Local Brigades Help Lower Hunter and Kempsey

FIREFIGHTERS from across the Liverpool Range zone including brigades from Wingen, Kingdon Ponds, Merriwa River, Cassilis and three from Gunnedah deployed yesterday to help their counterparts fight the bushfire in the Lower Hunter and Kempsey area.

Andrew Luke, superintendent zone manager Liverpool Range Fire Service said the local crews are expected to work from today until Wednesday.

The fire moving towards Abernethy yesterday. Residents of Abernethy and Kitchener were told to shelter in place.

“They have said the conditions are quite challenging, it’s hot, dry and windy and the fire is behaving erratically,” said Mr Luke.

“It goes from being benign one moment and then springs into action the next,” he said.

Mr Luke said the fire in the Lower Hunter does not bode well for the fire season in the Upper Hunter.

“We have had a lot of rain, there is a lot of feed and we are certainly seeing the landscape dry out rapidly and we could be facing a very dangerous fire season this summer,” Mr Luke.

“I’d urge people to take simple precautions now mow and slash around the house and sheds to reduce fuel and make sure you have a bushfire survival plan in place, it’s like anything if you don’t practice a skill you won’t fair as well under pressure, if everything is written down and you don’t need to think and you can just follow the steps it makes it far less stressful,” he said.

“People in townships are not immune from bushfires, embers can be blown a long distance from the main fire front and you may think you are safe but as we are seeing in the Lower Hunter it can travel into townships,” he said.

“Keep the grass short, make sure gardens are neat and tidy, clean the gutters, make sure you have hoses long enough to stretch around the house and that your windows and doors are sealing well; often the things that make a house beautiful also make fire safety sense,” Andrew Luke said.

Make your plan now: Bush Fire Survival Plan.