FOR the first time in 15 years, a certain pine tree in the Victorian town of Warragul has begun dropping pine cones.

But apart from the fact it rarely happens, these are no ordinary pine cones.

They're giant, people-killing pine cones.

The Bunya Pine has stood in Smith Street for 120 years, most recently in the grounds of the Courthouse Restaurant.

So if you're tucking in to a medium-rare beef 'n' reef this week, enjoy it - because if one of the pine's watermelon-sized 10kg cones drops on your head, it will be your last.

“These huge pine cones have the capacity to be lethal if they were to fall on someone passing underneath from such a large height,” Mayor of the Baw Baw Shire Council Diane Blackwood said in a media release.

“As such, we are asking residents to be vigilant by staying well outside of the barricades that we have placed out on the footpath while we work with the owner and a consultant arborist to reach a quick and satisfactory solution to the problem.”

“Although the offending tree is not owned by the Council, or on public land, our major concern is public safety which is why we have arranged for a 40 metre high elevated work platform to be in place in Smith Street to get the offending pine cones.”