The Mirror News

Community bushfire exercise at Sandy Point

THE CFA will be holding a community bushfire exercise in Sandy Point this weekend.

CFA’s Ivan Smith will be facilitating the exercise in the Waratah Beach Surf Lifesaving Club on Saturday (February 4) commencing at 4pm.

The exercise has been designed to give residents of Sandy Point a realistic understanding of the likely fire behaviour and local risk.

“Hopefully the exercise will give the Sandy Point locals an idea of how a fire is likely to start and where it might go,” said CFA Gippsland Community Safety Manager Mark Potter.

The CFA hopes that residents will come away from this exercise better informed about their local risk, and use that knowledge for their bushfire survival plans.

Ivan Smith has been a CFA volunteer and staff member for many years and will be able to give the residents an insight to how a fire might impact on Sandy Point.

CFA will be suppling large aerial photography maps so participants can actually map the progress of the “fire” and see how it might affect their property.

Participants will also learn about fire behaviour, the Fire Danger Rating and community warnings. Local representatives from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), Victoria Police and South Gippsland Shire will be attending.

There will be no charge for attendance at the exercise and CFA will be supplying dinner. During the dinner break, CFA will be holding a live fire demonstration to practically simulate how a bushfire burns in coastal areas. The fire simulation table uses actual bush and real fire to demonstrate fire behaviour and prevention.

There is no need to book for the exercise and all community members will be made welcome.

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