Controlled burn offs

[Stormchaser]

Much prefer a controlled burn to an uncontrolled one.      Wish they did it a bit more often across the entire country.  May not have had such unfortunate events down south ... maybe ... perhaps.

Kit_e

Generally we only have a window of opportunity of about six weeks in our district the transition from winter to spring before it gets too hot and dangerous to try burnoff's.
But the last 3 or 4 years mother nature has had other idea's with her weather patterns so we now face fuel loads that we haven't seen in 40 years.
Average grass height around here is 2-3 metres high and dying off fast with the frosts, then our fire mitigation guy tells us the long range forecast looks like going back to El Nino patterns but only time will tell its a natural cycle.

[Tjupurula]

Hi Stormchaser
With grass that high, I would not like to be around your area should any fire happen.  Doesn't the local SHire have any slashers or the like to get rid of that potential fire trap.
Tjupurula

[Bird]

Doesn't the local SHire have any slashers or the like to get rid of that potential fire trap.Tjupurula

I dont know if tis the same as burnoffs but the bullShit and paperwork and reports that need to be done to get a burnoff approved, nobody can be ****ed bothering...

[dazzler]

Last year our council did a review of their bushfire management policies.  There is/was a lot of stuff coming through from research into the vic fires suggesting that there needs to be a lot more control/planning in fuel reduction burns.  Not that they shouldnt happen but be more scientific about the process. 

Particularly they were talking about not burning in gullies to promote wetter /greener corridors but burning elsewhere.  Not sure how they plan to do that but was interesting non the less.

[Stormchaser]

Hi Stormchaser
With grass that high, I would not like to be around your area should any fire happen.  Doesn't the local SHire have any slashers or the like to get rid of that potential fire trap.
Tjupurula

Yeah they do but you can't slash everywhere the same as we cannot burn everywhere.
The amount of growth during last spring for example was amazing by the time the council had finished their mowing schedule around the local parks and reserves and got back to the start it was like they had never mowed there at all in the first place.

So areas that don't get grazed off and roadsides could well be a problem this year, even the local mines rehab area's are not looking real crash hot either with the fuel load they have but apparently a 6Ft slasher line around the boundary is an adequete fire break.

[Tjupurula]

Please tell me you are kidding.  Do the bureaucrats not know the dangers of grass that high, or do they have to wait for someone to lose their life,  then for a Coroner to explain why fires spread through grass at that height unbelievably quickly.
Tjupurula

[Bird]

Do the bureaucrats not know the dangers of grass that high, or do they have to wait for someone to lose their life,  then for a Coroner to explain why fires spread through grass at that height unbelievably quickly.

I think you know the answer to that question... Having sat through a coronial enquiry I'd never wanna be being "questioned" (if thats what you can call it) at one..

It costs money to constantly mow grass.. easier to take the chance.

[Stormchaser]

Well it has started already we have been flatout all weekend as are a lot of NSW RFS brigades at the moment.
A lot of them due to people trying to burn off before the 1st of september when the permits come into play, can't blame them thou just wish they had prepared their containment lines better.

[speewa158]

This sounds like a job for a bloke with a large brush cutter & a backpack fuel tank . Dont laugh its not as silly as it soungd 

[carinya]

We see this a fair bit around my neck of the woods as well.  In about a week or two there will be smoke somewhere in sight and this will go on for a month or more, depending on the rain.  Always some gully going off in the mountains, or on the other side.  Tourists are heard complaining about it but I bet they would rather not be stuck in a bad burn.  It would seem that most people don't realise the good it does the country, added to the benefits of fuel reduction.

[Bird]

This sounds like a job for a bloke with a large brush cutter & a backpack fuel tank . Dont laugh its not as silly as it soungd 

A drip torch can be mans best friend in a fire....

[bobnrob]

I dont know if tis the same as burnoffs but the bull**** and paperwork and reports that need to be done to get a burnoff approved, nobody can be ****ed bothering...

Please tell me you are kidding.  Do the bureaucrats not know the dangers of grass that high, or do they have to wait for someone to lose their life,  then for a Coroner to explain why fires spread through grass at that height unbelievably quickly.
Tjupurula

Was the RFS Rep on a committee about 3yrs ago to 'think tank' the Hazard Reduction plans on a few parcels of land that belonged to the local 'traditional owners'. These pieces of land were so thick with trees & leaf litter, it was a battle trying to walk through.
Long story short...after 2 days, discussions came to a halt, because Council's L&E was adamant she would not come on board. She would only accept under-scrubbing 
Of course, the RFS has the right to over-rule, but typical upper-management doesn't like to cause friction! 

I rarely have much to do with it all anymore, can only deal with so much BS

[SteveandViv]

look. Up here it works like this. The stations and hands as they drive around and stop for various reasons are quite likely to throw a match into a lump of grass. If the load can carry the fire it will, if not it won't. As has been explained to me by an owner of a 250,000 square K station, how in the hell do you think we could manage the land with out these type of tactics.

The real issue that so many just don't get is that a low grade fire that runs for a week or so over the land with a small fuel load will regenerate with the rains over the wet. If you haven't been here then you wouldn't know. The real fact is that if they don't burn and the fuel loads get to high the fire will burn with such a ferocity that the seeds and ground roots are damaged beyond repair and so the grasses will not regenerate and the land will be un-usable for years after. You can see it easy with the big fires we have verse the slow week over week fires.

[speewa158]

Steve well said there is something wonderful to be see when a fire blackened area gets its 1st rains & the green of the new growth takes comand . l have watched Kimberly grass fires over many nights blaze away in the distance only to be stoped by an early wet shower 

[Stormchaser]

Was the RFS Rep on a committee about 3yrs ago to 'think tank' the Hazard Reduction plans on a few parcels of land that belonged to the local 'traditional owners'. These pieces of land were so thick with trees & leaf litter, it was a battle trying to walk through.
Long story short...after 2 days, discussions came to a halt, because Council's L&E was adamant she would not come on board. She would only accept under-scrubbing 
Of course, the RFS has the right to over-rule, but typical upper-management doesn't like to cause friction! 

I rarely have much to do with it all anymore, can only deal with so much BS

Wow! We actually got permission off our local land council to do some HR work on their land recently i think mainly cause they cannot mange it themselves, it is the local hoons playground and rubbish dump now council have put up the tip fees. We managed to reduce about 30ha around residences and industrial blocks but there would still be another 150-200ha to go. The local kids will help do that as they have already burn't a couple of cars up there causing small grass fires the next one will be extinguished with our driptorch while we have the recourses available to contain it. The area we burn't off already has quite a bit of green growth shooting up so surely it has got to be a win/win situation.

[Stormchaser]

Steve well said there is something wonderful to be see when a fire blackened area gets its 1st rains & the green of the new growth takes comand . l have watched Kimberly grass fires over many nights blaze away in the distance only to be stoped by an early wet shower 

On a recent trip to the NT it was amazing just how many unattended burns were trickling along the roads not hurting anyone or anything it was great to see! Never happen in NSW but it's a different environment i guess.

[Hairs]

Never happen in NSW but it's a different envoirnoment i guess.

Political, socially and environmental.
Chalk & Cheese.

[speewa158]

Over the drought years we have collected in the ranks of councles & local Govt dpartments a slew of GREENIES . So imho they wont let the burns happen as it might upset the world as they know it , or want it to be . So as there are big frogs in little puddles clogging up the works the grasses grow as a habatat to the creepy crawlies & what ever . This is in direct competion to how the environment is supposed to operate . Burn off to enable regrowth as is the nature of the country . Or am l wrong  hopefully somebody will try to convince me otherwise