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 –
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
