Fire access explained

Jim Mynard
HARKAWAY residents were this week to receive a letter explaining fire safety regulations for the area.
Fire safety lobbyist Warwick Glendenning said after a meeting with the City of Casey last week that clearly the Country Fire Authority and the council had changed their way of fighting fires.
Mr Glendenning became spokesman over community concerns about the availability of water in the area for fire fighting purposes and that the Old Coach Road fire access track would remain as an escape route in the event of fire.
CFA officers, during a series of public meetings, assured residents that it had access to more than enough water, but insisted that Old Coach Road must be left free for emergency vehicles and was not for public use.
Mr Glendenning said he accepted the ruling on the access track, but obtained an assurance from the council that it would write to every property owner explaining the situation about the fire track.
He said people had believed that Old Coach Road was an escape route and said they should have been previously told that the access was not available.
“They should not have first read this in the press,” he said.
Casey chief executive Mike Tyler said the letters were sent to residents on Monday.
He said in the letter that the council had been made aware of confusion over the fire access track.
“This confusion stems from an understanding that a track built more than 20 years ago after the Ash Wednesday bushfires has a current role to provide emergency evacuation of Harkaway.”
Mr Tyler said planning for bushfires had changed and there was now a clear focus on each household having a bushfire survival plan.
The letter said in part that CFA research showed that risk increased significantly if people left their homes at the last minute.
“Not only might they place their own lives at risk, but also the lives of others involved in fighting the fire. Residents making a decision to leave early should rely on the existing road network,” the letter said.