As bushfire window shrinks, ‘we need to get inventive’, says commissioner

Authorities need new ways to mitigate bushfires due to ‘shrinking windows’ for conventional risk reduction.

Danny Wearne surveys the bushfire damage to his property in Rainbow Flat. Picture: Getty

Authorities need new approaches to mitigate bushfires beyond hazard­ reduction burns because of “shrinking windows” for conventional risk reduction, NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on Wednesday.

One expert said new techniques could include planting “fireproof trees”, developing more golf courses, parks and other public­ open spaces for fire breaks and safety zones, more mechanical thinning and removal of undergrowth, and concentrating animals including goats to eat grass and shrubs.

READ MORE:

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. Picture: Getty

In NSW, the fire threat eased substantially on Wednesday but Mr Fitzsimmons warned that “the risk is here, the risk is real … the worst is still ahead”, with 63 bush and grass fires still burning, of which 21 were out of control.

Many huge fires still blazed in the state’s northeast, with one at Hillville near Taree re-emerging as a threat in the late afternoon with an emergency warning to some residents to take shelter, as water bombers were deployed.

By Wednesday evening, NSW, which remains in a declared state of emergency, had 14 watch-and-act alerts still current, but only the one top-level emergency warning at Hillville, compared with a high of 19 such alerts on Tuesday.

Cattle farmer David Callaugham helps to fight a fire on his property at Possum Brush south of Taree. Picture: John Feder

The fires, which have burnt out more than 1.1 million hectares in the state, remained within striking range of towns including Tenterfield, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey and Wauchope.

Mr Fitzsimons told journalists extensive advance planning, hard work on the day, and somewhat less severe climatic conditions than expected had combined to limit what could have been catastrophic results on Tuesday from more than 70 bushfires.

Very strong winds and high temperatures had not lasted as long as expected before a cool change came through, while the extent of smoke cover in some areas had actually reduced heat.

Fifty further homes had been damaged or destroyed for a total of more than 300 this season, Mr Fitzsimmons said, but there had been no life-threatening injuries.

Without careful deployment of thousands of firefighters and more than 100 aircraft, “the reality could be a whole lot worse”, he said, with potentially thousands of homes lost and many deaths. The Insurance Council of Australia said 450 claims had been lodged connected with the fires in NSW and Queensland, with an initial estimated cost of $50m.

A spokeswoman said the cost was likely to rise substantially as homeowners progressively had a chance to get back to their properties and check damage.

Mr Fitzsimmons said fire seasons were “starting earlier and extending longer”. Opportunities for traditional authorised fuel burns in spring had become limited by early hot and dry weather when it was too dangerous, while in winter such hazard reduction produced too much smoke in damper conditions, which choked urban areas.

The commissioner said auth­or­it­ies needed new approaches to deal with “the challenge of shrinking windows of opportunities for mitigation”.

The director of the Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania, David Bowman, said politicians and officials had a chance to lead new ways of handling fire mitig­ation. These included planting fireproof trees to make “green firebreaks”, and using herds of goats to clear flammable scrub.