THE Ballarat City Council has received a petition calling for the removal of pine plantations in Mount Clear and Mount Helen to reduce the bushfire risk.Seventy-two residents have signed the petition requesting that council work with the state government for the total removal of the pine plantations.Councillor Ben Taylor presented the petition at Thursday's ordinary council meeting. The petition was started by Mount Clear resident Anne Belcher, who believes thousands of lives are at risk by fire because of the pine plantations' proximity to residential areas and schools.Ms Belcher said the pine plantations presented a fire threat to Mount Clear, Mount Helen, Sebastopol, Mount Pleasant, Buninyong and Magpie.She said there were a number of schools and urban development in these areas that were not there 50 years ago when the pine plantation was established. The petition states that Whitehorse Road, where part of the plantations front, is a vital evacuation route during a bushfire and should be made safe by the removal of all pine trees along the length of the road between Mount Clear and Sebastopol."We believe thousands of lives are potentially threatened by the continuation of these plantations and millions of dollars of assets, including homes, businesses, schools, pre-schools and kindergartens are threatened," the petition says. Residents who signed the petition believe little has been learnt from the fires in the area on New Year's Eve, 2009, adding the Mount Clear-Mount Helen district can not be fire-ready unless the pine plantations are removed."We should take that fire as a timely warning," Ms Belcher said."We are all being exhorted to be fire-ready. This area of Ballarat can never be fire-ready while it continues to have inflammable pine plantations right through the middle of it."Ms Belcher said the petition, which was available for signing at the Mount Clear Newsagency, showed that people were concerned about a fire threat. "I think council needs to look at its responsibility to ensure the safety of residents," she said.