At 18:00 the Portarlington fire brigade was called to its first grass fire for the 2008/2009 fire season. The fire was accidentally started by the hot exhaust of a ride on lawn mower as a resident was preparing their block before the hot summer months. The surprising thing about this fire is that it was located in the urban area of Portarlington. This shows that it is not just rural areas that can be affected by grass and scrub fires and that all property owners should consider cleaning up long grass and burnable rubbish around their properties before the fire season sets in.