NEWS
'Hall-mark' of dedication By Derek Schlennstedt For 100 years, Upwey CFA has been serving the hills community. For 50 of those, Peter Hall has been right there to serve. From saving cats stuck up trees, responding to fires on Ash Wednesday, and even setting up a defensive drivers program for young drivers, Peter Hall has been an enduring member of the Upwey CFA brigade and hills community. Now at the age of 74, he is hanging up the overalls and becoming a non-operational member. Though, he jokes; "he'll still find something to do"."50 years ... it's a bloody long time," he said. "It's been interesting ... when I joined initially, I was going to put in 12 months, this was in my early 20s, I thought I'd do a bit for the community ... here I am 50 years later. "In those days, if there was a pair of overalls hanging on the peg that fitted you and no one else was using them, you'd put them on and jump on the truck and that was it and you didn't know where you were going. "I've got to the stage now where I'm getting a bit long in the tooth ... I don't think I'd be able to get up into a truck anymore."Joining the brigade in 1967, but only being officially recognised as a member in 1968, Mr Hall reflected upon the many memorable moments and close bonds formed. "I've made some fantastic friends and lost some fantastic friends from here too ... it's a big part of your life," he said. "The camaraderie is second to none ... I can only talk for the hills brigades but the member support was fantastic, and still is." That support and camaraderie came in many forms for Mr Hall though and it was especially true when both his sons, Travis and Anthony Hall, were sadly killed in a car crash
After 50 years at the Upwey brigade, beloved local and member Peter Hall is hanhing up the overalls. in Cockatoo in 1995. The months that followed he said were hell. Though he stepped back briefly from the position of first lieutenant, he never resigned. Twelve months later, the Anthony and Travis Hall Memorial Driver Education Fund was launched by prominent members of the Dandenong Ranges Brigades: Peter Hall, Graeme Legge, Bob Horner, Geoff Champion and Peter Marke. The fund was created in memory of Travis and Anthony Hall, and was designed to provide drivers from the hills with essential edu-
cation in car control. It's a legacy that has helped over 100 young drivers learn defensive driving skills. "I did back off for a little while, not for long, I felt if I chucked the towel in then, it's not what the boys would have wanted ... we went through hell but we were lucky in the people we knew," Mr Hall said. "This year is 20 years of the fund and we've roughly had over 100 put through ... one of them, a young man from Kallista, came around a bend in Monbulk and another car was on his side of the road ... he swerved and pulled over.
"He told me later that if he hadn't have used the skills he learnt from the drivers course, it would've been a fatal accident. "It means a lot to know that and gives you a little bit of a boost to know that some good has come out of it." Over 50 years, there are many memorable moments. And through the technology, response times and the way in which CFA now respond to incidents has changed, Mr Hall said the people and the community have remained much the same and are as welcoming as ever.
Much thought goes into planned burn operations By Derek Schlennstedt After Black Saturday, the Dandenongs were identified as one of the most high-risk locations to in Victoria. One way to reduce that risk is planned burning. Over the past week, large swathes of land in the Dandenong Ranges have been burnt as part of planned operations. With many more planned around the Yarra Ranges area, the Mail spoke with Forest Fire Management members about the extensive planning that goes into these burns and how important they are to reduce fire risk in the community. One of those burns, on 13 April, which burnt 6.8 hectares on Aurora Rise in Sassafras, has been years in planning and now that it's completed provides comfort for residents living in the area - especially Sassafras Primary School. "This burn was an asset protection plan ... it's a burn that's objective is to protect communities in this case largely the school and other assets in sassafras and Olinda," Mr Shane Vandenborn Senior FFM manager for Fuel Management said. This planned burn had been years in the making and was important due to the proximity of the burn to Sassafras Primary school which backed onto the planned site. Principal Cathy Jones said that although the school has a fire plan and relocates to Boronia Primary on severe or code red days, she feels much more comfortable going into next year's summer fire season. "You go up the back of this school and it's just bush," Ms Jones said. "While we're gradually increasing in what we do around the school ... clear the land and have our plans, if that's an extreme load of fuel at the back of the school then we can do all that we can, but we are still sitting ducks, unless you do those burns. "It certainly makes me a lot happier." Planning for these types of burns occurs at all levels, from checking weather patterns to ensuring tourists and locals know about the burn and what impact it may have on them. 8 MAIL
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Tuesday, 17 April, 2018
From left: Senior FM Manager, Fuel Management, Shane Vandenborn, Sassafras Primary School Principal Cathy Jones and Metro District Manager FFM Stephanie Carr. "We have a set of parameters we need to meet ... weather, wind, humidity and then the fuel," District Manager for FFM Stephanie Carr said. "We've been in contact with the regional tourism authority, local tourism authority, local council, post office, community centres, bus companies; it's trying to use the community networks to share the message." Mr Vanderborn said that he understands
smoke from the planned burns can cause some concern for resident but there is only a small window of opportunity to undertake this fire risk reducing burns. "You don't just need the conditions on the day, you need the conditions of several weeks of drying weather trend, fuels on the day to not have had rain on them the night before, wind and weather conditions on the day to be suitable and also the next three to four days to be
suitable so you're not having any surprises." "It's not just the day it's the weeks leading up to it and it's the next week after the burn, those opportunities don't come around too often, that's why this autumn period is very important," he said. With burns likely to be undertaken over the next few weeks residents can see when and where the burns are occurring by going to the link www.ffm.vic.gov.au/pbns mailcommunity.com.au