Cape Otway Fire on 8th January – The AB CFA Brigade Response
13th January, 2025
The Brigade was called to a fire in Blanket Bay at 01.19am. 15 Firefighters attended in 5 vehicles and with the Adam Charleston Quick Fill Trailer. There was fire on both sides of Blanket Bay Road. Lieutenant Shayne Neal, first on scene, saw the scale of the fire, so called in additional tankers from other brigades, some 20 in total. CFA tankers protected the campers at Blanket Bay. They could not safely leave. For the rest of Cape Otway, there was “leave now” order. By about 8am, CFA handed over to Forest Fire Management who brought down 2 bulldozers to contain the spread of the fire. Our Brigade returned to the station, finished readying the tankers for the next call out by 11am, then they went to start their own workday.
Apollo Bay Fire Ready Plan – first success!
The Fire Ready Apollo Bay Plan (FRAB) was in action for the first time last Tuesday. The Plan is about the local community responding in an emergency, not waiting for agencies to do something. It worked! Thanks to our plan, over 160 local residents and campers were able to evacuate from Cape Otway to the Community Hall and Youth Club.
We weren’t officially advised of the evacuation, but once alerted at 3am, we acted quickly. There were a lot of early morning phone calls! Within half an hour, a WhatsApp message was sent to the Cape Otway Fireguard Group, Pip Cuming had put the information about the Halls on the Apollo Bay Community Website as well as the Community Facebook pages, Mel Howell had opened the Community Hall, Flynn Forrester had opened the Youth Club and GORCAPA agreed to allow anyone who could camp, into the Recreation Reserve.
The evacuees arrived in town at 3.30am, to a warm welcome from Mel and Flynn, who had also laid out mats so people could sleep.
Being told to evacuate in the early hours and but not be told where to evacuate to, is a very unpleasant situation. The campers had had to leave their tents and caravans behind. By having the Halls open, the campers, in particular, had a place to go, could be together, wait for the shops to open and be updated about the fire situation. Some people had left in such a hurry they had no money and were just in pyjamas. The Op Shop helped out with that.
It was wonderful to witness the generosity of all the locals involved. The tea and coffee supplies we bought from our homes were soon exhausted. Mel later gained approval from GORH CEO, Sandy Chamberlain, for extra supplies which were used throughout the day and borrowed DVDs from them too, so kids could watch a film. Mel’s contacts and contribution were invaluable.
Mark Billing, Corangamite CFA Group Officer, called in on his way home to Colac to give a briefing in both halls at around 8.30am to campers and residents. I was at the Youth Club and I felt so proud to be part of a community who are happy to put themselves out to help others. I pointed this out, knowing many wouldn’t realise we were all volunteers, including Mark, and the rest of the local CFA brigades, who were helping them, not ‘the government’.
Told the fire was almost contained and they’d be allowed back mid-afternoon, one of the questions was “Can we keep camping?”. This was clear evidence of the value of our Plan. People were calm and positive because they’d been together and sheltered, rather than being left alone in their cars, in the dark, for hours. And of course, this was a very good outcome for the tourist industry, including our local business, Bimbi Park, many of whose clients were at the Halls.
I’d like to thank Karlijn Sas and Graham Costin who were both called very early and to thank all the other venues in town who also offered to open, Linden Shields and Denise Byng for staying on at the Youth Club and Councillor Phil Howard for looking into the situation. It took some time to reach COS emergency staff, but 2 arrived about 9am. It was good to have them there, but it would have been useful if COS had supplemented our supplies.
This small emergency will help us refine the FRAB plan further. It’s my hope that next time anyone near us is told to evacuate via the Vic Emergency App, they will soon be told they can come to Apollo Bay.
In a bigger emergency, the Plan involves connecting to other agencies, like the Surf Club and Police. It began in 2019 and has been fostered by GORH. The additional, unforeseen benefits of it have also started to become apparent.
As our WhatsApp Fireguard groups for people living outside Apollo Bay have grown, the advantages of having easy contact with neighbours in emergencies has become clear. Some groups haven’t quite finished converting to WhatsApp and some simply don’t have internet, so there is some variation in groups. As with this whole project, everyone who has a role, is a volunteer. If your group needs help to get everyone on WhatsApp, why not offer to help the main contacts to do it?
If you live outside Apollo Bay and would like to join a group, just write to Karlijn at
We’ll do some more debriefs and refine our simple plan a little, but overall, our first action was a resounding success, so much so that one of the Emergency Agencies are writing it up as a case study for other communities. My thanks to all involved.
Karen Keegan
A FRAB Co Ordinator from Apollo Bay Fire & Rescue Brigade
To join a group, contact Karlijn at Marrar Woorn Neighbourhood House via email at