WHITTLESEA council is working with two other councils on a world-first project to pinpoint urban fire risk.
The city is 70 per cent rural and 30 per cent urban and the council has to manage fire safety where the suburbs meet the bush, according to a council report.
Municipal fire prevention officer Pat Carra said that as the population increased, so did the need for a coordinated fire safety approach.
“Victoria has a long history of community, government and organisations working together in preventing, preparing and responding to the threat of fire and recovery from the impact of fire,” he said.
Whittlesea, Ballarat and Whitehorse councils aim to finish the project in July 2013. Whittlesea
last week adopted its 2012-2015 Municipal Fire Management Plan, which Mr Carra said would help create a safer community. He said Whittlesea was one of the firstVictorian councils to develop an integrated approach to fire management. The plan identifies grass- and bushfire risk across the municipality, and areas at extreme risk include Kinglake and Humevale, which were hit on Black Saturday.
Cultural assets at extreme or very high risk included Farm Vigano at South Morang, Carome Homestead, Mernda, and the Yan Yean Reservoir caretaker’s cottage. The scout camp on Bruces Creek Road, Glenvale, near Eden Park, was at extreme risk.
The fire plan report said Whittlesea had a history of significant grassfires, including one in February 1851, which started at Mount Disappointment, jumped into Whittlesea and raced to Bundoora, wiping out farmland and killing a mother and her five children.
Councillor Pam McLeod said a fire of that magnitude in the area now would be devastating.
– Sue Hewitt
