Close call for campers

IN the early hours of Sunday January 15, some lucky campers narrowly avoided catastrophe when a massive pine tree came down between their two tents. The incident happened at the Big River Pines campground, the monolithic pine tree falling unexpectedly due to the soft ground. Mansfield SES was called to the scene and volunteers headed out around 1PM, returning just before sunrise after the significant cleanup. Luckily, there were no injuries. "It was very lucky there weren't people crushed," said Mansfield SES Unit Controller Tom Thoburne. "This one could have been really bad. "It blocked the whole entrance (to the campground), so people couldn't get in or out, and just missed a couple of campers. "It would have been a very frightening experience for them." It took the SES crew around four hours to clean up the tree and surrounding debris. The incident is just another in the spate of fallen trees around the district which have kept SES crews in heavy demand over the festive season. "Last week there was a tree that came down, a vehicle hit it and it smashed their windscreen," said Mr Thoburne. "Nobody was hurt but it the damaged car. "They're coming down left, right and centre. "We've had them out towards Maindample on the Maroondah Highway, Midlank Link, Jamieson direction, and a couple blocking access on private properties." While the Christmas period has been largely dominated by tree–related callouts and a couple of vehicular accidents, Mr Thoburne said crews will soon be gearing up for Australia Day weekend, where SES alongside police will be spearheading an awareness campaign on water safety. "With a lot more people coming to the district, there's a lot of water activities, so we'll have our boat out with water police onsite too," he said. "There'll be a big emphasis on water safety: what to have in the boat, life jackets, watching out for hazards and other water users." Mr Thoburne said educating people was the key, particularly after the somber start to the year with a number of drownings reported across the state. "Especially parents need to be aware when they've got children near the water," he said. "It only takes a split second for something to go wrong, so no getting distracted chatting or being on your phone." Mr Thoburne said he'd heard anecdotal reports from lifeguards that there'd been around 1000 rescues from the water over the summer, mainly due to parents taking their eyes of kids at pools and beaches.