The Brigade will be sharing lots of Christmas cheer with our community on Christmas eve, giving out lollies from the back of the trucks with Santa doing most of the giving. Details of the Santa run are in the local shops and will be on the site soon. Anyone wanting to find out the real Santa, donate some money to the Brigade and be at Woolies in Baxter at 20:30 hrs on Christmas eve and shave his beard off to reveal the hidden face. All money goes to a good cause; like a block of land, or pumper or something.

The community started rolling in before 11:00 am to chat to the Brigade members. CFA media turned up and took some photos and the local bottle shop, Gateway Cellars, provided a donation to kick things off.

With hot temperatures across the state last weekend, we are reminding the community that the summer fire season is just around the corner.

We live in one of the most fire-prone regions in the world and it only takes weeks or even days of hot, dry and windy weather to create dangerous fire conditions.

Favourable growing conditions throughout the area have promoted an above-average grassfire risk this fire season.

Fire Danger Periods had already been introduced in some areas, including parts of Colac and the surrounding area, and in Mildura. FDPs for other parts of the state would continue to be declared, and we urge residents to have a detailed and well-practiced Bushfire Survival Plan.

Now is the time to protect your home and property by slashing, mowing, grazing, spraying and using herbicide, and creating fuel breaks by removing all fuel (vegetation) down to the soil. Clean out the gutters as I did last weekend.

To avoid brigades being called out unnecessarily by a neighbour or passer by, tell your neighbours when you plan to burn off and register the burn with the CFA on 1800 668 511 and get a Council permit where necessary.

Call into the Fire Station on November 20 between 11:00am and 3:00 pm for a sausage and a chat.

Well that was an interesting day or so. The volunteer response crew responded to assist Tyabb at a tanker roll-over on Sunday morning just after midnight. Some 40,000 lites of fuel was leaking from a tanker that had rolled over at the intersection of Frankston Flinders Road and Dandenong Hastings Road. Many attempts were made to shut down the leak without success. Our tanker was tasked with supply water to Somerville pumper, MFB pumper 33 and Tyabb tanker as they applied a foam blanket over the fuel to reduce the chance of catastrophic explosion. One of our members, with foam and water back, also isolated the electrics of the prime-mover yo further remove ignition sources. There were no serious injuries. After seven hours we were replaced by a crew and vehicle from Langwarrin.

Then after a short sleep, just after midday on Sunday, we were called to a gas leak caused by a vehicle that had hit a gas meter and ruptured the pipe. The car was allegedly driven by a child after finding the keys in the ignition. No one was hurt and the gas was shut off stopping the leak. There was minimal damage to the buildings.

And then, on Monday just past four AM, we assisted Pearcedale at a two car incident on Dandenong Hastings Road. It appears as though one vehicle has veered into the path of another, ripping off a front wheel of one car and peeling the skin off the doors of the other. Again, no one was seriously injured, thankfully.

Travelling too quick, travelling when tired or influenced by other things or leaving keys in vehicles unattended are all dangerous actions that could cause serious injury.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

Yesterday I mentioned the problems associated with burn offs.  Today, of the 60 vegetation fires throughout the State, nearly 50% were burn offs and over 50% were reported between 15:00 and 20:00.

Damn burn offs at the wrong time off the day.

Don't forget CFA Sunday on 20 November between 11:00 and 15:00. Have a look under about, community engagement.

With the temperature rising over the next couple of days, CFA is urging the community to take extra care when burning off and register their burn with CFA on 1800 668 511.

Since the start of September this year, CFA has responded to 223 burn off related calls across the state which turned which turned out to be false alarms.

If people register their burn offs, we know what is happening in that area and it really helps us. The registration reduces the chances of CFA being called out to a false alarm when the public calls about a fire they have seen.

We’re talking about our volunteers who have to leave their work or spend time away from their family responding to false alarms.”

The warmer weather over the coming days is just a preview of many more hot days to come and landowners need to take on more responsibility when burning off. There is an above average risk for grassfires for the upcoming fire season. They should not be underestimated – they can be extremely dangerous and cause death, trauma or serious injury.

There are a few simple steps landowners must take when burning off.

• Be aware of your council burn off by-laws
• Register the burn with CFA on 1800 668 511
• Check weather conditions
• Tell their neighbours when they plan to burn off to avoid brigades being called out unnecessarily by a neighbour or passer by
• Never leave a burn off unattended

You should never burn off in hot, dry, windy conditions or if these conditions are forecast within the time your burn off is expected to take. You should also leave a three metre fire break, free of flammable materials around any burn off.

If your burn off does get out of control please call ‘000’ immediately.

Whilst the signage notifying of the Baxter-Tooradin road closure is not there any more, the Peninsula Link website is still saying that Baxter-Tooradin Road will be closed each night from 18 - 22 October 2011 between 20:00 and 06:00 the following morning. I will confirm this with the on-site crews tomorrow and if it is still the case, turnout notes will have to be done by the Ops Officer each day to assist with coverage of our patch. 

Busy week last week with false alarm support to a range of neighbours. Guess that is just part of the service.

Meeting room has been re-painted (thanks Reg & Elves) and the wall hangings will go back up when I can buy the new hooks. 

Please note the Baxter-Tooradin Rd closure has been pushed back to the 18 October to the 22 October.  Guess it still happens between 20:00 till 06:00

We did not hear this from the road builders, we received the information from the BRATPAC website. (check our link). I would think it would be appropriAte to let the local emergency servcies know what is going on!?

Freeway road works are going to close Baxter Tooradin Road from tonight Sunday 9 Oct 8:00pm till Saturday morning 15 Oct 6:00 am. This will have a detrimental effect on our response times to emergencies. The volunteers will take longer to get to the station (via Golf Links Rd) and then the truck will take longer to get to the job. Lets hope it's a quiet week.

I would like to publicly thank those members that have been involved in the setting up of the new look web site. The work they have done is a credit  and they should be very proud of themselves. This is even more impressive when you consider that they have taught me how to edit this blog and other section of the site. The Brigade is certainly moving forward and invites other BAXTER organisations to contact us so that we can share Baxter information through our electronic links.

And don't forget about CFA Sunday on 20 Novemeber between 11:00 and 15:00. Check our facebook page for the flyer.