POLICE have praised locals behaviour over the New Year period, but said some continue to try their luck on local roads.
Emergency services had urged the public prior to New Year’s Eve to celebrate safely and plan ahead, with local CFA volunteers warning against illegal fireworks on social media, and police pleading with drivers to stay off the road if intoxicated.
The advice on fireworks was largely heeded, however Lake Boga and Swan Hill crews spent New Year’s Eve battling a haystack fire at a Lake Boga property, while pleas from police once again failed to reach a few.
Swan Hill police Senior Sergeant Brad Bennett told The Guardian behaviour was “fairly good” across the local area.
“It was very good, we’re very pleased with the general behaviour around town,” Snr-Sgt Bennett said.
“The only real disappointing thing was there were a few drivers caught exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol.
“That was a bit disappointing, to see that the message still isn’t getting through and especially on an important night such as New Year’s Eve.
“But crowd behaviour on the night was very pleasing.”
Police ran a number of PBT (preliminary breath testing) sites around town on New Year’s Day in an effort to catch drivers behind the wheel who were still feeling the effects of the previous night’s celebrations.
“New Year’s Day again was pretty good in overall terms, we’re reasonably happy,”Snr-Sgt Bennett said.
“But again we did catch a few people on the road exceeding the 0.5 limit for alcohol.”
Swan Hill CFA First Lieutenant Michael Howard told The Guardian it was unfortunate timing that saw volunteers spend New Year’s Eve battling a haystack fire.
“Basically what started it was just spontaneous combustion of the hay,” First-Lt Howard said.
“The hay had obviously been bailed green, stacked together and spontaneously combusted in the heat of the last two days.”
First-Lt Howard said approximately 150 bales were lost in the fire.
“We had three vehicles on scene and they were there from 11.50pm on New Year’s Eve, until approximately 10.30am the next morning,” First-Lt Howard.
“We did get called back because there on Thursday morning, was a bit of a relight in the area…but that was quickly controlled.
“This is just a timely reminder to farmers to monitor their haystacks in the warmer conditions at the moment.”
