The valley beneath the EJ Whitten Bridge at Sunshine North is still a significant hotspot in an area known for fire bugs, a chief fire officer says.
Brimbank received the second highest number of callouts for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in the past financial year, its annual report reveals, with 2500 calls for help during 2015-16.
The region has been in the top two areas for MFB callouts over the past three years, receiving, on average, the second highest number of requests over the past 12 years, the MFB data reveals.
MFB assistant chief fire officer Darren McQuade said the Sunshine North fire station was the busiest in the west, with the Brimbank Park valley an area of concern. “With recent heavy rains, it creates more growth, and then it dries out,” he said.
“It [a fire in the valley] causes mostly back fence damage … a lot of stolen cars are dumped in the western suburbs in large, open areas.”
He said he wasn’t surprised Brimbank had remained in Melbourne’s top two for MFB callouts for more than a decade.
“You have an older housing stock, older people, cars get dumped in the western suburbs, there are also plenty of industrial fires and accidents,” he said.
“You also get house fires due to marijuana crop operations, firefighters are exposed to illegal electrical wiring.”
Star Weekly revealed in September that Brimbank Park is still a “high bushfire risk” location ahead of the upcoming fire season.
Brimbank received more than six per cent of all callouts for the MFB last financial year, but this was a 2.6 per cent drop compared to 2014-15. Brimbank council will begin its second round of vacant property inspections this month with about 700 clean-up notices already served to local landowners.
