Published on Friday, 4 February 2022 at 10:30:00 AM

Our Community Emergency Services Manager, Lyndon Pearce, would like to share some information on the difference between fire bans in the Shire.  We recently shared articles that featured information on Total Fire and Harvest and Vehicle Movement Ban. Today we explore what activities are and are not permitted when BOTH a Total Fire Ban and a Harvest and Vehicle Movement Ban are in place.

In addition to the conditions on the Shire Firebreak notice, you may also be legally restricted with certain activities when Total Fire Bans or Harvest Vehicle Movement Bans are issued. These two bans are totally different from each other and one can be issued without the other or they can be on at the same time. It’s important to understand the difference between the two ban types, who issues them and what you can and can’t do if they are in effect.

If BOTH Total Fire Ban and a Harvest and Vehicle Movement Ban in Place

Activities NOT Permitted During the Period of this Ban:

• Harvesting operations are not permitted.
• All off-road activity is banned, regardless of whether it is for agricultural purposes or work being conducted by business, industry and public authorities.
• Off-road includes areas such as paddocks, bushland, uncleared land and land with stubble or long grass refer to regulation 24ZH(2)(b) of the Bush Fires Regulations 1954.
• Off-road activity includes the use of anything activated by an internal combustion engine being used off-road e.g. motor bikes, quad bikes, excavators, chain saws, ride on lawn mowers and generators.

Activities Permitted During the Period of this Ban:

• Use or operation of any vehicle on “gazetted roads”, lanes, driveways, yards or other areas that provide access to, or a parking facility at, any residential, farming or business premises, if the area has been sufficiently cleared of inflammable material to prevent the escape of fire (regulation 24A(3) Bush Fires Regulations 1954).
• Use or operation of a vehicle for the prevention of an immediate and serious risk to the health or safety of a person or livestock, and only if all reasonable precautions have been taken to prevent the activity from creating a bush fire danger. (regulation 24A(4) Bush Fires Regulations 1954).
• Off-road activity for urgent work carried out by an essential service can continue, but only when the prescribed conditions in Division 9 of the Bush Fires Regulations 1954 are complied with. Urgent works, in relation to the provision of an essential service, means repairs or maintenance necessary for the continued provision, or restoration, of the service. Essential services: water supply, sewerage or drainage services; electricity or gas services; telecommunications services; public transport services and rubbish collection or disposal services.

If you have found this article interesting, you might like to book mark our local Bush Fire Control & Information webpage.

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