Grassland recovery worries fireys as threat heads west

Thriving grassland and crop growth west of the Great Dividing Range has fire services concerned the fuel load could become a tinderbox over the summer months.

Thriving grassland and crop growth west of the Great Dividing Range has fire services concerned that the fuel load could become a tinderbox in the summer months, posing a major threat to rural and regional communities.

While anxieties of another horrific summer are palpable among coastal communities, the widespread devastation from last year’s Black Summer, combined with predicted rains from La Nina, mean another catastrophic bushfire season is unlikely. Concerns have instead turned to western NSW.

From the Queensland border to Victoria, above-average rainfall in areas that have suffered through years of severe drought has resulted in record levels of crop growth, along with wild grasslands reaching shoulder-height in many places.

Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said the risk of grass or crop fires was likely to start increasing in coming months once crops were harvested and grasslands dried out, leaving behind hundreds of hectares of potential kindling.

“Grass fires start incredibly easily, they spread quickly. They move at least three times as quick as a bushfire and therefore they can have a significant impact, especially on agricultural assets and things like livestock,” he said.

“It can basically destroy crops, and with many of these farmers who have been obviously suffering through the drought, the last thing we want is them to lose what could be a record crop due to fire.”

After three years of drought, Orana RFS district manager Bronwyn Waters said crop levels were “wall to wall”, but with many farmers selling off their cattle and sheep stock during the period, they couldn’t rely on four-legged lawnmowers to keep grass levels in check. “Last year, there wasn’t really much at all. It was mostly dirt in a lot of places, extremely dry … with the rains, it is just amazing how quickly the country has recovered,” Ms Waters said.

“I’m a bit nervous about it. I think that’s one of the biggest issues, especially with grass fires, it can change really quickly. And because we are unable to get our trucks on the ground at the moment, it restricts what work we can get done.”

Western Sydney University bushfire expert Grahame Douglas said the overall threat was contingent upon the La Nina weather event, with a wet summer likely to decrease the threat of hazardous areas drying out. “The biggest risk at the moment is the central west of the state, between Victoria through to Queensland all the other side of the Great Eastern Ranges. It’s potentially going to be quite serious if we don’t keep getting a bit of moisture.”