Fire

Portable air purifiers fitted with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can substantially improve indoor air quality during bushfire events, according to new research from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.  Published in Public Health Research & Practice, researchers found that HEPA filters have potential, when used appropriately, to substantially improve indoor air quality by 30–74 per cent during smoke episodes caused by prescribed burns.  

Rural Fire Service (RFS) aerial firefighting capabilities received a significant boost with the arrival of a $9 million high-capacity waterbombing helicopter at Richmond. The new helicopter will allow for aerial firefighting at night and expand on existing air capabilities.

The Tennant Creek Volunteer Bushfire Brigade will be well prepared for a night emergency thanks to the generous donation this week. The Tennant Creek Volunteer Association gifted the unit a generator and specialised emergency lights, valued at around $1500.

A surge in garage fires across the state has Victorian fire services encouraging residents to clean up their garage and consider installing smoke alarms inside. Many of the reported garage fires in the last year were caused by faulty electrical equipment or related to fuel spills.

The Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria (MCAV) is calling on environmental groups to consider the long-term ramifications of their actions after it came to light that a Federal Court case against planned burns was underway... President of the MCAV, Cass McCormack, said it was yet again proof that continued scientific, academic and anecdotal evidence was being ignored.

The state government decision to close the native forest timber industry culminates eight years of mismanagement that turned VicForests from a profitable business into a loss maker, an analysis by a Traralgon consultant has found ... Mr Cameron said Australian hardwood sawn timber mill gate revenue sold for 3.5 times the price of Australian softwood sawn timber, and contributed to much greater value-adding and job creation than softwood.

Roger bought a house in Mallanganee in 2003. Two years ago, the house was burned to the ground ... Roger said he has been homeless since the fire. That changed with the delivery of a self contained small house costing about $77,000. The house has a kitchenette, shower and basin and somewhere to sleep. Roger is “stoked” about the help he is getting from his mates to make the small house a home.

Communities across South East Queensland and the Fraser Coast will benefit from more resilient and reliable telecommunications, with the completion of a new $4.4 million project to keep the NBN running during natural disasters ... An innovative and environmentally friendly technology, Hybrid Power Cubes power NBN fixed wireless towers using a combination of solar panels, a battery, and a compact diesel generator, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to fixed wireless towers when it is needed most.

Forestry Australia has released a series of two-page Position Statements to better inform members and the community of its position on a range of issues. Designed to be short, sharp and easily understood, the first five in a series of position papers covers the areas of Ecologically Sustainable Forestry Management, Forest Fire Management, Forest Fire Recovery and Restoration, Sustainable Forest Harvesting and Forest Research, Development and Dissemination ... President of Forestry Australia, Dr Michelle Freeman said the organisation is seeking greater recognition by policy makers, media and the wider community of balanced science-based positions on important forest policy and forest management issues.

Forest Fire Management (FFMVic) is looking for people across north east Victoria who are keen to work outdoors, learn new skills and help protect the community and the environment. Applications are now open for project firefighter roles across 18 locations including Corryong, Tallangatta, Mitta Mitta, Alexandra, Marysville, Toolangi, Broadford, King-lake, Benalla, Mansfield, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Nathalia, Shepparton, Beechworth, Bright, Ovens and Mount Beauty.

Black bears, moose, woodpeckers, lynx and beavers – just some of the wildlife Tim Wishart and Nick Whatley encountered on their recent deployment to Canada to fight fires. The Cohuna men were part of a team of 46 Victorians from Forest Fire Management Victoria and the Country Fire Authority which spent 35 days providing relief to exhausted Canadian fire crews fighting the Kimiwan complex near Peace River in Alberta.

A major mains replacement project on South Western Highway is the first part of a $9.6 million State Government investment over 10 years to improve water supply reliability in the Bunbury region ... The existing 100mm pipes were replaced with 200mm pipes and capacity was improved which will increase water supply and pressure to the Bunbury Airport to boost the firefighting capacity, Bunbury Regional Prison and meet future development needs.

I note that some at Denmark WA object to deliberate burning by the government department called DBCA. On television I have seen the matter briefly addressed by two botanists, Dr Joanna Young and Prof Stephen Hopper. They were showing a politician a recently burnt swamp, with ugly damage to the peat. A nasty sight, but was it the whole truth, or only part? We might remember Aristotle’s discussion of the perils of omitting, deliberately or accidentally, part of the truth (enthymeme).

The NSW Government attended a cultural burn, on the eve of NAIDOC week at Nellingen last week organised by The Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council. The cultural burn was an opportunity to support the renewal of culture through the use of fire while promoting knowledge sharing with Crown Lands’ bushfire mitigation staff.

Allora Landcare Group is delighted to report the successful ‘cool’ burn of 2 - 3 acres of weedy land adjacent to the reservoir on Allora Mountain last Wednesday afternoon. The wind was from the north so smoke was kept way from town.

A new project to monitor and develop a guide on the management of woody thickening through fire regimes on Cape York Peninsula will begin next month ... “There is growing evidence of marked changes in woody structure across the region, and this can affect pastoral production as well as the biodiversity of the country”: Toby Eastoe, Cape York NRM Biodiversity & Fire Programs Manager.

Patrick Goldsmith. There were cultural burns across Yorke Peninsula from Monday to Friday, June 19-23. In a bid to reinvigorate the Narungga land management practice, Narungga men and women took to four locations in Ardrossan, Point Pearce and Minlaton for just the second time in recent history to ignite shrubbery.

It is important to remember that although you don’t need a permit to burn outside the declared Bush Fire Danger Period (BFDP) you are still required to register your planned burn with the RFS and advise your neighbours at least 24 hours prior to lighting up ... on Saturday 29 April members of Dunoon RFS spent the day with a film crew from Germany ... filming a range of environmental topics around the country and our part related to how eucalypts burn across the landscape.

A decision to build a bushfire access track across the western side of houses between the old surf club building and Mary Lindsay Homestead is on hold while other options are considered, according to the property owners. Charmane Edwards, whose grandparents bought the home she now owns in 1947, and other owners met with the City of Wanneroo on June 27 about the proposed bushfire access track.

Information that is relevant, accessible and trusted is critical to those farmers seeking to adapt their agricultural businesses to changes in climate according to a study which examined the results of surveys taken by the North East Catchment Management Authority (CMA) while working with approximately 1800 land managers in the region during the past four years ... A significant majority of the land managers surveyed (88%) believed the local climate and weather patterns in north east Victoria had changed.

In response to a report in last week’s Corryong Courier about delays in rehabilitating the Bluff Falls tourism area, Parks Victoria has provided an update on works that have been undertaken or that are underway in the Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park following the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.