By Tania Martin
YARRARanges Council is calling on the State Government to change the names of the neighbourhood safer places (NSP) to avoid confusion.
And it says it is also concerned that a CFA published list of proposed neighbourhood safer places may confuse bushfire affected residents.
Lyster Ward’s councillor Samantha Dunn said she was disturbed that many people were referring to the NSPs as refuges.
“There is a real issue with the title which is in itself causing confusion,” Cr Dunn said.
“I have had conversations with people who refer to them as refuges – clearly they are not refuges; people who call them ‘safe places’ – clearly they are not safe places,” she added.
The council has called on the State Government to officially change the names to ‘places of last resort’ to make the nature of the NSPs very clear.
And the council is also concerned that a CFA online list of proposed NSPs will be confused with the actual sites which have been approved.
Last week Yarra Ranges Council approved two NSPs – one at Mt Evelyn and on at Monbulk.
Yarra Ranges has said it is concerned that residents will be RESIDENTS have been left scratching their heads after the CFA released a list of proposed sites for neighbourhood safer places (NSPs) which had passed through just one set of criteria.
This came as the Yarra Ranges Council approved two sites, one in Monbulk and one in Mount Evelyn.
They were the only ones out of 67 sites that met the criteria.
The list on the CFA website was release just hours before the council voted on the two proposed sites at a meeting on Tuesday 8 December.
It includes the main streets in Olinda and Belgrave and the Ferny Creek Primary School.
Shire spokesman James Martin said the list only related to the initial assessment by the CFA, which looked at radiant heat and vegetation buffers.
Mayor Len Cox said any sites must still be assessed according to a further requirement relating to access.
“They must be open and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they must not result in traffic blockage,” he said.
“Imagine several hundreds or thousand cars going to the main street of Olinda and what that would do to roads in the hills.”
Cr Cox said the assessment currently being undertaken includes the CFA, police and VicRoads to ensure they meet the full criteria.
“At this stage Morrison Reserve and Monbulk Recreation Reserve have met the criteria,” he said.
Cr Cox said the council was continuing to liaise with private property owners in relation to sites identified by the CFA.
“The council will also continue to assess as a matter of urgency any additional sites that meet the CFA’s radiant heat/vegetation buffer criteria,” he said.
Mr Martin said the council was disturbed that the CFA had released the list.
“We are concerned people will see the list and think these sites are actual NSPs,” he said.
At a media briefing last month, the CFA told the Mail it would not release any information on the proposed sites until the final tick of approval had been made.
They said it would cause too much confusion to release any information before that.
The Mail contacted the CFA last week but was unable to get a comment before going to print.
Despite approving the sites in Mount Evelyn and Monbulk, the council has warned resident not to be ‘lulled’ in to a false sense of security.
Cr Cox said safety was not guaranteed and people should only use them if they get caught short.
Lyster Ward’s Cr Samantha Dunn said there was no place for any derivation of the word ‘safe’ when endorsing sites which were in fact widely accepted by the shire, the CFA and the government as places of last resort in the event of an unexpected fire.
There was no comment from the government on whether they would consider a name change.
