that means residents will need a permit to light a fire.
“Landholders will need to have permits and it’s important that the landholders know that the permits can now be obtained also online and same with notifications of when you are going to burn. So we have that requirement that you notify your neighbours but also your local fire service as well and that can all be done online now. So I’d encourage landholders to just check for that notify section of the RFS website.
The RFS Get Ready Weekend will be held at various locations across the Far South Coast throughout September.
Images: NSW RFS, Brogo RFS
