Fire restrictions for summer 2019/20 began last Monday, December 9, 2019. That means no burning off.
If you do burn off and someone reports the fire, two things will happen:
- The CFA will arrive to put it out, and
- The police will arrive to impose a mandatory $1000 fine.
From now until the end of the fire season, some time in 2020, there will be no more burning off so deadfall, twigs, dry leaves etc will have to be broken up and put in the green bin.
Unfortunately, the gums don’t stop dropping branches just because there are fire restrictions. This is a pic of a huge branch that fell on my property just a few days ago:
It’s hard to get an idea of how big the branch is until you get a glimpse of the trunk of the gum tree behind it [outlined in red].
I had the branch cut up and carted away, but all the small stuff remains. What to do with it?
I’ll be filling the green bin with as much as I can, but the rest will have to be piled up in a large open area down the back. I hate having so much flammable material on the block, but if a fire does come through, at least it will burn in splendid isolation…I hope.
Next Friday, December the 20th, will be a bad fire danger day with 41 C forecast, so prepare what you can now, and if you do intend to leave, do it long before anything nasty starts. The roads around Nth Warrandyte get clogged up very quickly. Don’t get caught.
To those living south of the Yarra river, your Fire Restrictions will start tomorrow, Monday the 16th of December, 2019.
cheers
Meeks
Authors' favourite books
NANO 2012
December 17th, 2019 at 3:06 am
41 Celcius is HOT. I hope Australia is spared a terrible fire-season this year. Stay safe.
LikeLike
December 17th, 2019 at 6:43 am
Thanks, Diana. Unfortunately, almost all of the more northern states have already been fighting fires all spring. My state [Melbourne], and Tasmania are the two most southern states and we’ve been wetter, and safer, so far but our turn is coming. Not looking forward to this summer at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 17th, 2019 at 7:04 am
We had a relatively fire-free summer in Oregon this year, but that doesn’t mean a thing in the grand scheme of climate change. 😦
LikeLike
December 18th, 2019 at 8:41 am
No, it doesn’t. It just means that some quirk of geography or global weather patterns gives one area a break while another gets hit.
We’ve had something like that here in Victoria this year. In the coastal areas, at least, it’s been wetter so we haven’t had the fires that have hit NSW. But summer has only just begun. I fear our turn will come.
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 18th, 2019 at 9:20 am
Hard to “like” these comments. 😦
LikeLike
December 19th, 2019 at 10:27 am
Sorry. We’re far better prepared than almost everybody else in the area so I’m sure we’ll be okay, even if a fire does go through. Just hoping like crazy that it doesn’t.
But I think you mentioned that Oregon [?] gets bushfires too, just not this last year?
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 19th, 2019 at 10:54 am
We are forested with lots of areas without roads. The forest fires can get fierce. Not last year, though. Keeping the fingers crossed for a fire-free 2020
LikeLike
December 19th, 2019 at 9:19 pm
So you know. Fingers crossed for 2020.
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 16th, 2019 at 3:21 pm
May you stay smoke and fire free, Meeks.
LikeLike
December 17th, 2019 at 6:51 am
Thank you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 16th, 2019 at 1:52 am
Yes its very serious and 41C is no joke , we had 31C last summer and we suffered a serious lethargy but then we are temperate beasts.
That Yarra river looks quite marvellous I had no idea about it until you posted. The news is full of climate disasters hammering home the need for action.
LikeLike
December 16th, 2019 at 2:50 pm
Trust me, 30-40 years ago, Melbourne was much more temperate too. We didn’t even own a fan growing up. Nowadays, we can expect at least one or two super high temp. days every summer. Definitely a need for action.
LikeLiked by 1 person
December 15th, 2019 at 3:30 pm
It’s funny how different things are! We’re heading into the wet season, which makes cleaning all those leaves up difficult. It’s pretty much just rain sleet, fog, snow, wash, rinse, repeat all the way until April. 🙂
LikeLike
December 15th, 2019 at 10:06 pm
Yeah, those hemispheres play tricks with our minds! lol
LikeLiked by 2 people
December 15th, 2019 at 9:26 am
From our smoky perspective further north fire restrictions are good… a commonsense line in the sand. Because of the local conditons we’ve had them for months… but it hasn’t deterred some, it just reduces the risk to less humans and mother nature. I hope you have a fire free season.
LikeLike
December 15th, 2019 at 10:08 pm
I don’t mind the restrictions either, it just makes ongoing maintenance harder, coz of course the trees don’t stop shedding just because we can’t burn off any more.
We’ve got a nasty day coming up next Friday – 41 forecast so we could be joining you lot in the smoke. Not looking forward to it.
LikeLike