By KATH GANNAWAY
Council says wasp nest is halting vital fire danger work…
A WARBURTON woman says Yarra Ranges Council has ignored her concerns about a potentially explosive fire hazard on her doorstep.
Jane Colbert’s house is within a few metres of waist-high grass growing along the fence-line on a steep, vacant block next to her house.
The lower section of the block was cleared late last year by the owner, but the top section of the large block was left untouched.
She said she reported her concerns to Yarra Ranges Council on 31 December and followed up with a call to the council in early February.
“With 40-degree days it was nerve-wracking. The block is steep and so the grass is on a level with my roofline, and gets higher as it goes up the hill.
“If that catches fire, ashes will blow straight over the top of my roof, and continue into bushland at the back which goes right back to Old Warburton Road,” Ms Colbert told the Mail.
“There are no hoses on the property, no access for fire trucks and it’s incredibly steep,” she said.
She claims her concerns were brushed off by the council officer she spoke to, and that she was told the block had been inspected and that 80 per cent of it had been cleared, meeting council’s requirements.
Ms Colbert followed up again with an email to the Council’s Municipal Fire Prevention department on 8 February, but says she has still not received a reply.
Yarra Ranges Council has refuted claims that her concerns were not taken seriously and in a statement on Monday (yesterday) informed the Mail that they had asked the owner to do fire prevention works prior to the fire season and that it had been inspected three times since December.
They say it is only 20 per cent of the land that is uncleared and told the Mail a fire prevention notice “has since been served on the property for the incomplete section”.
“We have been informed that there may be a wasp nest on the property which is hampering the completion of works,” Manager Risk, Emergency and Community Safety, Brett Ellis said in the statement.
Yarra Ranges Communications Manager Tracey Varley said while the council believed there was a wasp nest on the land, that information had not been verified.
She said she was unable to say how long the owner had to finish clearing the block.
“If there are wasps, then the council, or the owner needs to do something about them and get rid of what is a substantially more threatening risk than wasps,” she said.
“I know which I would rather deal with, and I am much more concerned about fire,” she said.
Ms Colbert said according to her reading of Council’s Fire Hazard Clearance Codes, whether it is 20 per cent, 80 per cent or 50 per cent cleared is irrelevant.
“Code eight says grass should be cut when it is within 30 metres of a neighbouring house,” she said.
She said while it was good to hear that the council had now served a fire prevention notice, she had not been advised of any action being taken.
“The last I was told that the last visit by the fire prevention officer was on 7 February, and that it had been signed off on,” she said.
“It needs to be cut now, not after the fire season has finished.”
Yarra Ranges Council was unable to provide a date by which the work was required to be completed.
