Burn-off cuts fire risk
I CAN’T praise loudly enough the emergency services, including National Parks, Rural Fire Brigade and Qld Fire and Rescue for their exceptional and dedicated work during the recent controlled, low-intensity burn on Magnetic Island.
As someone who has lived on acreage along the West Point Rd for many years, I trust and respect those responsible for managing these burn-offs so that when there is a real fire emergency their expertise comes to the fore.
Controlling those situations and keeping us safe is what these people are trained for and in some cases paid for, and they do it very, very well.
I know some people were affected by the smoke as I was, mildly, but that is perhaps one of the costs of living in paradise.
There are also ways to reduce or eliminate smoke, such as closing windows and staying inside or in extreme cases, temporarily moving elsewhere and for people with breathing issues, increasing medication.
Also you must consider what happens if you don’t keep fuel loads down. Losing property or, worse still, lives.
The hysterical claims of some people that smoke-affected residents were medevaced off the island are simply not true (checked with the ambulance service).
I can’t believe that a few residents and visitors to the island are still complaining about the burn.
Most, I fear, are relatively recent arrivals from Sydney or Melbourne who have not experienced wildfire on the island, and see only TV footage of the recent, and not so recent, horrendous blazes that have affected large areas of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.
These places usually have very low humidity. When this occurs and you get high winds, dry conditions and a large buildup of fuel, being dead trees, branches and leaf litter, caused often by political activists who oppose anything progressive, like burning off, that’s a recipe for catastrophe – and often becomes reality.
In the north we have relatively high humidity, but we can get quite intense and dangerous blazes if fuel loads aren’t managed properly. (Ask any firey.)
Also, for more than 40 thousand years, Aboriginal Australians burned large areas of bush (firestick farming) to control fuel build-up and clean up the land so their food sources and animals could thrive.
Thanks again to all those, including food and drink providers involved in the recent burn-off.
Long-term islanders know who the real experts are.
RICK VERNON,
Picnic Bay.