By MELISSA MEEHAN
Damaged power lines could ignite fires, hence push for…
FIRED up firefighter Bill Pizzey wants high voltage power
lines to go underground in Kallista and surrounding towns, worried they’ll be the cause of a large fire in the future.
While the fire season is drawing to a close, the seasoned firefighter said he was worried a fire caused by a broken power line could spread into the forest and cause significant damage on high-risk days.
Mr Pizzey said fire crews had been called to several fires caused by line faults over the past year, the latest in January a day before a day of Total Fire Ban.
“In our area, we have a lot of High Voltage ABC Cable,” Mr Pizzey said.
“With large trees and branches falling on the lines, they degrade over time and this is how the fires start.”
He said the latest fire caused by the damaged power lines was in Grantulla Road, Kallista.
“We had trouble putting out the fire directly as the line was still live, even when it finally failed, it burnt spectacularly for about 10 mins after we got on site,” he said.
“There were a number of large explosions spraying sparks and other burning material around. It was dropping lots of molten metal and burning plastic.”
He believes that if the fire started on the day of Total Fire Ban – the story coulod have been different.
Mr Pizzey took Mail editor Melissa Meehan on a tour around the areas he believes are most at risk, and says the only way to mitigate the risk is to remove the above ground power lines altogether.
“My main aim is to try and get them underground,” he said.
“I understand it will be an expensive exercise and will take time. But if they could stop replacing the broken lines with the same thing and start putting them underground that would be the best for this area.”
The Kallista Fire Brigade has thrown their support behind Mr Pizzey, writing to the Fire Services Commissioner requesting that something be done.
In a letter to the Fire Commissioner, along with other requests the brigade asked for a survey of dangerous areas where the ABC cables traverse inaccessible sections.
Earlier this month, the State Government announced that major works were now underway to replace high voltage electricity distribution power lines as part of its $750 million program to reduce the risk of power lines sparking bushfires.
Energy and Resources Minister Nicholas Kotsiras said works had begun at Montrose in the Dandenong Ranges, with another five projects to be carried out across the Otway and Dandenong Ranges by the middle of 2014.
“The Victorian Government is committed to replacing power lines in the highest bushfire risk areas in rural and regional Victoria to reduce the risk of power lines igniting fires,” Mr Kotsiras said.
“By replacing these high-risk lines with aerial bundled cable, undergrounding or other covered conductor technology, we will ensure that significant power line risk reduction is achieved before the next fire season.
