How Territory pastoralists have been the unsung heroes of horror bushfire season

Hundreds of Territory cattle producers have been at the frontline fighting the worst fires in a decade. Read the toll it’s taken.

Cattle station employees have been the unsung heroes of the Territory’s worst bushfire season in a decade.

Hundreds of station workers from dozens of properties have given tens-of-thousands of man-hours to fighting fires on pastoral and crown land across the Northern Territory.

While stock and property losses are still being finalised, it’s estimated thousands of head of cattle have been lost on NT stations in the past few months.

NT Cattlemen’s Association chief executive Will Evans said the dependence on volunteers to tackle serious and potentially life-threatening fires across the Northern Territory wasn’t working.

Station workers fighting bushfires at Tennant Creek station.

He said Australia must develop a new approach to disaster management in line with “international best practice”.

“Australia needs to modernise its approach to fire management and adopt international best practice standards to ensure that we are preparing for bigger and hotter fires into the future,” Mr Evans said.

“What we’re doing today isn’t working. We have to find a better way.”

Key components of a co-ordinated remote fire management system include remote sensing technologies, integrated early warning systems, robust communications networks, enhanced use of remote-controlled tools and community education.

The scale of the fires currently burning across northern Australia is pretty unfathomable.

This animation visualises just the last two months of fire captured by #DEAHotspots - for context, the map covers an area larger than France, Spain and Germany combined... pic.twitter.com/YBkOQP5xCK

— Dr Robbi Bishop-Taylor 🛰️🌎🌊 (@SatelliteSci) November 3, 2023

NT Cattlemen’s Association is working with pastoralists to determine the extent of the industry’s commitment to fighting fires during the latest season.

Survey responses have been received from 45 cattle stations across the Territory, although more stations are expected to contribute later once they have completed fire fighting duties.

So far, more than 26 million hectares have been burnt across the Territory this fire season.

More than 1.5 million hectares of productive pastoral land has been burnt so far, although that number will be significantly higher once a full audit of damage is finalised.

Tennant Creek station bushfire.

Pastoralists have made a significant contribution to fighting fires on crown land, with more than 100,000 litres of diesel and 25,000 litres of Avgas used by pastoralists fighting fires that are not on pastoral land.

More than 250 pastoral industry staff have been deployed to fight fires on non-pastoral land.

Rohan Fischer from North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information estimated about 25 per cent of the NT has been burnt so far this season, with Central Australia’s worst fire weather still to come.

In 2011-12 about 80 per cent of the Territory was burnt over a period of two years.

So far at least seven homes have been damaged by fire, as well as 30-plus vehicles, at least eight items of farm equipment and nine sheds and outbuildings.

Since April, fireys have battled 774 individual blazes across the Territory.