For the first time since Black Saturday (7 February 2009) Kinglake Ranges News has implemented emergency procedures.
You too should activate your fire plan and your own emergency procedures. If a fire starts then the ‘gusty’ cool change arrives around 3pm it could be dangerous for firefighters as the ‘flank’ becomes the ‘fire front’.
CFA Regions 12, 13, 14 and 22 are being monitored, as are Victoria Police (VKC) districts P1 and P2, Ambulance Victoria, fire spotting towers and aviation radio.
Most of Melbourne and outer areas (including Kinglake) have radio communications repeaters at Frank Thomson Reserve, Mt St Leonard, Mt Macedon, Mt Dandenong among others.
If these systems fail then emergency services lose communications with their control centre. (As they did on 7/2/2009).
The editor of Kinglake Ranges News, Ashley Geelan – as amateur radio operator VK3HAG – is required by international law (International Radiocommunications Union/United Nations) to ‘step in’ and provide these vital communications.
As such, the VK3HAG Emergency Plan has been activated today.
- Do not rely on mobile phones for communications. The towers may lose power.
- As most of the Kinglake Ranges has been converted to the NBN from copper landlines, your landline will not work if there is a power outage.
- Tune your radio to 774kHz AM (ABC Melbourne) or 97.7FM (ABC Goulburn-Murray) and monitor the radio and real-world conditions for your area.
