The fire danger period will now continue until 1am on May 13.
District 22 operations manager Tony Owen said although the fire danger period was coming to an end in some areas, it was important for all to remain vigilant.
He said a zero-tolerance policy would continue to be enforced for people responsible for illegal fires, which included burning off without a written permit.
‘‘Once we move out of the fire danger period in a few weeks’ time, residents that wish to conduct burn-offs on their private properties need to follow some basic rules; register your burn-offs first and foremost, check weather conditions and monitor the wind, and follow local council laws and regulations.’’
Mr Owen also highlighted the need for landowners to communicate with authorities and neighbours.
‘‘As well as registering your burn-offs with Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), you need to alert your neighbours to the fact that they may see smoke on the set dates.’’
Mr Owen said by alerting those around and registering a burn-off, people would avoid false alarms that took crews away from family, friends and other potential emergencies.
‘‘It’s extremely annoying when CFA crews are forced to waste resources responding to false alarms because people are not registering their burn-offs.’’
Mr Owen encouraged people to be responsible when conducting a burn-off and to always have resources on hand to extinguish the fire if need be.
Landowners can register their burn-off by phoning 1800668511 or emailing burnoffs@esta.vic.gov.au
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