IT’S hot and only going to get hotter.
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This week’s end to spring is set to be a scorcher with fire authorities trotting out their seasonal warnings.
And given the spate of fires on both sides of the Border in recent days there is certainly no room for complacency.
Yesterday a single spark from an overheated brake drum was enough to set alight the roadside near Beechworth that required seven fire trucks.
On Thursday a spark in the late afternoon set alight a canola crop, near Brocklesby.
Firefighters say the speed of that fire was astounding.
About 250 acres were charred in less than an hour.
Fire authorities say the canola crop, spaced and in rows, is not normally considered a severe fire risk but on a breezy November Thursday it turned into grassland fire fuel.
Most agree the threat this year will not be from the bushfires that savaged the Border three times in the past decade — but the heavily fuelled grassland.
The residents of Gerogery will attest to the dangers that such fires pose.
The message is simple — take the precautions to clean up around your home, have a fire plan and don’t wait until it is too late. It’s summer, it’s fire season.