THE Dunkeld Country Fire Authority (CFA) are hosting an open day this Sunday at the Dunkeld Fire Station (40-42 Templeton Street) from 10am until 2pm.

The Dunkeld CFA will be promoting fire and home safety advice in the lead-up to what the CFA expects to be a busy fire danger season.

They will also be issuing a number of long service awards as well as presenting the new keys to three new appliances – two fire trucks and a Landcruiser.

CFA District 5 commander, Rainer Kiessling, said he hopes the community will attend the open day to gain some more information on how to plan and prepare their properties for fire, through engagement with their community education team.

“This is the first major event the brigade has held since the onset of COVID-19 and as many events such as service awards and appliance key handovers had been put on hold, this is an opportunity to catch up on these important milestones,” he said.

“The new appliances in particular represent an investment of over one million dollars by the state and CFA in new vehicles and equipment in the Dunkeld community and this is an opportunity for the public to see the vehicles and meet the volunteers of their township.

“I am also keen to foster interest in any potential new volunteers for the Serra Group of brigades - Dunkeld, Woodhouse, Strathmore and Glenthompson, and we will have the recruitment information on hand as well as the ability for the community to engage current volunteers to have a chat about what it means to volunteer in the CFA.

“I am hoping to get 100-150 people to the day but the more the merrier and attending will be members of the brigade, the Serra CFA group, CFA operations support staff, the district assistant chief fire officer, commander, and members of the CFA Community Education Team.”

Mr Kiessling said it’s critically important that people inform themselves about what actions to take in a fire event, especially in rural communities.

“The fire season is shaping up to be quite challenging and I anticipate that we will see several significant fire events in District 5 this year,” he said.

“Dunkeld has significant fire history with the most notable being the fires in 1944 in which over 440,000 hectares of land was lost with over 500 buildings destroyed and between 15-20 lives lost.

“On January 15, 1944 Dunkeld lost 35 dwellings in the township itself with a fire impacting from the north sweeping around the base of Mount Sturgeon.

“In my view there is an above average likelihood that we will see fires impacting the area around Dunkeld and Glenthompson this year and I am investing in the educational process to help people not only understand the impact of a fire on a township but also on how to survive it.”