Fire concern for bush area
A large bush block in the middle of residential and industrial estates in Drouin has some nearby residents on edge as conditions dry during summer.
The bush, dominated by stands of eucalypt trees but also with dense lower level vegetation including blackberries, backs onto a number of houses in the Palm Square residential development, some acreage blocks fronting Longwarry Rd, industrial premises in Roberts Crt and a caravan park in Princes Way.
A cleared area several metres wide provides a narrow buffer between the bushland and houses adjoining it in Palm Square.
But Alan Stow, who has lived in one of those houses for the past eight years, claims it is “a bushfire waiting to happen”.
He said he’d never seen the property cleared of excessive growth.
Mr Stow said he had contacted Baw Baw Shire on a number of occasions over the years about the potential fire danger and also the possibility of trees or boughs falling on houses.
He said at one stage not long after he bought in the area the shire said an arborist report had determined the trees were safe and that any that presented a future danger would be removed.
Several years ago one tree did fall, extensively damaging the back section of Mr Stow’s house.
He is questioning the lack of action by the shire in ensuring the bushland is clear and safe given it is in the heart of a residential area where several estates have been developed over the past decade.
The shire’s Community Local Law states that landowners or occupiers must ensure a property “does not constitute, and is not likely to constitute, a danger to health or property” and that it “does not have grass or weeds present on the land which exceed 200 millimetres (20 centimetres) in height if the land is in a residential zone”.
In its resident information section on its website it is also stated that council undertakes inspections of land in November and any found to pose a potential fire hazard would attract a fire prevention notice.
A fine of $1477 will be incurred if the notice is not complied with and council can pass on to landowners the cost of having contractors undertake a clean-up.