Fire

Vic Jurskis. Koala plagues and megafires go together. Koalas are breeding faster than ever on all the soft young growth generated by Black Summer. The scrub development is unprecedented. Our next extreme fire season will kill more people and animals than ever before. But the koala is in no danger of extinction.

A public meeting called this week by local emergency services served its purpose to allay the town’s fears after the Barkly was declared an emergency situation on Tuesday. More than 300 people packed the Civic Hall ... More than 1,323,300 hectares have been burnt with the fire active for over two weeks.

The Frances community will soon boast a BMX track ... hopes to sell its Town Hall and pump the proceeds into upgrades at the Frances Recreation Reserve ... Those were some of the items raised by Frances Progress Association chairman Danielle Moore during a visit to the township by Naracoorte Lucindale Council...

Ahead of this year’s summer bushfire season, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has created a new resource to help livestock producers prepare and recover. The new manual is called: Bushfire preparation and recovery: A manual for livestock producers and it reinforces the fact that bushfire preparation needs to occur more than once a year or just at the start of summer.

From responding to flood emergencies to trekking through bushland on search and rescue operations, SES volunteers do whatever it takes to keep Queenslanders safe. As SES Week celebrations kick off across the state, Queensland’s volunteers in orange are being honoured for their outstanding efforts in helping their communities prepare and respond to emergencies.

Wingecarribee’s Aboriginal community had an exciting opportunity to take part in a cultural burn within Gibbergunyah Reserve last weekend. The burn was conducted by Gundungurra Traditional Owners and our First Nations community in partnership with Yarrabin Cultural Connections Fire Practitioner Den Barber and his team, also supported by the NSW RFS and Wingecarribee Shire Council.

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.