The Wallaby Joe Rural Fire Service brigade is already having a busy time with bush fires.
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A fire at Caparra is currently burning out of control. As of Tuesday, August 14 it had a front of 1.5 kilometres, and as of Wednesday, August 15 had burned 98 hectares. The closure of Cox’s Bridge on Caparra road is closed making it difficult for brigades to reach the fire.
Bob Pope, of Wallaby Joe RFS, is pleading with locals to take extreme care burning off, or don’t do it at all.
“If people are going to burn off, they’re going to have to be very, very careful. If it’s windy, just don’t burn. Don’t burn at all,” Bob said.
No rain and an unusually frosty winter have made for very dry conditions.
“There’s so much blady grass and stuff around at the moment. People have just got to be very careful and wary of what they are doing,” he said, adding that people are not adhering to the rules.
“There’s three things - you’ve got to let your neighbours know, let Fire Control know, and give 24 hours notice. And people aren’t doing it.”
“If it goes over to the neighbour’s there’s a $500 fine. If you lose that fire, there’ll be a letter, and you could be fined.”
Those three things are required regardless of whether you have a fire permit or not.
The bush fire danger period and fire permits will be introduced earlier than normal this year because of dry conditions.
Bob expects our brigades will be in for a very bad fire season.
“If we don’t get rain, it’s guaranteed. We’ll be flat out. And because it’s so dry out west, there’s no grass out there but there’s still plenty of bush and that’s where we’ll be heading,” he said.
If you are intending to burn off, please advise the Fire Control Centre in Taree on 6591 2900.