Firefighters from Merbein Fire Brigade gave a helping hand to clean up the local cemetery at the weekend.
Crews attended Merbein Cemetery on Wentworth Road on Saturday morning to help members of the Merbein Cemetery Trust safely burn off excess vegetation in preparation for the warmer months ahead.
Two brigade firefighters, Sheree Curtis and Trevor Willcock, brought the local tanker appliance along and helped ignite and monitor the burn.
4th Lieutenant Sheree Curtis said members of the Trust approached the brigade for advice on safely burning off to clear any fire hazards on the property ahead of fire season.
“They pushed branches, trees and grass into a neat pile around 15 metres in size,” she said.
“We advised them on which day was the safest to proceed with the burn to ensure we were operating under safe and conducive conditions.
“We began at around 9am and monitored the burn, making sure there were no spot overs and handed the scene back to the Trust at around 12pm once it had died down.”
Sheree said it was encouraging that the Trust proactively sought advice from the brigade to make sure the operation was completed safely.
“It was good to have the tanker on hand as a water resource as well in case anything did go wrong,” she said.
“We’d much rather people in the community contact the brigade and ask us to help out if they’re unsure, rather than doing it themselves and something going wrong.
“The cemetery is obviously a big part of our community and it’s important we do these things to protect it.”
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