You have a fire prevention notice. Now what?

Again: yours is the authority. But the pattern across the shire is consistent, and if you are ringing around for a quote before the notice arrives, this is what to plan for:

• Grass and weeds slashed to under 10cm. Cardinia publishes this plainly, and on vacant properties the 10cm maximum applies across the whole block and has to be held through the season. That is a slasher job on anything over about half an acre, not a mower job.
• A firebreak at least 10 metres wide along external fences. This is Cardinia’s stated requirement on larger rural and agricultural properties, and it is the number owners most often get wrong: people hear “firebreak” and picture a mower-width strip. Ten metres is a slasher job of several passes, plus hand work around posts, trees and services.
• Fine fuel removed. Dead grass, prunings, long-grass windrows, rubbish and anything else that carries a grass fire.
• Clearance around buildings. Stricter on hills blocks than on flat ones.
• Ongoing maintenance, not a one-off. The notice generally requires the block stays compliant through the season, so one November slash on a good growth year will not hold it.

Blocks north and east of the highway, through Pakenham Upper, Guys Hill, Toomuc Valley, Maryknoll and up toward Upper Beaconsfield, sit in designated Bushfire Prone Area mapping, and notices there are routinely stricter. If you have built or are building in that country, the same fuel-load thinking sits behind AS 3959-2018, the standard for construction in bushfire-prone areas, and the defendable-space requirements under planning provision Clause 53.02. Those are planning and building obligations, separate to the section 41 notice, but they are pointing at the same paddock.

• Acreage slashing: $120 to $250 per acre, depending on grass length, slope and obstacles. Long cured grass and a lot of trees push you to the top of that range.
• Hand work around fence posts, trees and structures: quoted per block, typically $150 to $400. This is the slow part, where the slasher cannot reach and it comes down to a brushcutter.
• Green-waste removal: $60 to $180 per load, Cardinia Shire transfer station fees included.
• Fire-season fuel reduction on a house block: quoted on site. Defendable space, fence lines and around structures.
• Minimum visit charge: $45 to $55, so bundle it rather than booking three separate trips.

A worked example. A 2.5 acre block out toward Tynong, vacant, with a notice requiring grass and weeds down to under 10cm across the block and a 10 metre firebreak along the external fences. Because the whole block has to come down anyway, the firebreak is not a separate job here: it falls out of the same slasher passes, which is worth knowing before someone quotes you twice for it. The block has cured off and has scattered trees, so the slash sits at $180 an acre: 2.5 acres is $450. Hand work with the brushcutter around a roughly 400 metre run of fence posts, plus the scattered trees, is $280. One load of accumulated prunings and dead grass carted out is $120. Total $850, done in a day, and the block is compliant.

The alternative: a section 41E infringement at $2,091, plus the council’s own contractor invoice for the same work at a rate you did not agree to, plus administration. You are comfortably past three times the cost, and you still had to have the grass cut.

What is a fire prevention notice and who issues it in Pakenham?

It is a legal direction issued under section 41 of the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 by Cardinia Shire Council’s Municipal Fire Prevention Officer. It tells you, as the owner or occupier of the land, exactly what you must do to reduce fire hazard on your block and by what date. It is not advice and it is not a reminder letter. Cardinia runs the inspection program through spring, so most Pakenham notices land between roughly September and November with a compliance date before the Fire Danger Period. Read your own notice for the specific requirements and the date, because they vary block to block.

What happens if I ignore a Cardinia Shire fire prevention notice?

Two things, and the second is the expensive one. First, failing to comply with a fire prevention notice is an offence under section 41D of the CFA Act, carrying a maximum of 120 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment. In practice councils serve an infringement notice instead, and under section 41E the infringement penalty is 10 penalty units. The Victorian penalty unit is indexed every 1 July, and at the 2026-27 value of $209.10 that is $2,091. Second, and worse, if the works are not done by the compliance date the council engages its own contractors to do them and recovers the cost from you. Council contractor rates plus administration are invariably higher than what you would have paid to have it slashed, and you still cop the fine.

How short does the grass have to be on a Pakenham block?

Read the notice, because the requirement is written on it and it is block-specific. That said, Cardinia Shire’s published guidance is consistent: grass and weeds slashed to less than 10 centimetres, and on vacant properties that maximum 10cm height applies across the whole block and must be maintained through the Fire Danger Period. On larger rural and agricultural properties Cardinia asks for a firebreak at least 10 metres wide along external fences, slashed to under 10cm, which is considerably wider than most owners assume. Add removal of accumulated fine fuel like dead grass, prunings and rubbish. A notice on a hills block in a designated Bushfire Prone Area is usually stricter than one on a flat block near the highway. If the wording is unclear, ring Cardinia Shire and ask the fire prevention officer rather than guessing.

The block is vacant or rented out. Who is responsible for complying?

The notice is served on the owner or the occupier, and the obligation follows the land, not your convenience. If you own a vacant block in the Pakenham growth corridor and you live elsewhere, it is your problem, and the fact that you never saw the letter is not a defence. If you have rented the place out, check the notice and your lease; the notice may be served on the occupier, but as owner you are the one the council comes back to. The practical answer for both is a standing spring booking so it is done before a notice ever gets written.

How much does it cost to comply with a fire prevention notice in Pakenham?

Slashing runs about $120 to $250 an acre in 2026 depending on grass length, slope and obstacles, so a typical 2.5 acre Pakenham Upper or Tynong block is roughly $300 to $625. Hand work around fence posts, trees and structures where the slasher cannot reach is quoted per block on top, usually $150 to $400. Green-waste removal, if you need prunings and rubbish gone, is $60 to $180 a load including Cardinia Shire transfer station fees. Compare that to a 10 penalty unit infringement at $2,091 plus the council’s own contractor bill and the maths is not close.