Fire ready

In an emergency, every second counts. Firefighters rely on quick access to water, but hidden or blocked hydrants can cause life-threatening delays. As a resident, you play a vital role in ensuring these assets remain visible and accessible.

Identifying a fire hydrant

Here's what a fire hydrant looks like in a residential nature strip or road reserve (the purple colour indicates it's using recycled water):

And here's how you can identify their location on the street. You will see blue road reflectors, white road triangles, and a marker post (there are two different types in this image). The purple marker post identifies a fire hydrant using recycled water.

Tips for maintaining your local hydrants

Grass and Vegetation: Keep it Low

Overgrown grass is the most common reason fire hydrants are missed during an emergency.

• The 10cm Rule: Keep the grass on your nature strip - especially around a hydrant - under 10cm in height.
• Clear the Cover: Ensure the hydrant cover in your nature strip is not hidden by vegetation or buried by lawn.

No Obstructions: Do Not Cover or Bury

 Fire hydrants are regularly obscured or "hidden" by turf, gravel and landscaping.

• Don’t Turf Over: Never lay new turf or soil directly over a hydrant cover.
• No Rocks or Mulch: Avoid placing large decorative rocks, heavy gravel, or mulch over or immediately around a fire hydrant.

Parking and Access

A hydrant is useless if a fire truck can’t get to it.

• Don’t Park Over Hydrants: It is a violation of the Victorian Road Safety Rules to park a vehicle, trailer, or caravan over a fire hydrant.
• Keep the Road Clear: When parking on the street, ensure you are not blocking access to a fire hydrant and avoid obscuring the blue reflector and white diamond markers on the road.

Hydrant Posts and Markers

Hydrant marker posts (usually a white posts with a red triangle and a blue reflector), blue road reflectors and a white road triangle are the "street signs" for firefighters.

• Do Not Remove Posts: Never remove or relocate a hydrant marker post, even if you find it unsightly.
• Report Damage: If a post is knocked over or a blue road reflector or white road triangle are missing, please contact Council or Barwon Water.

• Keep grass cut to a height of no more than 100mm.

• Remove branch heaps, derelict building materials, (rake and remove excess surface fire fuels, i.e. leaves, twigs, bark, retaining a fine layer not in excess of 20mm).

• Clean leaves and dry materials from roofs, gutters and downpipes.

• Keep driveways clear of vegetation, fire trucks need a clearance of 4m wide by 4m high to safely pass.

• Cut back branches/foliage overhanging within 2m of your roofline.

• Store LP Gas cylinders with the pressure relief vent pointing away from buildings.

• Isolate chemical storage and toxic materials away from your home and your neighbour's.

• Install smoke detectors near kitchen and bedrooms. Replace the battery each year when daylight savings starts.

• Fit metal fly wire mesh or solid screens to ember proof the windows, doors, ventilators and skylights.

• Ensure woodpiles are covered and stored well away from your house and your neighbour's.

  The CFA website has more information on clearing trees and vegetation and what you can and can’t do without a permit.

As a property owner you have an important role to play in reducing bushfire risk by the way you design, develop and maintain your property.  Council has developed a video and the Landscaping your Surf Coast Garden for Bushfire(PDF, 2MB) booklet to help. We also have an indigenous planting guide for urban areas(PDF, 577KB) and an indigenous planting guide for rural areas.(PDF, 944KB)

Removing environmental weeds from your property is a great first step to reducing fire fuel loads on your property. For more information on identifying and removing weeds, go to our Weeds of the Surf Coast page.

Prior to the summer Fire Danger Period, Council Fire Prevention Officers conduct inspections of properties throughout the Shire. Properties that are considered a fire hazard are issued with a Fire Prevention Notice and the owner is required to undertake the prescribed works. Failing to act on a Fire Prevention Notice(PDF, 194KB) may result in hefty fines. 

To report a property as a potential fire hazard, please email us at info@surfcoast.vic.gov.au, or call our Community Fire Safety and Environment Officer on 5261 0600.

Your animals are your responsibility. Failing to plan ahead for your animals during an emergency puts everyone's lives at risk. Agriculture Victoria has advice on its website to help you prepare for the welfare of your horses and livestock during emergency events. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has advice around horses and bushfires.

All Victorians should be aware of the possibility of power outages during Summer weather conditions and what they can do to prepare. As a result of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, increased safety measures have been introduced through the Government's Powerline Bushfire Safety Program requiring electricity businesses to modify their powerline safety settings on Total Fire Ban and Code Red days to reduce the risk of bushfires. This may result in more power failures and a delay in restoring power if a fault occurs.  Check out this Guide to Power Outages to find out the few simple things you can do to prepare for a power outage.

On days of high fire risk it is your responsibility to stay up to date using more than one source of information so you will know if a fire has started near you. Don't rely on receiving an official warning, be proactive. Find out more about fire warnings.

To stay aware of local fire conditions, you can:

• Download the VicEmergency app
• Listen to an official emergency broadcaster, eg. ABC radio, SkyNews television
• Follow CFA on social media 
• Go to the VicEmergency website
• Call the VicEmergency hotline - 1800 226 226