Changelog

Bin Day answers the Monday-night question: bins go out Tuesday in Yackandandah, the green organics bin every week, and the red or yellow bin on alternating weeks. The page works the next one out from Indigo Shire's own 2026 calendar. Are We On Water Restrictions? says plainly that we are not — north-east Victoria has not needed a stage since 2010 — and then sets out the Permanent Water Saving Rules that apply every day regardless, including the one most people miss: a sprinkler or dripline may only run between 6pm and 10am. A hand-held hose, can or bucket is fine any time.

A plain-words read on how much smoke and haze is in the Yackandandah valley today, hour by hour — the companion to the fire pages when bushfire smoke drifts in, and a watch on woodheater smoke on still winter nights. With no EPA monitor left near town, it is modelled from the atmosphere forecast, and says so.

A colored-pencil drawing of Yackandandah's heritage High Street — the verandahed Victorian shopfronts stepping down the street with the forested valley hills close behind — now heads the town page.

A live read of today's rooftop solar for the valley, hour by hour: how strong the sun is on your panels, and the best window to run the washing, charge the car or fill the battery off your own roof rather than the grid. Modelled from the sun forecast; it points you to Totally Renewable Yackandandah and Indigo Power for the community batteries and the virtual power plant.

Tonight's frost risk and today's fog, hour by hour, read from the forecast on the published Met Office scales — for the drive out, the garden and an early start. Yackandandah sits in a frost hollow, so it leads the town page through winter; the fire tools return for the October–April fire season.

Fire Danger Today shows the day's official Fire Danger Rating and whether it's a Total Fire Ban for the North East fire district, plus a multi-day outlook, straight from the CFA feed. It sits alongside the live incident map: one tells you what's burning, the other how dangerous the day is. For a fire happening now it points you to VicEmergency, and to Triple Zero in an emergency.

Three tools to start. Is Something Burning? reads Victoria's state emergency feed and tells you, in kilometres and plain words, whether there's a bush or grass fire near town right now — with the official channels that matter when it counts. Is It Open? works out what's actually open on the main street, from the supermarket and the pubs to the pharmacy. Who to Call gathers the numbers worth having, starting with the plain fact that the nearest emergency department is in Wodonga. More to come — the daily fire danger rating and total fire ban status are next.