District Country Fire Authority control centres will be on high alert as a blast of extreme heat is set to sweep across western Victoria on Thursday, Friday and the weekend.
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The Bureau of Meteorology forecast a top of 40 degrees Celsius for Stawell on Thursday, 42 on Friday and a more manageable 31 and 33 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.
A similar forecast was also predicted for Ararat.
District 16 Country Fire Authority operations manager Neville Collins urged residents to be vigilant, aware and to stay safe.
“We will be bringing green observers from Ballarat up here for ground observing – if there are major fires they will go out and track them – that information then comes back to the control centre in Ararat,” he said.
“If the fires become bigger we hand it over to the incident control centre.”
Mr Collins recommended people not to “shut themselves away from the heat”, but to experience the weather conditions and excersize careful judgement.
“When they had the fires here back in 2009 people up in Horsham shut the curtains, put the air-conditioning on and then put on the television,” he said.
“This makes you oblivious to what is going on outside – go outside and experience what the weather is, use your senses, smell the smoke – don’t shut away, be aware of what is going on.”
Mr Collins also warned residents may need to think of alternate ways to keep cool due to the threat of power outages.
“There will be many people using electricity and air-conditioning, so there is always a threat of power outages,” he said.
“In hot hot weather like this people will be ramping up their electricity, so people might have to take up other measures to stay cool.”
Mr Collins said the region had been lucky to not experience any major fires this summer, but reminded residents anything could happen.
“We dodged a bullet on that Saturday a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
“Not to say something serious won’t happen because a bad day can come upon us at anytime, but that Saturday was nearly as bad as the weather conditions on Black Saturday.”
Important contacts:
- In an emergency dial 000
- People who are deaf, hard of hearing or who have a speech/ communication impairment can contact VicEmergency Hotline via the National Relay Service on 1800 555 677.
- For help with English, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 (freecall) and ask them to telephone VicEmergency Hotline.
How to stay informed:
- Visit stawelltimes.com.au for updates on breaking news.
- Tune in to ABC local radio, commercial and designated community radio stations.
- Phone the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226 or visit emergency.vic.gov.au, and download the VicEmergency app.
Planning messages:
- Understand your risk and plan ahead.
- Know what to do on hot dry, windy days and plan for all situations.
- Talk to your family and friends about how you’ll know when to leave, where they will go and how you will get there.
How to prepare your property:
- Keep trees, overhanging branches and shrubs to a minimum near your home, particularly around and near windows.
- Check where leaves and gather around your home as this is where fire embers are likely to fall.
- Check that anything which can burn is removed from near your home.
- Defending your home requires two fit and determined adults, at least 10, 000 litres of water, protective clothing, and appropriate firefighting hoses and pumps.
Animals in emergencies:
- Have bedding, food and water ready to go for your pets.
- make sure you have safe transport for them when leaving early.
- Always put your own safety before the safety of your pets.
- Microchip your animals and include your details such as your phone number on their collars.
- Have a plan for horses and livestock.
- A large, well-grazed area where they can move freely, with a supply of water is the safest.
