Potential dangers with vegetation and heat

Published on 19 March 2015

With temperatures expected to peak in the 30’s for the next week and with a large amount of vegetation lying around the Rockhampton Region, Council is asking residents to take precautions around their homes.

Chair of the Local Disaster Management Group Councillor Tony Williams said that even though our Region was not technically in bushfire season, there was still the potential for this hazard to become another disaster.

“Bushfires are fuelled by leaf litter, trees and other vegetation. This vegetation provides a path or ladder for fire to travel up, taking the fire from the ground, high into the tree tops,” Cr Williams said.

“Something as simple as a glass bottle, a flick of a cigarette butt, or an unauthorised burn-off of vegetation is all that it will take – so we need to ensure we are extremely vigilant.”

Residents are asked to consider creating a “fuel free” zone around your property by clearing out gutters and removing loose leaves. If your property backs on to national park, or road reserves that have a large amount of vegetation and debris still present, use our free app “SnapSendSolve” to report to Council.  

“Our crews have been out and about cleaning up vegetation and debris right across the Region and with the forecasted weather we are now focussing on removing vegetation from areas such as Mount Archer National Park, road reserves, and our parks and gardens as these could pose a fire hazard.

“We are working with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and the State Government and have inspected the fire trails at the back of residential houses near Mount Archer.

“It is important for us to clear these fire trails to allow the State Government to get in and conduct hazard reduction burns as soon as the weather permits it.

“As soon as the clean-up in urban and rural areas for green waste has been completed, this is our next priority,” he said.

General vegetation clean up across the Region as a result of TC Marcia is expected to be completed over the next couple of weeks.