 Hi I'm Ewan Ferguson, Chief Officer of CFA. We're a week out from Christmas now and the first really hot spell is coming up the next couple of days. Thursday this week they're forecasting many parts of the state will get up close or up to 40 degrees and then on Friday we'll also have a very hot day, probably 40 in some places up around Mildura and a fair bit of wind. So Thursday, Friday we're going to see a couple of days of elevated fire danger the first really significant days for this fire season. We need to remember that north of divide it's extremely dry it's been drying for the last 10 weeks fire restrictions are enforced in many places throughout Victoria and especially north of divide and in the Wimmera and parts of the the Grappins part of the state. We've seen the launch of the two air cranes, the two air cranes assigned to Victoria, Malcolm and Delilah. These air cranes each carry over 7,000 litres of water they'll be operational from tomorrow. They join a growing fleet of firefighting aircraft for this fire season there'll be 42 firefighting aircraft that's about 24 rotary wing and 18 fixed wing aircraft. We've seen a redistribution of aircraft and an additional fixed wing aircraft down the south west of the state and that's based on some analysis and feedback from last fire season. I want to reinforce that the aircraft are here to support our firefighters on the ground. Aircraft are great and a great help in putting out fires but it's firefighters on the ground who control fires and the aircraft are there to afford an element of safety and make them more effective. In effect a force multiplier. I also want to reinforce that for members of the public we're now entering into the summer period it's not too late to get out and to start your fire prevention activities cut that long grass make sure that firewood heaps are away from the house. If you've got firefighting equipment make sure it's serviceable and tested. Obviously on a total fire ban if you don't use chains force and you don't use angle grinders but at this time of year you should be making your final preparations for the summer season. There are many Victorians who are thinking about going away on holiday with their family and in many cases going away to the resorts along the coastal areas or around our many lakes and waterways and I urge you to take extreme caution when you go away because in some cases you're entering into an area which might have an inherently high bush fire risk. This includes areas around the coastal areas of the Mornington Peninsula and the Bellarine Peninsula and also the Surf Coast and the Otways but there are other areas which attract Victorians and in-state visitors that includes the waterways and areas such as Lake Yildon and many of our dams and waterways. So think about the fire risk when you're on holiday. Develop a plan of what you're going to do if we have severe or extreme or code red fire danger which is forecast. You need to think about it now so that when that day occurs it's automatic you know where to go you know what to do and what you're going to take with you. I think there are some similarities between this fire season and last fire season which was a long and busy fire season for firefighters both in forest and grassland areas. The warning is there there is a lot of grass which is in rural Victoria. Forests are drying very rapidly so I with the other fire service chiefs urge you to take heed of the bush fire warnings, monitor the CFA website, the emergency Vic website and the emergency Vic fire ready app. Know what your fire risk is be aware of what the fire danger is as it changes from day to day and act on your plan as the fire danger increases.