Missed burn-off targets leave Sydney’s fringes a summer tinderbox

Fire fighters fear Sydney’s outskirts are in the firing line this summer. Drying fuel loads mean areas around he Royal National Park, Ku-ring-gai Chase and the Blue Mountains are on high alert.

Sydneysiders on the city’s fringes will be in the firing line this bushfire season as crews race to protect national parks from going up in flames.

Missed hazard reduction targets and drying fuel loads mean suburbs bordering the Royal National Park, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Blue Mountains and surrounds will be on high alert this summer.

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers said Greater Sydney has not experienced significant fires in nearly three decades, leaving stretches of bushland ready to burn along hills and ridges packed with properties.

“Sydney has got all these homes that are built on ridge tops, and then national parks and valleys (below) and that’s irrespective of whether you’re in the northern beaches, south, the Hills or Hornsby, there’s a lot of these areas,” Mr Rogers said.

“That makes defending properties when we have bushfires quite difficult because fire obviously goes a lot quicker uphill, and then you’ve got those firefighters trying to get between properties and the fire.

RFS Commissioner Rob Rogers at the NSW RFS headquarters. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“December, January, February are going to be the key months for us where the risk will be elevated … and we can’t ignore those areas on the coast that didn’t burn in 2019 and 2020.”

Forecasts for above-average rainfall have allayed fears of another Black Summer. But Mr Rogers warned previously fire-affected areas could still burn, with the Central West, south coast, and southern NSW identified as key danger zones.

STALLED BURNS

The caution comes after wet, windy weather stalled hazard reduction burns across the state. Just 44 per cent of the 313,258 hectare target was completed by June, 2024.

RFS mapping of grass “curing” revealed bushlands around Sydney have dried out by more than 55 per cent, increasing the risk of fires igniting and spreading into nearby communities.

Nearly 2000 critical back-burns carried out in the Greater Sydney area in the last five months have protected an estimated 18,000 properties, but recent blazes in the Northern Beaches have reminded residents how quickly conditions can change.

Cromer mother-of-two Laura Dooley, 41, remembers the smell of fire as hazard burns flamed out of control in September, ripping through bushland behind her home and threatening properties along her street.

“I remember you could see the flames … and as the helicopter flew over me I could feel drops of water coming out of it before it put out the fires, it was scary,” Mrs Dooley said.

Group Officer Illawarra Sutherland volunteer firefighter, Mark Pryor, at home in Alfords Point, today. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“It made us realise that where we live — while it’s beautiful being so close to the bush — we do feel quite vulnerable and we probably need to do more (to prepare).

“I think the main thing is to listen to RFS advice and if they do tell you evacuate, just go.”

Alfords Point resident and volunteer RFS group officer Mark Pryor, 48, said he was busy finishing off his bushfire plans at his property near the Georges River National Park and encouraged other residents to do the same.

“I’m checking my gardens and the vegetation surrounding my property to reduce all flammable, fine fuels by raking out leaves from under my trees and bushes and trimming my shrubs,” Mr Pryor said.

“I was also on the roof a couple of weekends ago with the blower, clearing out fallen leaves and branches from my gutters and beneath my solar panels.”

Mr Pryor said fires where an inevitable part of life in Sydney’s scrubby outer suburbs but risks could be managed through simple preparation and maintenance.

“It’s a beautiful place to live and what makes it so beautiful is the bush, but it’s about managing the risks. There’s always going to be bushfires, snakes, and spiders,” he said.

“You’ve just got to be aware of it and prepared to spend a little bit of time at the beginning of the bushfire season in preparation, and then taking time during the season to maintain your property because you can’t remove the risk.”