Fire

As part of a joint partnership  struck with the Victorian Government last month, the Palaszczuk Government locked in the future of the Large Aerial Tanker (LAT) firefighting aircraft for the next four bushfire seasons. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the LAT and its crew had arrived in Bundaberg, completed quarantine and were ready to get to work.

There have been several house fires in the past two weeks – in Casino, Mallanganee, Deep Creek and Cawongla ... RFS crews from Mallanganee, Mummulgum and Tabulam brigades as well as Fire and Rescue NSW assisted at the Deep Creek farmhouse fire ... On Monday, two bushfires were under control by RFS.

Emma Pritchard. A proposal by Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) to take Grafton Fire Station offline temporarily in the event of staff shortages has fired up the local community, including Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis. As residents angrily expressed their concerns in response to the proposal on the Clarence Valley Independents Facebook page, Mr Gulaptis said he won’t accept any proposal that puts the community at risk.

John O'Donnell. The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the state of Victoria, Australia, on 6 February 1851, burning up 5 million hectares. This was 170 years ago.

The Australian Government has announced an additional $15.1 million investment to deliver bushfire-affected softwood to underutilised timber mills, and increase supply of structural timber to the housing and construction industry. Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said the government had listened to industry’s concerns to keep product moving.

Emma Pritchard. Grafton Fire Station is among 30 across the state outlined in a proposal by Fire and Rescue NSW to be temporarily taken offline in the event of staff shortages ... If implemented, Grafton Fire and Rescue 306 Station Deputy Captain Chris Rumpf said the proposal could jeopardise the safety of residents who rely on the service.

I’m all for saving forests. Unlike the climate change enthusiasts, I learnt how to do it by working as a forester. Forty years ago, after I’d started working in the bush, Neville Wran commenced what has become a tradition amongst Labor Premiers by saving NSW’s rainforests. They were actually quite safe then. Some were selectively logged and regenerated, some were preserved in Flora Reserves. All were protected from wildfire by the clean, open, grassy eucalypt forests around them – maintained by mild burning ... Now Mark McGowan has saved the forests  of the Southwest ...

Blaming bushfires on forestry is just another attempt from those ideologically opposed to forestry to shut down an industry they fundamentally disagree with. There is a constant pattern of behaviour from the those who disagree with the forestry industry of using misinformation and cherry picking from report and science to support their claim. As we currently stand there is no unequivocal or generally accepted evidence that forestry operations increase fire risk.

Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the 100 millionth ACCU (Australian Carbon Credit Unit) has been issued for the Wilinggin Fire Project, which manages savanna burning in Western Australia’s Kimberley region and is managed by the Ngarinyin people. “The Wilinggin Fire Project is supported and led by the local Indigenous community, and one which returns substantial environmental and economic benefits,” Minister Taylor said ... Savanna fire management projects apply strategic early dry season burning with the aim of reducing the frequency and extent of late dry season fires. This results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions ... ACCUs from savanna fire projects command a premium in the private market.

In a significant step toward joint land management between the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) and Tasmanian Aboriginal people, PWS Aboriginal Fire Rangers employees have completed their first cultural burn at Dempster Plains on the West Coast.  

A new exhibition that pays tribute to the resilience of the Scenic Rim region following the devastating bushfires that raged across the region during the Black Summer of 2019-2020 has opened at The Centre in Beaudesert.

Traditional Owner knowledge was shared among land managers in a Cultural Burning workshop held on Kabi Kabi Country at a Sunshine Coast Council environment reserve near Kenilworth recently.

Following some threatening fire seasons, the Territory Government allocated $2 million towards updating firefighting infrastructure to keep lives and properties safe. Recently, two new 350,000 litre water tanks were installed at both Batchelor and Hughes Airstrips, costing $150,000.

Shire of Gingin brigades will join City of Wanneroo brigades in having access to their own thermal imaging cameras this bushfire season ... The cameras help firefighters identify hotspots in bushfires, enabling them to target specific areas and deploy their resources accordingly. They are also an important tool to detect fires burning underground, which are a common threat in Western Australia and can cause bushfires to reignite after they have been extinguished.

September 1st 2021 saw the commencement of the Bush Fire Danger Period for Coastal NSW, including 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs). This brings the total number of LGAs currently experiencing heightened bush fire risk to 27 across NSW. Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said it is important that communities in these coastal areas are aware of their bush fire risk.

Forests across all tenures are declining and/or exploding from lack of sustainable management. A miniscule proportion is available for logging. Logging can have a beneficial effect on local fire behaviour, but no effect on a regional scale. The bushfires and logging debate is a dangerous distraction from our real major environmental issue – sustainable fire management.

Following months of record rainfall and vegetation growth residents are urged to start preparing their families and properties for the coming bushfire season. City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said a well prepared home and property is more likely to survive a bush fire and can also be easier to defend.

World-first technology is being used to rebuild natural habitats destroyed by bushfires, creating more than 800 new hollows that will provide displaced animals with a space to nest and roost for an accumulated 56,000 years.

Gabrielle Duykers. Local residents have planted more than 2000 native tree species across Avenue Range to help rejuvenate land affected by the Blackford fire. Titled ‘green is the new black’, the revitalisation project has been organised by the newly-formed Avenue Tree Group.

In southern Australia, whether native forests are subject to harvesting or left untouched, if appropriate landscape scale forest fuel management is not undertaken, high intensity bushfires at a mega scale can occur in any summer, particularly when there are two or more years of below average rainfall. Any climate change effects are a reason to do more mitigation by fuel reduction.

We have a fire problem in Australia that is not being addressed. And it has nothing to do with climate change. Nor is logging a major contributing factor since very small areas are available for harvesting each year. It is about the decisions in the 1990s across most states, but particularly in NSW and Victoria to lock up millions of hectares of forest into national parks and manage them by benign neglect and allow the fuel levels to build up.