Volunteers at the ready to keep Bunbury safe

Volunteer firefighters from Bunbury were busy burning off parts of the city last week to prevent bigger and potentially catastrophic fires.

Two teams from the City of Bunbury Volunteer Bush Brigade were on the job about 4pm on Friday, with one burning off a block on Austral Parade.

Led by Lieutenant Milan Kitto, the small team spent about an hour burning the privately owned property.

This work doubles as a fundraiser for the unit. Last year they raised about $800 from these private burn-offs to help pay for equipment, uniforms and training for the team.

On Friday, Lt Kitto set the fires while the other members of the team were watching to make sure it did not get out of control.

At the same time, Captain Terri Kowal was with her team of five firefighters on the foreshore, near Blair Street.

She said they were burning a section of grass in preparation for the fireworks on Australia Day.

“We burnt off some of the cut grass as a precaution, ” she said.

Despite the burn-offs there is still a chance there could be small spot fires from the fireworks.

This is why Capt. Kowal and her team will be ready and waiting, as others enjoy Australia Day celebrations.

“We provide a crew for the fireworks, ” she said.

“We do it for the community and do it every year but very rarely does something go wrong.”