THE Country Fire Authority says now is the time for Wimmera residents to make their bushfire survival plans.
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The organisation has announced that the Fire Danger Period would begin at 1am on Monday for the northern part of Horsham Rural City, the eastern part of West Wimmera Shire and the rest of Yarriambiack Shire.
The authority's operations manager of learning development, Christian Thorley, said the CFA website featured information on how residents in rural and urban areas could make their homes safer.
"The plans need to happen now," he said.
"If people are going to (evacuate), they need to have the plan in their head a long time before the fire hits. The information on the website will tell people what to take, what not to take and how to look after pets.
"If your plan is to evacuate, the best places to go are large rural centres, like Horsham or Warracknabeal.
"Those places aren't going to be impacted by grass and scrub fires, your rural-urban interface will basically have fuel running into residencies. Community ovals in the centre of town are going to be safer places to be."
Mr Thorley said there were resources on how people could stay informed, their role in fires, and information specific to farmers. These include tips on how to make survival plans, farm fire safety checklists and the VicEmergency phone application - the state government app for access to community information and warnings for all types of emergencies in Victoria.
CFA District 16 controller Neville Collins said rain across the region during the year had led to a lot of grass growth on roadsides.
"Towards the end of this month, we'll be seeing the countryside dry out, so people need to be mindful they need to be cleaning up their backyards of any long grass, rubbish or debris," he said.
"(In light of) what's happening in NSW, people need to be mindful they have a bushfire safety plan - particularly if they are living on the outskirts of a town."
District 17 operations officer Alfred Mason said he believed the threat of major fire occurring in the Wimmera this summer was similar to other years. He said residents needed to remain vigilant.
"If something gets going on a bad day, it can take off. We need to be prepared as much as we can be," he said.
"Our crews are spending time doing protection burns at railway line areas, grasslands and roadsides into towns like Jeparit and Murtoa - so the planning is always happening."
Horsham Rural City Council infrastructure director John Martin said the council was halfway through its annual strategic fire breaks burning program. This involves council staff mowing and spraying grass near roadsides to prevent the spread of grass fires.
"Growth in some areas has been heavier than last year, hence leading to slower progress in places. Overall the program is on schedule," he said.
"There have been some areas with re-growth and we have re-sprayed these areas to manage this. One of the areas mentioned was Blue Ribbon (Road)."
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