Council set for emergency

CASEY’S manager of works and operations, Alex Michelli, told a Harkaway public meeting he could deploy 90 people in the event of an emergency.
Mr Michelli, who is also the emergency resources officer, said council could also place its entire outdoor plant on standby in the event of a crisis.
“We make sure tracks are passable for firefighting vehicles, and do this before every fire season,” he said.
“If plant is needed during the fire season, we stop everything and make graders and other equipment available. We can have 100,000 litres of water on the road at any one time, and we have 200,000 litres of water storage at the council depot.”
Mr Michelli was addressing a public meeting called to discuss firefighting resources for Harkaway.
He said in response to an earlier call for more water standpipes that the City of Casey had three.
“Standpipes were removed because people were drawing water for personal use, and the council was being charged for the water,” he said.
Mr Michelli said the council service was at the ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We can mobilise our plant within 30 minutes, and this includes quickrelease tankers that can be made ready within five minutes,” he said.