Our newly voted Life Member Neil Breeze was present at the station for the unveiling of the freshly inscribed Life Members Board. We wish Neil and Mandy all the best with their sea change on the coast at Malua Bay.
The brigade was involved with the RFS “Get Ready Weekend” in late September. This is an opportunity for community members to call in to the station and receive information on bush fire readiness. This was also an opportunity to liase with our Bush Fire Community Groups. If you aren’t aware of the closest group near you, we can assist with this.
The new Fire Danger Rating sign has been installed at Barrengarry. Keep an eye out for this new addition for the community.
Captain’s Message
Despite the ongoing strong winds resulting in several total fire bans last month we remained relatively quiet on the fire front with only one significant callout to a bushfire on Cambewarra Mt. The Fire was burning at approx. 2.30 in the morning in a rainforest area that would not usually support fire.
Thanks to our supportive community and several generous donations we have been able to buy some additional equipment to support the brigade and enhance our firefighting capabilities. The purchase of a new air compressor for maintenance and enabling us to inflate the truck tyres as well as a thermal Imaging Camera that is used to locate hot spots in structural fires and bush fire mop up.
After our Get Ready Weekend and meeting with your neighbourhood coordinators the main take home messages we want to send out were…..
- ensuring that our large trucks can access your property and have at least 4M x 3M clearance on your driveway with area to turn around.
- Ensure that your property is clearly marked with roadside numbers and if multi access driveway that individual houses are numbered as well as the roadside turn.
- Quick access to stored water is your best option for fire trucks to assist you when required, so make sure that connections are visible, and SWS are displayed for large tanks and dams etc.
We have supplies of SWS signs available if you want to contact us at the brigade email address kangaroovalleyrfb@gmail.com or Captain Dusty 0412 865 638
Incident Calls for September/October
- Oil spill on Cambewarra Mt, covered quite a long distance with crews from several brigades apply spill sorb to attempt to make the conditions safer after light rain.
- Smoke sighting, crews patrolled the area with no fire located.
- Bush Fire on Cambewarra Mtn early morning call at approx. 2.30am saw 2 Kangaroo Valley trucks as well as Beaumont and 2 Cambewarra trucks attend and deal with approx. 0.5Ha fire burning in steep country that had resulted from escaped BBQ ashes. A stark reminder that any recreational fire or open BBQs should always be monitored and fully extinguished before leaving, especially during the fire danger period. Crews returned home as the sun was coming up
- Fireline tree falling job for a deliberately lit fire in West Nowra which required two of KV’s tree fallers to deal with several problem trees that had the potential to fall outside the burnt area and reignite the fire.
- Wires down across road in Barrengarry, High winds had blown a branch down on power lines.
A Permit to burn is required in the Shoalhaven from 1st September every year.
There are some changes happening to the issuing of permits with the issuing of paper permits eventually being phased out. Residents requiring a permit will be encouraged to log onto the RFS website, create a login and request a permit online.
A local permit officer will contact you and arrange an inspection of your site to approve the burn.
The permit will be emailed directly to you. The future aim is that once you have completed this process successfully several times with no incidents you will be able to issue your own permits.
Pad permits can still be issued if you are unable to complete this process but may take a bit longer to process. Please ensure that you plan ahead and arrange your permits several days before you want to burn.
Process for Pile Burns and Burning Off
As the Bush Fire Danger Period (BFDP) has begun the following tasks are mandatory prior to lighting up:
- Obtain a Fire Permit from a local Fire Permit Officer via:
- Phone: Shoalhaven FCC 02 4424 4424 between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday
- Email: Shoalhaven FCC at shoalhaven@rfs.nsw.gov.au or the KV brigade kangaroovalleyrfb@gmail.com
- You must notify the NSW RFS (not the local brigade) at least 24 hours before you light the fire and provide the issued fire permit number. Notification methods include:
- Online: www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/notify or via the QR code
- Phone: Shoalhaven FCC 02 4424 4424 between 8am and 4pm Monday to Friday
- Email: Shoalhaven FCC at shoalhaven@rfs.nsw.gov.au
- You must advise your immediate neighbours at least 24 hours before you light the fire. Immediate neighbours include those where you are separated by a road or water course
- You must adhere to all the conditions listed on the fire permit including at least one responsible person must be present on site until the pile is extinguished
- Check for any messages from Shoalhaven Fire Control Centre and the NSW RFS Fire Danger Ratings webpages as fire permits may be suspended if weather conditions dictate.
- Check the upcoming weather conditions as the pile may continue to smolder for days
- If you believe that you cannot safely control the fire once it has been lit, dial 000 immediately, Consider notifying your local WhatsApp Neighbourhood Group and ask the coordinator to share any plans with other group coordinators if expected weather conditions mean smoke is likely to travel some distance. Smoke does not respect property boundaries.
Where the brigade is assisting local community members with burns, the responsibility for notifications remains with the property owner, but the brigade will attempt to post Facebook updates about planned brigade activities if there is a significant volume of smoke expected. Changing weather conditions may mean brigade updates are provided with short notice.
If you have concerns about burning off yourself, please contact the local brigade or Shoalhaven Fire Control and we can possibly assist you with your pile burn or check your site for you.
