TOWNS across Western Australia are preparing for a summer of high bushfire risk with a number of factors preventing the Department of Parks and Wildlife from achieving its prescribed burning targets in the last financial year.
Figures released by the department show from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, Parks and Wildlife completed 44 prescribed burns and partially completed another 90 burns.
This represents 147,082 hectares of the 200,000 hectare target, around 73.5 per cent.
Prescribed burning is the primary tool available to the department to manage bush fuel load – being live and dead vegetation that accumulates over time and burns easily.
“Achieving the target is largely dependent on suitable weather conditions and the required human and other resources being available to safely undertake prescribed burning,” a department spokesperson said.
Last month, Fairfax WA visited the South West town of Northcliffe to see how it was recovering from one of the state’s worst ever bushfires in February which burnt out more than 98,000 hectares.
WATCH: See how Northcliffe is recovering.
During the visit, Northcliffe Bushfire Brigade captain Rod Parkes said the state government must take urgent action to reduce the fuel load in the South West because a bushfire catastrophe is imminent.
“I don’t care if you burn it, slash it or mow it – whatever we have to do to get the fuel load down,” Mr Parkes said.
“Because, if we don’t the results of the next bushfire could be disastrous.”
After February’s fire, Mr Parkes joined Shire of Manjimup president Wade De Campo to fly over the affected area.
He noted there are still areas of forest to the east of Northcliffe that have been unaffected by fire for more than 30 years.
The department of parks and wildlife aim to burn each section of bushland once every seven to nine years, depending on the nature of the vegetation and desirable ecological outcomes.
“There is a growing need to address fuel load levels in the South West,” a department spokesperson said.
“The department assesses fire risk using a number of variables and a fuel age plan is maintained that indicates the years since the last fire.
“But fuel loads vary across the landscape and within individual forest blocks depending on the mixture of forest types occurring within those blocks.”
Mr De Campo said Northcliffe dodged a bullet last summer and a number of small, South West towns could be next in the firing line including Pemberton, Quinninup and Deanmill.
“It is shaping up to be a particularly bad season this summer with low rainfall in the region and we are still doing prescribed burns, which is unheard of at this time of year,” he said.
He also said that in a drying climate, it is not acceptable to say fuel loads should not be reduced by burning.
“The line that you should not reduce fuel loads through prescribed burning because of the risk to the environment is rubbish – it is pure and blatant lies,” Mr De Campo said.
“Fuel reduction is critical and we have to deal with it now.”
More than $20 million in Royalties for Regions funding was announced earlier this year to assist in prescribed burning initiatives over the next four years.
“The funding will allow Parks and Wildlife to develop and implement an enhanced prescribed burning program for the land it manages,” the department spokesperson said.
“It will enable the department to more readily deploy fire crews to maximise the opportunities to safely carry out prescribed burning.
“But management of fuel loads is a shared responsibility among all land owners and managers.
“Resident and other land managers should carry out their own fire preventative measures and can get advice on the Department of Fire and Emergency Services website.”
