Firewise in Otatara

On Tuesday 14 August a small number of people from the community attended a presentation and meeting in Otatara on fire… and I for one found it an eye opener.

The meeting was led by Mike Grant of the Southern Rural Fire Authority (SRFA) along with Julian Tohiariki of the Invercargill Fire Service (who is an Otatara resident). There was also a presentation from Michelle Steinberg of the NZPA (National Fire Protection Association) of the USA.

Michelle’s presentation was on Firewise Communities and in essence was about preventing or reducing the damage to your property in the event of a fire, especially wild fire, through preventative strategies.

Well I knew that some issues out here were those such as access to water and difficult bush clad driveways but must confess I had some scepticism about wild fires and well ya know “native bush doesn’t burn”!!

Yeap I was wrong and was surprised by what I learned… for example:

• Bush does burn – especially after the dry weather we’ve had this year with December 2011 being one of the driest on records.
• I couldn’t believe the number of fires, excluding house fires, that occur out here
• The Invercargill Fire Service are not legally responsible for responding to fires that occur in all of Otatara, just some parts. In practise the Invercargill Fire Service and the Southern Rural Fire Authority work well to ensure we’re all covered with the SRFA also providing a water tanker to the Fire Service for callouts in Otatara.
  • However it made me think that in a really dry season with stretched resources, we need to be able to reduce the risk to our homes in as many ways as possible.

Other information included aspects such as how fire behaves, some community members’ experiences and what we can do to help ourselves.  All in all it made for a very interesting evening.

The meeting also raised issues that we need to follow up on, for example, ‘Am I allowed to trim my driveway of native bush to allow a fire truck access?’ and, ‘What can I do around my house to create a protection zone?’

So because of the unfortunate short notice of the previous meeting, that was due in part to me messing up the dates, we are working with the Southern Rural Fire Authority to arrange another meeting in Otatara on fire safety, prevention, management and anything the community wants to know.  At the same time we hope to provide answers to the questions community members raised in the August meeting.

So watch this space, tentatively book your calendar for 18 October 2012; time and venue to be confirmed, all will be welcome.

Regards, Frank Dean – Chair OCG