Fire

A number of fires which have severely impacted sugarcane crops in the Lower Clarence during the past week are being treated as suspicious. Around 11:45pm on August 25, emergency services were called to three properties along Serpentine Channel South Bank Road, Bewleys Lane, and Beckmans Lane in Harwood, following reports of fires in sugarcane crops.

Today is the first day of spring in Australia, a day we celebrate as national Wattle Day ... we use today to celebrate a wonderful species that is, with a few exceptions, unique to our landscape. But to professional foresters, a recognition of wattles only reminds us of the deleterious effects of changed land management practices after millions of hectares of actively managed state forests have been converted to reserves since the 1990s. The effects have been compounded by massive wildfires that have occurred over that time.

Communities across Tasmania are being encouraged to complete registrations for the Tasmania Fire Service’s Community Bushfire-Ready Challenge … “The Community Bushfire-Ready Challenge is a 6-week immersive online experience that kicks off on Friday, 1 September”: Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management, Felix Ellis.

Following several weeks of uncertainty for South Australian farmers, the CFS has announced that the Grain Harvest Code of Practice will remain unchanged for the 2023-24 harvest season. Shadow Minister for Emergency Services Adrian Pederick declared the move as “a big win for our farmers and grain producers” who can continue using the current Grass Fire Danger Index (GFDI)...

Victoria’s Ash forests are on the brink of ecosystem collapse following a  poor flowering season and repeated fire events, warns the State’s leading forest  flowering and seeding expert.  The issue highlights concerns raised by Forestry Australia, the seed collection services provided by VicForests, may be lost following the native timber sector shutdown in Victoria.

An endangered native mouse species that nests in forests around the New South Wales Tablelands is showing strong signs of recovery post the Black Summer bushfires. The Hastings River Mouse, Pseudomys oralis, a small native rodent with brownish-grey fur and white feet, was one of NSW’s most severely impacted endangered species following the 2019-2020 fires.

Shadow Minister for Emergency Services and Member for Hammond, Adrian Pederick, together with Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Nicola Centofanti, are standing with local farmers and Grain Producers SA in opposing the proposed changes to the Grain Harvesting Code of Practice. The changes put forward by the CFS seek to reduce the Grassland Fire Danger Index (GFDI) cease harvest number to 40 at 10 metres...

HotHouse Theatre in Wodonga has debuted their most exciting touring production to-date — a scorching new play called Unprecedented — serving as an urgent alarm for the bushfire season to come.

Yarning Circle on agriculture, water and economies brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers on how together we can care for our land and water ... The workshop was facilitated by Oral McGuire, a Whadjuk/Ballardong Nyungar man from WA ... decades of experience in land management and the application of Cultural Fire burning.

Last Friday night, at the Yanac Public Hall, about 50 past and present locals joined to celebrate the 80 years of community service of the Yanac CFA ... The brigade started as the Yanac Bush Fire Brigade, which was formed in 1942. The only equipment they had were fire beaters and knapsacks, until 1949 when they were able to borrow an engine-driven pump kept at the Yanac Railway Station.

Michelle Daw. Farmers could be forced out of their paddocks for twice as many hours and harvest pushed into the hottest, driest months of the year under proposed changes to the Grain Harvesting Code of Practice, Grain Producers SA has warned.

Water bombing, which is on stand-by around the clock in the Adelaide Hills during summer, “could have a role” in protecting Alice suburbs. Planned burning should be extended in The Centre’s national parks. And controlling buffel is critical for reducing the risk of fire around Alice Springs. That’s the view of Dr Rohan Fisher, CDU’s Northern Institute fire researcher. Instead what Alice Springs had over the weekend was a planned burn that got out of hand, started possibly at the wrong time, causing an inferno that destroyed 25,000 hectares, in and near the West MacDonnells National Park, and threatening the edge of the town.

New state-of-the-art technology will be unveiled, helping first responders overcome dangerous communications black spots to keep them better connected during emergencies. Mobile Wi-Fi equipment has now been installed in over 1,300 Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW State Emergency Service (SES) vehicles, which will ensure 4G or satellite communication access during incident responses.

Forestry Corporation has almost completed a groundbreaking replanting program that has seen more than 11-million seedlings planted in the state’s pine forests this winter. Almost three years on from the Black Summer bushfires and the recovery effort in softwood plantations continues.

The Commonwealth fraternity lives on through our firefighters, with a contingent of Queensland fires including Steve Benecke from the Cambooya Rural Fire Brigade (RFB) recently travelling to Canada to assist in firefighting. In the 2019 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires that ravaged Stanthorpe and the Granite Belt region, Canadian firefighters were part of the international effort to control the blazes.

John O'Donnell identifies the multiple contributory factors that influenced fuels, forest fire resilience, bushfire attack, safety, impact, cost, bushfire extent and intensity of the 2019/ 2020 major bushfires across south eastern Australia ... Are we better prepared now?

Vic Jurskis. The facts haven’t deterred the ecowarriors of North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) from trying to hasten the demise of the sustainable, renewable, solar-powered native timber industry. They don’t care about habitat for people, other than themselves. They’ve launched an application for an injunction to ‘save’ the overcrowded koalas that are breeding more rapidly than ever on all the soft new growth resprouting after the Black Summer holocaust that they helped to create.

Gillenbah Rural Fire Service and Narrandera Fire and Rescue squad are joining forces on a potentially lifesaving mission to replace or install fire alarms in the community. The initiative was sparked by concerns raised by locals regarding the inconvenience of replacing their current fire alarms, prompting them to approach the Gillenbah crew for assistance.

Adrian Tomlinson. Fire is one of the terrible consequences of buffel, the invasive grass many call a weed, and which is declared as such in neighbouring South Australia ... Yet the NT Government seems to be responding to this emergency without great strategy, judging by answers given to Araluen’s independent MLA Robyn Lambley, who put questions in Parliament suggested by the Alice Springs News.

A workshop to look at Native Vegetation thinning and cultural burning for forest and pasture health will be held at Cunningham ... Join Dave Lawler from the Department of Resources for veg thinning advice and Robbie Williams from Fire Lore for a cultural burning talk and demonstration.

After more than 160 Clarence Valley homes were tragically lost during the devastating Black Summer bushfires, Area Manager for Environmental Services at Envite Environmental Services Mick Webb is encouraging locals to be prepared for other natural disasters ... Cool burning, also called mosaic burning, involves burning a very small area at a low intensity. “It’s done in patches to allow areas for animals to escape,” he explained, adding the heat of the fire is kept at a manageable level, and the flames are close to the ground.