Summer of fear

By Tania Martin
Sharon Cini, 38, has been calling for the shire to clean up the Butterfield Reserve for months but is still waiting for action.
She fears her family would be in the direct line of fire this summer.
Ms Cini thought she was finally getting action after her next door neighbour got told an area near his boundary fence would be cleared.
She rang the council to see if the area near her back fence was being cleared.
But Ms Cini was told because her fence was 50 metres from the boundary of the reserve it was not in danger.
“I’m still going to be impacted by radiant heat if a fire starts in there,” she said.
Ms Cini spends hours every year cleaning up her property and feels the council isn’t doing its job to clear up the ground fuel in the reserve.
“It defeats the purpose, especially when there’s been all this media preaching to be fire ready,” she said.
“What are they (council) going to do if a fire comes through and my life is in danger or we lose our lives? There is only so much I can do from my side of the fence.”
Ms Cini has accused the council of discrimination just because she lives 50 metres from the boundary instead of 10 like her neighbour.
“I pay my rates like everyone else and all I am saying is I want to be treated as equal,” she said.
Ms Cini said the reserve had been an issue for years.
“When I moved in 10 years ago I rang the shire and was told it (the reserve) wasn’t their responsibility,” she said.
In September, Ms Cini contacted the council to see what they were planning to reduce the fire threat in the reserve.
She was told they were only going to be undertaking a slashing program.
Ms Cini said had stopped following the issue up as the birth of her son was getting close.
“I have a nine-week-old son and couldn’t really pursue it anymore but people in the local fire group also expressed some concerns,” she said.
Ms Cini said she was not calling for the council to chop down trees, but to clean up the undergrowth.
“It doesn’t matter how much you plan … let’s face it, we can evacuate but that’s if you get the chance,” she said.
“If a fire starts in there (reserve) I have no way of getting out.”
Ms Cini said it was only lucky it didn’t happen this year.
“There was one day when we had all that hot weather when a power line came down right next to the reserve but there was no wind,” she said.
“The fire brigade did a great job but when we have a day with northerly winds in there we have no chance.”
The Gazette was unable to get a council response before going to print.