Belgrave residents Kylie West, Kathy Baquie and Claire Blissenden and La Trobe MP Jason Wood call on Parks Victoria to clear fire fuel from Violet Larsen Reserve. 41652
By Casey Neill
BELGRAVE residents fear neighbouring parkland will become a fiery death trap this summer.
They say Violet Larsen Reserve is a haven for arsonists and last week called on Parks Victoria to clear the heavy forest fuel load.
The 1.57 hectare bushland parcel forms part of the Dandenong Ranges National Park.
Kathy Baquie has lived in the adjacent Bennett Avenue for more than 20 years and has never seen the area so overgrown.
“If a fire comes through here we’ve got Buckley’s and none,” she said.
Ms Baquie stepped up her calls for Parks Victoria to take action following a deliberately lit blaze last February that burnt through almost four hectares of bushland near Peters Road and Terrys Avenue.
She’s concerned about another firebug attack, and falling embers.
“This would go up,” she said.
“If this was a private property, the residents would be fined tens of thousands of dollars.”
“I don’t see what the difference is between a private residence and a government residence.”
Two Parks Victoria representatives visited the site in November.
“They stood here and they said ‘yes, it needs to be cleared up, we’ll come in here with chainsaws, we’ll remove trees, we’ll get it all slashed out’,” Ms Baquie said.
“They did admit it was a death trap.”
Workers slashed a small section of the site a few weeks ago and removed dead trees from a fire break – into the centre of the reserve.
“They’ve made it worse,” Ms Baquie said.
Eric Street resident Claire Blissenden said she and her neighbours received fire notices instructing them to clean up their properties.
“So we’ve all done that, and yet we’ve got this sitting behind us,” she said.
She said the reserve had been “totally neglected”.
“My biggest fear is that the firebug will come back here,” she said.
“They’ve already set the bonfires for him.”
Ms Blissenden is also fed up with trees along her fenceline dropping branches, threatening her house.
“I’m worried we’ll be killed,” she said.
A falling branch crushed Kylie West’s Bennett Avenue carport about five years ago.
“We’ve been told if the rest of the tree comes down our house is gone, but they will not cut it down, they won’t trim it,” she said.
“We’re not allowed to touch it. If we do we’ll be sued.”
La Trobe MP Jason Wood echoed residents’ concerns. “How many calls do residents have to make?” he said.
“It shouldn’t take this every time.”
Mr Wood called on Parks Victoria to take immediate action, and for the Federal Government to increase funding to combat weeds.
Parks Victoria community engagement officer Brianna Moore said Parks Victoria and Department of Sustainability and Environment each year slashed fuel breaks surrounding the reserve, cleared walking tracks, sprayed weeds and planned for fuel reduction burning. Ms Moore said plans were “well underway to deliver extensive improvement works” to the area after the State Government established the Melbourne Bushfire Protection Program.
“The program will allow for the fuel break network surrounding the reserve to be upgraded beyond the annual works program currently delivered,” she said.
“Works will include the selective removal of vegetation to increase the effectiveness of the fuel breaks and improve access for fire fighting crews.”
