Fire

Landline’s segment about koalas last Sunday, "Need for Trees: Charity plants half-a-million trees to help save koalas" would have been better directed at the need for common sense. It referred to the preordained finding from the NSW Inquiry in 2020 that koalas were headed for extinction by 2050. This finding was ridiculous because koalas were invisible when Europeans arrived. Now there are many more koalas over a much wider area ... ARR.News asked a few questions of Vic too.

The Nationals Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland, has slammed the Allan Labor Government after it was revealed a key review into Victoria’s 2026 bushfires will be delayed until after the November state election. Despite the scale of the disaster, which claimed a life, destroyed hundreds of homes and burnt vast areas of land, Inspector-General for Emergency Management Emily Phillips has confirmed the review has not yet commenced.

The recent Snow Gum Summit in Jindabyne has drawn attention to the health of this notable tree of the Australian alps. The causes or primary cause of widespread snow gum decline, with a particular focus on fire regimes, climate change and insects, and the appropriate response to this problem, are the subject of a considered exchange of differing views here between two experts from different generations but not entirely different schools or schools of thought.

In CFA's 75th year supporting the Good Friday Appeal, the generosity of Victorians right across the state has exceeded expectations, helping us raise an incredible $2,150,000 for The Royal Children's Hospital. Once again, CFA volunteers were out in force both on their fire trucks and on foot, making their way around local streets rattling tins all morning to raise vital funds in their communities for a much-loved and well-respected cause.

The controversial buffel grass permits announced by Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne last week apply only to its importation from outside the NT. Once here, the use, propagation, selling and transport of the declared weed has blanket clearance on pastoral lease land, nearly half of the NT, as the Minister is due to approve.

Murrindindi Shire Council has expressed deep concern about the decision to close the Community Bank Kinglake branch, warning it risks undermining bushfire recovery and will leave the community without a critical local service. The branch will close on Friday 5 June 2026, forcing residents to travel around 25 kilometres to access the nearest full-service bank in Hurstbridge.

The Finocchiaro CLP Government has finalised the Northern Territory Buffel Grass Weed Management Plan 2026-36, which provides certainty for pastoralists and outlines a strategic path forward to manage its impact on the environment into the future ... “Buffel grass creates significant challenges relating to fire and environmental management and is also an important feed source for pastoralists and their cattle,” said Mr Burgoyne.

Dr Brookhouse and the Snow Gum Summiteers (Snow gum dieback raises fears for largest river system) should look at the history and basic ecology of chronic eucalypt decline or so-called dieback ... Pests, parasites and diseases are symptoms and contributors, not causes of chronic eucalypt decline ... Chronic decline of eucalypts is not a consequence of climate change.

Students at Rushworth P–12 College are helping restore wildlife habitat across fire-affected parts of northern Victoria, building more than 100 nesting boxes for native animals displaced by recent bushfires. Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland MP recently visited the school’s HOPE (Hands-On Practical Education) program to see the project underway and meet students working alongside volunteers from the Rushworth Field & Game Club.

What can we learn from the meteorological conditions and extreme fire behaviour at the 2019 Currowan fire in New South Wales and 2021 Wooroloo fire in Western Australia? Join us for the March Hazardous Webinar: Fire case studies to hear from fire and meteorology experts about the Fire case studies project and perspectives from the end-users who will use the project outcomes.

If you're still keen to lend a hand to help fire-affected folks in Harcourt, it's not too late and the volunteers of BlazeAid want you to know that you'd be welcome aboard. The TT wandered up to the former school camp at Derby Hill to chat and find out how it all works.

Rural Aid has released its 2026 Farm Recovery Event (FRE) program, delivering practical, hands-on support to farming communities impacted by floods, fires, cyclones and ongoing drought. These week-long events bring together volunteers from across the country to help restore damaged farm infrastructure, improve productivity and support the wellbeing of farming families doing it tough.

More than a quarter of a century's worth of volunteer work to restore the timber trestle bridges on the old Cudgewa-Wodonga railway line was gone in a flash when the Walwa-Mt Lawson bushfire laid waste to the structures last month. A strong wind change pushed the out-of-control bushfire towards the bridges near Shelley, Koetong and the Tallangatta Valley on January 8th and within 24 hours, 15 of the 16 bridges had been destroyed.

A wildfire burning over five days would do more damage to vegetation and biodiversity in the northern jarrah forest than five decades of climate change has done ..."This forest has survived for some four to five million years. I am confident it can survive for a few decades longer. We humans must recognise that the ecosystem is never static, and be able to live with and accept some level of change": Frank Batini, professional forester and environmental consultant.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has deployed 10 firefighters to South Australia to support firefighting operations following several weeks of assistance in Victoria ... In recent weeks, Forestry Corporation deployed 20 firefighters to Victoria to assist with the Walwa River Road fire in both Field and Incident Management (IMT) positions.

For the purposes of Australia's GHG inventory, bushfires are treated as a event about which we can do nothing and the emissions they produce are not counted. However, perversely, emissions from prescribed or cultural burning and other land management done to minimise bushfire risk are counted and so count against Australia's Net Zero goal.

The Cook Labor Government’s approach to fire management has become so reckless that it is only a matter of time before lives are lost, according to Shadow Minister for Emergency Services Hon Rob Horstman MLC ... “Day after day, I am hearing of yet another Government-approved burn being lit while temperatures soar and fires rip through national parks and native bushland."

"I have never experienced fire behaviour like it on the ground," Jarrod said, and the weight of those decades of experience makes the statement hit harder. "The first day we experienced temperatures of about 62 degrees on the top of the hill, 108 kilometre an hour winds."

The generosity of locals has been on display over the past week as truckloads of hay have been donated, stockpiled and delivered to fire-affected regions within Victoria.

When bushfires roared through Koolewong on December 6, Katie Greene's home was the only one left standing in a row of six houses. She has issued a stark reminder to other home owners to make sure their houses are bushfire safe.