Blackwood residents didn’t need to use a new $1.4 million community fire refuge at the height of last week’s extreme fire danger.
But with the township identified as one of Victoria’s most at-risk communities, residents have been warned against complacency.
“People have to be vigilant when it’s 40-plus degrees and there’s lightning,” warned Moorabool councillor Pat Toohey, who attended Sunday’s official opening of Australia’s first co-located fire refuge and CFA station. The centre was finished in late December.
Premier Denis Napthine and Police and Emergency Services Minister Kim Wells joined fire services commissioner Craig Lapsley for a tour of the centre on Terrill Street.
The refuge has a remote opening system and direct contact with Melbourne’s state control centre and the Ballarat incident control centre.
Heat shields, a stand-by power generator and fire protection systems are designed to be community-operated. The centre is ember-protected and built to withstand conditions akin to those of the Ash Wednesday bushfires.
In 2009, Blackwood and Greendale were listed among Victoria’s 52 most at-risk communities in a bushfire.
The station site was selected for a refuge as no suitable ‘‘neighbourhood safer place’’ could be found. There is a single road in and out of the town.
