About 700 clean up notices have been issued to Brimbank landowners recently, as the fire season draws closer.
Brimbank council began inspecting about 1400 vacant, local properties from the middle of October. “About half” that number received a Notice to Comply (NTC) to clean up their land.
However, it is a significant drop in the number of notices issued compared to last year, when 965 fire hazard reduction notices were issued for 1469 vacant properties.
A second round of inspections will begin in the middle of this month.
Residents must keep their properties as fire-safe and fire-ready as possible by removing long grass, fallen branches and rubbish.
Landowners who fail to clean up their properties can be fined $500.
Those who ignore a NTC will also have to pay for a council contractor to clean up their properties and could face legal action.
Brimbank director city development Stuart Menzies said the inspections had produced promising results so far.
“Approximately half of the properties inspected are receiving a notice for works to be done, which is an improvement over last year,” he said.
More than 240 landowners were issued with infringements last year and 191 properties had to be cut by the council’s contractor.
