Council waives fire permit requirement

With the wetter than average start to the fire preparation season, Mitchell Shire Council will waive the permit requirement for burn-offs until the start of the Fire Danger Period (FDP).

Property owners and residents on most residential and semi-rural properties usually need a permit to burn piles, stumps, logs and vegetation larger than 75mm round from October to the start of the fire danger season.

Under the amnesty, the normal off-season local law applies until the CFA declares the fire danger period:

  • People on residential and semi-Rural properties can burn off Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm
  • All burn offs must be registered with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) to avoid unnecessary brigade call outs
  • Notify your neighbours
  • Check the weather forecast. If more than light winds are forecast, you should postpone your burn off
  • Have a 3-metre clearance of any flammable material around the burn off
  • Ensure you should have enough people to monitor, contain and extinguish the burn safely and effectively
  • Make sure you have enough water to extinguish an outbreak
  • The fire must not cause a nuisance by smoke to your neighbours
  • You can burn items such as dried vegetation including tree branches, grass, scrub, stubble and wood that has not been treated or painted

Please do not burn things like styrofoam, rubber, plastic, carpet, manufactured chemicals, petrol or paint.

The fire permit amnesty will give people from metropolitan Melbourne or regional Victoria who can’t attend their properties in Mitchell Shire under current restrictions, more time to prepare for the upcoming fire season.

Council is expecting an announcement from the Victorian Government soon about a permit system to allow people to come to Mitchell to prepare their properties.

If you live in a rural area, you can burn off any time without a permit outside the declared fire danger period.

/Public Release. View in full here.