Ready for anything

By Jade Lawton
SCHOOLS were closed, police were planning roadblocks and CFA crews were on standby as the Cardinia Shire prepared for new fire threats last week.
And while no significant new fires broke out before the Gazette went to press, authorities have warned that today (Wednesday) will be another day of high fire risk.
Bureau of Meteorology weather forecaster Evan Morgan said the rest of the week would be cooler, but still windy.
“The winds are still quite strong, and you will still have high to very high fire risk on Wednesday.
“Then the high pressure system will come through and we’ll have lighter winds, and the risk will be more in the moderate to high range,” he said.
Fortunately, no significant new fires broke out within the shire last week, and the Bunyip State Park blaze stayed within containment lines.
Acting Superintendent Michael Sayer, from Region Five’s traffic division, said extra police, with special fire-resistant clothing, were patrolling the roads on Friday to help the public and deter firebugs.
He said police had “learnt a lot” after Black Saturday.
“Black Saturday caught emergency services by surprise. We had resources and planning in place, but we have learnt a lot and now we have more,” he said.
“Police right around the state were mobilised for this day. In the event of fire, we had TMU strike teams deployed for traffic control points, and we can bring these resources en masse to a traffic location.
“We had plans with VicRoads and Connex in the event of closures.”
Victoria Police was also behind text messages sent to mobile phones across the state on Monday, warning of a high fire risk and asking recipients to listen to local ABC Radio stations for emergency updates.
CFA Westernport Communications Officer Lisa Hicks said the few fires that broke out on Friday were quickly “pounced on” by firefighters.
“We had teams on standby all day,” she said.
Government schools were also prepared, with 192 closing across Victoria, along with 176 licenced children’s services.
Primary schools in Bunyip, Garfield, Harkaway, Nar Nar Goon, Narre Warren North and Upper Beaconsfield were all closed, re-opening their doors on Monday only for most to be closed again yesterday (Tuesday), another day of high winds.
Cardinia Shire Council closed most of its parks and reserves to the public and re-opened the relief centre at Cardinia Cultural Centre for those evacuating on Monday afternoon.
Victoria’s former Chief of Police was also playing it safe, with Christine Nixon postponing an address she was to give at the Labertouche Hall yesterday. A representative of the Victorian Bushfire Recovery and Reconstruction Authority said the meeting would be rescheduled as soon as possible.