Council services on Catastrophic and Extreme fire danger days

Council services will be impacted on Catastrophic and Extreme fire danger days.

In the interests of community and employee safety, there will be short-term facilities closures and disruptions to Council services during high-risk fire days.

On days rated by the Country Fire Authority (CFA) as having ‘Extreme’ or ‘Catastrophic’ fire danger, our priority is to protect the safety of employees and the community.

Council employees and contractors will not work or travel in fire risk zones at the highest risk times.

Services and facilities in high bushfire risk areas (such as Lorne, Aireys Inlet, Anglesea and parts of Jan Juc) and high grassfire risk areas (such as the outer areas of Winchelsea and surrounds), will be impacted on Extreme fire risk days.

Impacts will extend to outdoor facilities in Torquay and other lower risk urban areas on Catastrophic fire risk days.

Depending on their location and the CFA fire danger rating, the following facilities may experience unscheduled short-term closures:

  • waste transfer stations;
  • Lorne, Anglesea and Winchelsea Visitor Information Centres;
  • kindergartens and maternal and child health services;
  • sport facilities and recreation reserves;
  • Council-owned and/or managed community facilities.

Kerbside bin collections and emptying of public bins on Council land may be paused depending on fire rating and location, with collections starting earlier to avoid the highest risk times and catch-up collections scheduled as soon as possible.

Council-run events and events on Council land may be cancelled or re-scheduled, while community bus hire bookings could be canceled.

We will notify the community as soon as we can when closures or disruptions need to happen, including contacting users directly where possible.

We encourage you to follow us on social media for updates as soon as they’re available.