Elsie Lange
As the peak of fire season rapidly approaches in the Macedon Ranges, Woodend fire authorities continue to feel frustrated by patchy reception in their town.
While a Telstra mobile tower was recently installed at Coles in Woodend, Mike Dornau, deputy group officer of the Mount Macedon group of fire brigades, said “nothing’s changed” where he lives in the northern part of the town.
Mr Dornau said that while he was able to stay informed in his capacity with the Woodend Country Fire Authority (CFA) radio system, if he was just a resident he would be more concerned
“One of the things we talk about here is [ask people if] they have the VicEmergency app…but if the [coverage] is down, or not working, or has problems, of course people are not going to be able to be informed by those apps and that does happen,” he said.
He said there had been grass fires in recent weeks which had the potential to spread, and all bushfire seasons were unpredictable in the Macedon Ranges.
“Because where we live is dangerous… Black Saturday was February 7, and Ash Wednesday on February 16,” Mr Dornau said.
He said that while Telstra and Optus had fixed “part of the problem” with new towers, the coverage was better but still not completely reliable.
Telstra regional engagement manager Marcus Swinburne said the new tower at Coles was one of three the company hoped to build in the next couple of years, including one at Tylden, while they were in talks with NBN about co-locating to improve Woodend North coverage.
He said Telstra had recently sent out advice using targeted social media posts on what to do in emergency situations, with information also shared in local community Facebook groups.
“Telstra always encourages people to take advantage of the multiple forms of connectivity available in case of outages or emergency situations, including having access to a landline, a mobile and the nbn,” he said.
