Burns douse fire risk

SOME Tasmanian communities have had their bushfire risk reduced by as much as 75 per cent four years into the state’s fuel reduction program, its co-ordinator says.

More than 600 fuel reduction burns have been conducted across three agencies since the Fuel Reduction Program begin in 2015.

Dr Louise Mendel said that communities around the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington, Orford and on Flinders Island were among those who had their risk of bushfire reduced the most since the program began, by an estimated 50 to 75 per cent.

Dr Mendel said risk levels were calculated by a complex spatial modelling program that assessed how bushfires would behave under severe fire conditions.

After the autumn burning program, which included 43 planned burns across 8250ha, the state’s bushfire risk sat at 86.2 per cent, its lowest in 15 years.

Dr Mendel said the program was seen as leading the nation because it allowed authorities to conduct burning on private land, where property owners gave consent.

“We have some people who don’t want anything to do with burning and that’s fine but the vast majority of people are pleased to have some assistance with that,” Dr Mendel said.

In some communities, such as Zeehan, firefighters were aided in their efforts tackling the summer blazes because planned burning conducted through the program had limited the spread of bushfires, Dr Mendel said.

Controlled burns have been carried out across all 29 council areas in Tasmania under the program, which has been budgeted for into the forward estimates.