The Wanton Worship of Woody Weeds

By Viv Forbes,

Greens worship woody weeds. Their proposed tree-clearing bans in Queensland are the latest salvo in a long war favouring trees and damaging grasslands and pastoralists.

For millennia Australia’s open forests and treeless plains have supported our national emblems – the kangaroo and the emu, which in turn sustained aborigines, eagles and dingos. Australian grasslands also nurtured now-endangered species such as bustards, quail, pigeons, finches and grass parrots.

Nothing stands still in nature. Savannas are forever a battleground between grassland, scrub and desert. Greens gaze in rapture at the trees but ignore the valuable grasses beneath their feet – native plants like Mitchell Grass and Kangaroo Grass and cultivated grasses like wheat, barley, oats, sorghum and sugar cane.

Greens hate grazing animals like cattle and sheep (but not wildebeest!) and, like trained parrots, repeat the hard-hoof fairy-tale about soil compaction and erosion. In reality, hoof action breaks crusty soil. A short burst of concentrated animal impact with hoof cultivation, seed burial, and application of dung and urine fertilisers does wonders for the long-term health of the pasture. It is not a question of hard hooves or soft paws - it is a grazing management question. A healthy pasture needs grasses, herbs, legumes and periodic grazing animals – shut out the ruminants, or stock heavily and continuously, and you will get weeds and desert.

Greens favour “Do Nothing Pasture Management”. Along with their bans on mechanical or chemical control of tree invasions, they try to prevent bushfires which have for millennia maintained the vigour of the grasslands. To have healthy pasture requires recycling of nutrients from old dead grass before the summer rains. This is best achieved by concentrated short-term hoof impact or by controlled burning (both of which may also kill tree seedlings that are forever trying to invade the grasslands).

Greens are always nibbling away at grasslands and open forests by demanding ever more nationalised parks, conservation zones and other green blockades. Instead of supporting graziers with their productive pastures and grazing animals they create ever-expanding sterilised un-managed areas which become havens for weeds like lantana, prickly pear, cactus and wait-a-while and pests like feral dogs, wild pigs and wild cats.

Proposed new Queensland laws will hinder landowners in harvesting mulga scrub during drought and controlling invasion of grasslands by woody weeds. These destructive green bans plus the unjust Kyoto tree-clearing land seizures are part of the global Green plan to drive farmers and graziers from much of the land.

The great value of ruminants is their efficiency in converting the vegetation of poorer grasslands and open forest into edible proteins and fats. ALP/Green policies will reduce the supply of this truly free-range food and increase our dependence on feedlot food, which is worse for the environment and our health.

And for those who believe the greenhouse warming fable, grassland plants remove the bogey-man (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere. This carbon collected by grazing animals ends up in long-term storage in human bodies via meat and other animal food products. At the end of their life, most human bodies get sequestered in carbon-based coffins and buried in carbon cemeteries. Greens should be happy with that, but the plant world will gradually suffer from this relentless loss of the gas of life from the biosphere.

The bureaucracy of our “Brave New Green World” will use drones, spy cameras and computer programs to trap and punish any grazier who dares to defend his grassland from invading trees. 

Instead of tree clearing bans we need to free our land managers for a war on woody weeds using controlled burning, better grazing management and reversal of the unjust Kyoto land sterilisation program.

***

Viv Forbes has a degree in Applied Science, and long experience in soil science, pasture management and breeding and managing cattle and sheep.

Further Reading:
Saving the Grasslands with grazing animals by Alan Savory (well worth watching):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTHi7O66pI

The Battle for Our Grasslands:
http://clexit.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/grasslands.pdf

http://clexit.net/2016/11/04/grasslands/

https://carbon-sense.com/2013/02/15/destructive-green-policies/

Land seizure under the Kyoto Protocol:
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2018/02/19/courts-refuse-to-protect-australian-private-property-rights/

What landowners think of the proposed vegetation management bans:

http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5259817/vegetation-management-is-choking-everything-out/

http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5313874/what-happened-at-the-vegetation-management-hearings-this-week/

http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/5301521/vegetation-amendments-put-brakes-on-sugarcane-growth/

https://www.ruralweekly.com.au/news/warning-about-consumer-access-to-queensland-produc/3372503/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-03-17/graziers-protest-palaszczuk-changes-vegetation-management-laws/9556522

https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/were-getting-flogged-500-cq-protesters-against-law/3372212/#/1

http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5310680/your-speakers-your-voices-in-vegetation-management-debate/

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/farmers-know-best-how-to-clear-their-own-land/news-story/13e45fa973ddb5092861c2734867cb02

Removing fuel reduces bushfires costs

                                                                                      A newly commissioned study by Deloitte Access Economics has shown that removing fuel from the bush by mechanical removal, combined with prescribed burning of trees and understorey biomass, could dramatically reduce the devastation caused by bushfires and save the community tens of millions of dollars each year.

The cost benefit analysis forms part of a scoping study commissioned by the Australian Forest Products Association to look into the benefits from increased fuel reduction in key fire prone areas.

The Deloitte study suggests that, for example, in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains area removing fuel from as little as 5% of the area each year could halve the extent of bushfires and save the community as much as AU$34 million per year in insurance claims, property loss and fire-fighting costs. This is a benefit-cost ratio of around 4.6. This is a stunning result. We need a national conversation which gets serious about severe bushfires while the smoke haze from a very difficult summer of fires is still in the air.

“For too long the idea of taking fuel out of the bush to reduce fire risk has been ignored in Australia despite being a widely accepted practice elsewhere in the world. Instead we watch as the bush goes up in flames in out of control mega fires,” said CEO of AFPA Ross Hampton.

The Deloitte study identifies a number of areas where a full cost benefit analysis would better inform bushfire policy, including the Melbourne fringe and Gippsland regions in Victoria, south-west WA, the Blue Mountains, the Pilliga and north and south coastal areas of NSW, and Tasmania.

The report identifies the benefits of using mechanical fuel removal in conjunction with prescribed burning also noting the narrow window of good weather days for undertaking prescribed burning, and the need to control fuel loads in bushland areas close to population centres or other important assets.

“The Abbott government is to be congratulated for allocating an additional AU$15 million for bushfire reduction measures in Australia,” said Hampton. “This study provides the impetus to conduct a more detailed CBA of bushfire management policy and a trial program of fuel reduction practices.

“This would help inform more effective bushfire management, rather than the usual expenditure on suppression using more tankers and water bombing helicopters. The latter approach merely treats the symptoms and fails to treat the cause.”

Article previously published at Friday Offcuts
.

Heatwave Hype and Wind Wisdom

by Viv Forbes

 

  The current heatwave in Australia will inflame the carbonistas who will claim it is caused by wicked humans exhaling and exhausting carbon dioxide.

But carbon dioxide is almost irrelevant to local heat conditions.

That is all about wind.

If the wind blows from the summer tropics for days, we will have a heat wave and possible bushfires; but if we get a winter gale from polar regions there may be brass-monkey mornings, sleet and sheep farmer alerts.

Image sourced [here]

 

 

 

 

If it blows from the sea we may get enervating humidity and thunder storms; but if it comes from the desert we may get lip-cracking dryness, whirl-winds or dust storms.

 

If there is no wind at all, the heat will peak after lunch and it will be coolest just as the sun rises. 

Imaged sourced The Australian: Heatwave blows in on a fiery desert wind

And if you are yachting in Antarctic waters, the wind can trap your ship in floating sea ice if you are a careless ninny.

Simple stuff really, except for government-funded climatologists with giant computers needing a software upgrade.

And carbon dioxide has almost nothing to do with any of it

Qld Rural fire service - Malone review delivery

Media release

Malone Review Team Update December 2013

Since the handing down of the Police and Community Safety Review (Keelty Review) on the 10th September, the Newman Government and Malone Review Working Group have been focused on delivering the majority of the 91 recommendations of the Malone Review into the Rural Fire Service.


Photo sourced ABC


The Rural Fire Service in Queensland has suffered from the neglect of successive Labor Governments over many years. It is my role and that of Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services Jack Dempsey to ensure a solid foundation is laid to rebuild an organisation that supports 34,000 volunteer firefighters, Rural Fire Brigades, SES volunteers and State Emergency Service units, which provide community defence across Queensland.

From meetings across the state with volunteers and the large number of submissions that were made, together we’ve set a clear outline of what the Rural Fire Service should look like in the future. We are now in the process of ensuring that RFSQ is empowered to enable its team to meet diverse community needs into the future.

The position of Deputy Commissioner Rural Fire and State Emergency Services will be advertised nationally in early 2014. This role will be instrumental in providing leadership and strategic direction to the Rural Fire Service, as well as the State Emergency Service, Coast Guard and Volunteer Marine Rescue. One of the prime attributes of the new Deputy Commissioner is a solid grounding in volunteering and an understanding of the ethos and values of the volunteer.

There are a number of legislative changes that are required to enable my vision, and the legal frame work is something that will not change overnight, as a solid foundation for the acknowledgment and recognition of volunteers will set that basis that brigades and units will operate from for potentially the next twenty years.

The sign-off of the jointly-agreed recommendations is expected by the end of March 2014, however to date the Malone Review Working Group has ticked off on 36 recommendations. This, in conjunction with the appointment of the Deputy Commissioner Rural Fire and State Emergency Services, will see the implementation of these approved recommendations. It is vital that this be communicated widely to RFSQ, SES Staff, volunteers, brigades, units and to all concerned stakeholders. This open communication will ensure there is a wide understanding within the community about the roles and responsibilities that we all share in defending Queensland.

 

 

 

 

In essence, we are embarking upon a journey that will lead to a more empowered Rural Fire Service supported by a strong, well-led arm of an all hazards approach organisation and I ask you all to work together towards reaching our common goal.
I take this opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope that there is enough rain to fill your tanks and dams without the deluge that beset us earlier this year.

Ted Malone MP

Assistant Minister for Emergency Volunteers

 

 

Previous related post

Rural fire service – Malone review



Rural fire service – Malone review

Volunteers in the Rural fire service especially primary producer brigades in areas west of the Great Divide in Qld were more than a little cheesed off with how the service was run with an administration seemly out of touch with the needs and the realities of fighting fires in the bush.

Photo sourced RFBAQ article



They were frustrated by things like ordered equipment very slow to be delivered; an overstaffed head office but with essential regional offices being closed down; an increasing move to micro management of rural brigades from afar instead of playing a supportive role to efforts in the field; local experience and local knowledge not respected; inappropriate, highly structured emergency response procedures and little emphasis on preventive mitigation; panic suspension of permits very early in the fire season when it was ideal for cooler preventive burns; red tape such as criminal check being made on volunteers even those with long service medals; training courses that were next door to useless and ever increasing paperwork.

In my Hookswood Rd Fire post back in early December 2012, I wrote about how frustrated and angry many volunteers were at the farcical mismanagement by Qld Fire & Rescue of a fire north of Miles. I mentioned that on the day before attending this fire that I was at a public forum in Roma for an inquiry into the rural fire service. This was known as the Malone review headed by Ted Malone Assistant Minister for Emergency Volunteers. Mr Malone and his review team conducted 13 forums across the state and received 240 submissions before the Malone Review into Rural Fire Services in Queensland was written and released.

The Roma forum was well attended and there was appreciation for the insights that Injune landowner, Ray Klein, brought before the review team. Ray had a 20 year career in the Rural fire service; he ran the regional office in Roma before retiring from a paid position in the service to move back to the family farm at Injune and remaining active as a volunteer in his local brigade in the rural fire service.

Below is a scanned image of a letter to the editor by Ray Klein in Roma’s Western Star newspaper. Ray gives high praise to the Malone review calling it as “nothing less than exceptional with its accurate findings.”

Also supporting the Malone review as “one of the most important and positive steps” is the Rural Fire Brigades Association of Queensland. From the RFBAQ newsletter is this article, Malone Review of Rural Fire Service Queensland announced, which list the following facts it found amongst the 91 recommendations of the Malone review.

• All RFS District Offices will remain open
  (No District Office closures in Queensland, possibility of opening more)
• All RFS District Office staff positions will remain
  (all current DI, ATSO, BTSO & Admin staff positions will be retained)
• District Inspectors will now be empowered to support their brigades and volunteers
  (District delegations will be greatly increased with most decisions made locally)
• The RFSQ will be led by a Deputy Chief Officer, Rural Fire Service Queensland
  (the RFSQ will be a separate organisation from the Urban Fire Service)
• Brigades and volunteers will be able to access more and a wider range of training
  (including 4wd, truck licences, chainsaw, first aid and the ability for recognition of prior learning and including skills portability from SES and other volunteer services)
• Existing BSO’s will be attached to District Offices with flexibility to meet local needs
  (over time the role will be extended to all District Inspectors Offices with role flexibility identified against local needs)
• There will be 3 Regional Offices within the RFSQ
  (District delegations will be greatly increased with most decisions made locally)
• Equipment and trucks will be designed to meet local needs incorporating local volunteer knowledge and requirements
• Red tape reduction will see Volunteers and Brigades using simple, workable, reporting and financial forms and induction processes
• Command & control of incidents
  Vegetation fire in rural area – RFSQ
  Structural fire in rural area – Urban with RFSQ support
  Vegetation fire in urban area –Urban with RFSQ support if required
  Structural fire in urban area – Urban
• Brigades currently receiving a levy from council will continue to receive same
• Brigades currently not receiving a levy from council will be supported by council in pursuit of levy or support if requested
• Fit for duty will be overhauled
• PPE will be more readily available
  (complete overhaul of the supply chain)
• RFBAQ elected volunteer Representatives will sit on RFSQ staff selection panels
• RFSQ appliances will remain yellow
• Formation of Ministerial Advisory Council for RFS & SES Volunteers
• RFSQ develop and distribute a less formal uniform for Volunteers and Brigades

 

Previously Published related posts

Hookwood Rd Fire 

Preventive Burning  



A new year begins

 

Learn and construct to cope with future natural disasters

As the flood waters started to ease and a stocktake started on the damage caused by ex-cyclone Oswell that travelled down near the entire length of the Queensland coastline and well into New South Wales, two regular print columnists published articles on the 31^st January calling a visionary and practical approach of looking to how we can reduce the impact of natural disasters in the future.

Andrew Bolt wrote an article, Nation must learn from natural disasters, where he concentrates on towns and cities that flood regularly, where a lot of money is spent of repairing after a flood and helping people to get back on their feet but little spend on prevention measures such as levy banks.

Personally I don’t believe that all can be solved by levies or dykes as in Bolts nation of origin, Holland. Historically towns had to build down close to a major source of water; these days we have the means of moving the water to the houses. I don’t believe that in locations of high flood risk that sometimes the cost of constructing a big enough levies for the worst of floods would be far greater than shifting the people out of the worst impacted streets.

Senator Barnaby Joyce wrote in his weekly column in The Canberra Times, Acts ofGod, but not much remedial action in Parliament, where he made some very good points about Australia’s transport and communication networks and their current inability to cope with natural disasters.

 

Cartoon thanks to Broelmann

 

"The major infrastructure corridors along the coast are again under pressure or cut. The Telstra fibre providing the communication link for north Queensland was cut because of flooding.

The justifiable focus on the current problem of flooding should be accompanied by a long-term solution to alleviate some of the problem. 

The course of innovation is not lineal, it is more chaotic, but in the period of this government there has been no plan that has dealt with the year-in, year-out problems of floods, congestion and safety of moving goods along the same corridor as people, along the coast. It should not be a surprise any more that somewhere between Cairns and Melbourne at some point in summer there will be a flood, and generally at many points along the coast.

We need an educational system that does not leave Australia falling behind our Asian neighbours. More than two sealed roads from east to west across our nation would be very 21st century if we could manage it. We should plan to develop our nation's north so we evolve from the southern crescent economy of Lachlan Macquarie's day to one that can make the most of Asian middle class opportunities. The capacity to move product on long haul rail from our second biggest city, Melbourne, direct to our nation's third biggest, Brisbane, should have happened years ago"

Alien Environment Fuels Firestorms by Viv Forbes

A recent report from friends who suffered terrible losses of buildings, fences, pasture and cattle in the Coonabarabran fire commenced with the ominous and oft-repeated message: “a raging fire came out of the National Park straight for us”.

There is only one way to limit fire damage – reduce the fuel available.

Fuel load can be reduced in three ways – by grazing animals, by planned small “cool” fires, or by mechanical reduction with slashers, mulchers or dozers.

Australia’s grassland landscape was created and managed by generations of Aborigines who were masters at using man’s most useful tool – fire. Every explorer from Abel Tasman (1642) and Captain Cook (1770) onwards noted the smoke in the sky and the burnt trees whenever they landed. This burning created the open grassland landscapes that dominated pre-European Australia. Aborigines lit fires continually, so their small patchwork fires caused no permanent damage to the environment and created and maintained the healthy grasslands on which many animals and Aborigines depended.

Misguided tree lovers and green politicians have locked the gates on ever-increasing areas of land for trees, parks, heritage, wilderness, habitat, weekend retreats, carbon sequestration etc. Never before on this ancient continent has anyone tried to ban land use or limit bush fires on certain land. The short-sighted policy of surrounding their massive land-banks with fences, locked gates and fire bans has created a new alien environment in Australia. They have created tinder boxes where the growth of woody weeds and the accumulation of dead vegetation in eucalypt re-growth create the perfect environment for fierce fires. Once ignited by lightning, carelessness or arson, the inevitable fire-storms incinerate the park trees and wildlife, and then invade the unfortunate neighbouring properties.

Many of today’s locked-up areas were created to sequester carbon to fulfil Kyoto obligations. Who pays the carbon tax on the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere by wild fires?

The green bureaucracies and politicians are clearly mis-managing their huge land-bank. Aborigines and graziers did a far better job. There should be a moratorium on locking up any more land and a return to sustainable management for existing land holdings.  

Viv Forbes,
Rosewood    Qld   Australia
forbes@carbon-sense.com

 

Previous related discussions

Preventive Burning

Cold heart response to Gulf fires

A new year begins

It’s customary on New Year’s Eve to wish everyone a happiness, heath and wealth. We gather together at the likes of a BBQ, count down the seconds to midnight, sing auld lang syne and give each other a hug.

”*°•.¸”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”¸.•°*”˜
. . . . . . ♥♥♥ HAPPY ♥♥♥ . . . . . .
. . . . ♥♥♥ 2013 ♥♥♥ . . . . . .
¸.•°*”˜¸.•°*”☆ ★ ☆”*°•.¸˜”*°•.¸

How did you spend your New Year’s Eve? My activity was determined by the two days prior.

On Sunday afternoon I received a fire call out. The smoke first appeared on my horizon late morning and through the afternoon it put on a show forming its own cloud. It wasn’t as a big a fire as the last one on Hookswood Road but then the locals were determined that it wasn’t going to get any bigger and allow those clowns from Qld fire & rescue become involved. Throughout the night we burnt a wide buffer out in front of where the fire was heading and back-burnt the western side.

In bed at 3am, back out before 6.

Throughout new year’s eve day I was part of a team that help secure the eastern side across two properties. The contrast was a study of why there should be preventive burning. The first had areas of hazard reduction burns that we could hook up onto and serviceable fire breaks which made it possible to save as much of their grassland as possible. The second was an absentee landowner, of a large buildup in fuel load and with tall regrowth over any tracks. It was only because it was a long, narrow block that we put a dozer across it on an old track and that one of our number knew that track passed by a building that should be saved it there. Otherwise the entire property would have been burnt.

We had known this property as the tin hut. I had never been it there before but the dozer uncovered a handy cottage. I do mean literally, uncovered, as the dozer driver had to remove tall grass & regrowth right up to the buildings walls. These couple of photos shows the cottage and a fairly unique thunder-box.

 

  

 

So at the stroke of midnight I was firmly established in by bed after arriving home with the setting sun feeling more than a little tired.

While there is no harm in the sentiments of the usual new year’s greetings I wish to say that may in 2013 that you make the most of what comes your way; that you expect there to be mistakes, but seize the opportunity to enjoy those pleasant surprises; by listening, you will learn; be generous and enjoy what is given to you.

The moral from my little fire story from the closing days of 2012 is that you can always help those that help themselves

Cold heart response to Gulf fires

“I love mankind, he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

It may be unfair to say that animal rights activists love animals as a whole but could not love a single animal however from observation I do believe that animal rights organisations have no love for the people who actually do care for animals. Rather than just talk about animal welfare, those that walk the walk placing time, finance and emotional commitment into the direct care of animals are the farmers of this country; not only domestic animals raised for food for all Australians but also by cohabitation, native wildlife found on farms and especially through active rangeland management of larger cattle & sheep stations.

A measure of the love for another person, ideal or in this case animals can be the response to a single event especially one of some urgency. There is unfolding now an event of much urgency that has a high probability of a dire outcome. In the gulf area of north Queensland there have been fires of an epic scale. In the image below developed from the NAFI website compare the size of the shaded areas of fire events to the 100km scale on the lower left hand corner.

 

The Townsville Bulletin reported in its 22^nd December issue, Hope fades for Gulf Country miracle

CATTLE are dying slow deaths in the Gulf Country after bushfires of unprecedented ferocity reduced more than two million hectares of grazing land to scorched earth.

With no grass left, cattle are surviving on leaves and ash. On Kutchera Station 90 kilometres north-west of Georgetown at least 500 head have died, most of them from starvation. Weak cattle are bogging at the edges of waterholes where they become easy prey for the dingoes and pigs which have been quick to take advantage of this on-going calamity.

Rural Press reporter, Troy Rowling has written a comprehensive report complete with photos, Hard work up in smoke.

Seasonal rain, at least 2-4 inches (50-100mm), is needed to extinguish the last of the fires and begin the healing process.

However, the heavens are yet to respond.

At time of print, the seven day forecast saw no rain, the 28 day forecast saw no rain and the latest Bureau of Meteorology modelling does not indicate when the monsoon will move down.

If there is no seasonal rain, it is predicted the Etheridge Shire will require at least $500,000 every fortnight until there is rain to provide enough fodder to keep cattle on affected properties alive.

Queensland Country Life accompanied State Agriculture Minister John McVeigh as he took to a helicopter to visit affected properties last Thursday.

While in Georgetown he announced the Newman Government would immediately donate $100,000 to the Bendigo Bank Far North Queensland Bushfire Appeal to help affected Gulf Producers, which was also launched at Georgetown on Thursday.

Try putting yourself in the shoes of the owners and managers of stations burnt out in these areas; a fire that has left a bare blackened landscape horizon to horizon; of surviving cattle weak, staving and bogging at waterholes; of the despair of the situation and no short term outlook for rain. Then have a kick in the guts while you are down when yesterday PETA issued a media release of such jaw dropping ignorance and heartlessness that was published very widely including the Courier Mail and The Australian; this from the Townsville Bulletin, Prosecute farmers for cattle deaths: PETA.

Others have said it better than I could such as in this blog post, Ethical treatment of animals = unethical treatment of people

PETA’s response to this urgent circumstance is just so, so wrong. PETA’s action is that devoid of any humanity or love that it leaves in its wake a soul destroying carcass of cold empty despair.  

The human race is better than that, both in our treatment of each other and for animals under our care. To give credit where credit is due individual animal rights activists are raising awareness of the disaster in north Queensland on Animal Australia’s facebook page. These individuals are showing that even though they have a fundamental disagreement with the principle market for cattle from this area, live export, they are prepared to do what they can for the livestock in these areas.

 However to date the organisation Animals Australia has shown its alignment with PETA’s position by its stony silence to the unfolding events. Any funds spent by Animals Australia directly on animals for their welfare is very nominal as revealed by their own campaign material. Another organisation that professes love for animals in general but cannot transfer that to practical aid to an animal in need especially if it may indirectly help the real caregivers, farmers.  

If you are able to help here are the links to BendigoBank Far North Queensland Bushfire Appeal and to Aussie Helpers

Preventive Burning

In my previous post, Hookswood Rd Fire, I expressed my frustration at the incompetence of Qld fire & rescue who took control of all efforts to fight a fire and by their inaction causing a big fire to grow to something far more dangerous and destructive. I was also angry to learn from those who were on the scene on the Sunday, Monday and first thing Tuesday before I was called in as part of the Downfall Creek rural fire volunteers, of 3 occasions were the fire could have contained as a small fire and that on 2 of these occasions the opportunity wasn’t taken because of blindly following of the rule book by Qld fire & rescue.

Having hours of inaction on my hands during Tuesday and hearing the outrage of my fellow rural fire volunteers I made sure that their views became known to the media. These two articles are the result –

 Heat on resourcingas fire threats intensify

More RFS review forQld

This image above was developed from the NAFI web site gives the perfect illustration of why preventive burning is very important. http://www.firenorth.org.au

The image also shows what sectors of the fire the Downfall Creek brigade played a part.

On Tuesday night our crew joined others to back burn to save property of a family. The Qld fire & rescue incident controller would have had a heart attack if he knew that we went to the lead of the fire yet many km’s away. The sky glowed red, thick smoke billowed overhead and the roar of the fire was enough to strike fear. Earlier we had sighted a spot fire start up 1km in advance of the fire front. We knew of nothing that would stop this fires advance. We left that location to go back to burn a wide band around the house and buildings.

The Downfall Creek rural fire brigade operated within the Barakula State Forest at the western flank of the fire from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday night. The forestry fire fighters were on the eastern side of the fire on the Wednesday and could only bring equipment to the western side on the Thursday. When the forestry workers shift changed soon after dark on Thursday we learnt from the shift supervisor what stopped the fire front from going any further. On Wednesday night he was just off to the east of the lead of the fire front. At 3am the fire was still crowning, that is burning in the tree tops, when it hit an area that had a preventive burn back in September. In the image above it is the peach colour area. The fire lost its ground fuel source and bit by bit died down to a halt.

Look at the image to see how few preventive burns have occurred in the fires path, both in privately held land and the state owned state forest. There was a large fuel build up in this area. You don’t need to be Einstein to know that fuel load plus hot temperature plus ignition equals destruction. More needs to be done to encourage cool burns in August and September.

Photo - Wens night in Barakula State Forest

 

UPDATE #1

In this article from September 2009, Guest post: Barakula state forest to be converted into a national park , retired forestor Peter Lear warns of the  inevitable destructive fire event occuring.

 

Roading systems are allowed to revert to scrub and very little controlled burning is done. Fuel build up will eventually lead to fire which in the case of Barakula will destroy 100 years of sustainable forest management in the cypress forests. Barakula endures regular periods of severe fire risk, so it is not a matter if fire will occur but when it will occur. The resultant devastation will be dependent on previous controlled burning regime and the management of the particular wildfire, which is very difficult without good access (roading) and trained staff.

 

A previous article in which Brian Bahnisch writes about Barakula

 

 

UPDATE #2

Related article published 21st Jan 2013, Alien Environment Fuels Firestorms by Viv Forbes