Cutting a firebreak is the easy part, keeping it clear is the job

Most landholders around Central Victoria think of a firebreak as a one off job. You get it cut, it looks clean, and you tick it off. The trouble is grass does not stop growing the day the contractor leaves, and a break that measured up in October can be carrying a solid fuel load by the middle of summer.

What a break is actually for

A break is there to slow a fire down and give a truck somewhere to work from. That only holds true if the fuel in it stays low and the surface stays trafficable. Long dry grass in a break is still fuel, and a break with regrowth through it is not a safe place to put a vehicle.

How often it needs a look

Through the growing season, walk your breaks every few weeks. If the grass in the break is taller than the rest of your management standard, or you can see woody regrowth coming back along the edges, it needs another pass. Around Bendigo that usually means a cut in late spring, then a second look before the Fire Danger Period declaration, depending on the season.

What a maintenance pass involves

A maintenance pass is quick compared to the original cut. We slash the break back down, take the edges back where scrub is creeping in, and check the surface for washouts, loose rock and rutting that would stop a truck getting through. If the break doubles as your access track, that surface check matters as much as the cut.

Where breaks fail

The spots that catch people out are corners, gateways, around tanks and sheds, along fence lines where a slasher cannot quite reach, and gullies where the growth is thicker and stays greener for longer. Those are the places worth walking rather than looking at from the ute.

Getting it on a schedule

If you have a compliance date from council, work backwards from it and book early, because everyone in the shire is chasing the same window. Plenty of our customers now have us come through twice a season so it never gets away from them.

Rules, overlays and mapping change. We check the links in this article regularly, but always confirm the current requirements with your council or the relevant Victorian department before you clear anything.

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