On course for fire lessons- Clematis CFA’s Shane Miller and Emerald Community House’s Mary Far

By Tania Martin
EMERALD’S community house has joined forces with Clematis CFA in a bid to get residents ready for the upcoming fire season.
With just 13 weeks left they say it’s vital for people to start planning for the impending danger.
The community house is now calling for people to join one of two four-week fireguard workshops.
It will be held every Monday night from 7pm to 9.30pm at the community house from 10 to 31 August and from 7 to 28 September. Each workshop will take up to 20 people.
Emerald Community House (ECH) chairwoman Mary Farrow said it was the first time a community house and the CFA had come together to educate locals on the dangers associated with bushfires.
But Ms Farrow said considering the Black Saturday fires it was now a vital step.
The idea for the workshops first came about when Ms Farrow approached the Clematis CFA Captain Shane Miller to see what the community house could do to help. “The one thing ECH does really well is adult education courses and we needed to teach people more about preparing for bushfires – to come up with a reasonable fire plan,” Mr Miller said. “We all know that protecting our houses with a couple of buckets of water really doesn’t cut it anymore.”
Mr Miller said the pair then approached region 13 – Yarra Ranges area CFA – to find out what sort of course could be run.
“The CFA already had a product aimed at this sort of market but didn’t really have anywhere to run the courses,” he said.
Mr Miller said it was vital for people to realise that having a good fire plan was the key to survival. “For people who haven’t got a clue or a good plan their only plan is to die,” he said.
Ms Farrow said a lot of people thought they had a good plan before Black Saturday but the goal posts had now shifted.
Mr Miller said it was just a ‘fluke’ that the Dandenongs or parts of the hills including Emerald and Gembrook didn’t go up in flames this year. He said the other major issue was many people could get complacent if they continued to evacuate on total fire ban days and nothing happened. More information is available by calling ECH on 5968 3881.