THE Swan Hill Fire Brigade are gearing up for a tough season, with today marking the start of the fire danger period.
Swan Hill CFA captain Dennis Turner told The Guardian local authorities would be operating on a zero tolerance policy this fire season due to the dryness across the state and anyone caught doing the wrong thing would face “the full force of the law”.
The fire danger period commenced at 1am this morning, with municipalities in the CFA’s north west region, including Swan Hill Rural City Council, Buloke Shire Council and Yarriambiack Shire Council, all entering into the fire season two weeks ahead of schedule.
Cpt Turner said weather conditions were less than favourable and he expected it would be an “above average” year.
“If it rains in the next week or so it will just delay things a little bit, but what worries me this year is the state is so dry, if we end up with weather events this year — we got away with a fair bit of summer last year without any — but if we end up with events like dry lightning storms it will be a difficult challenge for us,” he said.
To read more of this story, grab a copy of the October 15 edition of The Guardian.
