Talking Point: After scary brush with fire, I’m ready to learn more about indigenous fire knowledge

GRAHAM MCLEAN was told to leave his dream home by a firm Tasmania Fire Service officer

SHOCK: Graham McLean heard a helicopter and hurriedly checked the TFS fire map online. He saw his area highlighted by the flames signifying a bushfire alert.

BEING confronted by a Tasmania Fire Service officer at the front door demanding very stridently and forcefully that I must “LEAVE NOW!” is not something a former suburbanite from Melbourne is ready for.

I escaped from Victoria some 18 years ago to continue a love affair with Tasmania that started in 1954 when as a schoolboy I hitchhiked around the state. Since then I visited the state many times pursuing different activities, and on recovering from a life-threatening illness my then wife and I decided we’d had enough on the “mainland” – it was a no-brainer to settle down here.

My property in Glenfern is 41ha of wonderful Tasmanian forest with a Conservation Covenant on it. I find it a haven of peace and tranquillity, and the vista is breathtaking, something no suburbanite can imagine and rarely experience.

However, in late October I became aware of the sound of a helicopter overhead – a noise generally associated with waterbombing and bushfires – and hurriedly checked the TFS fire map online. To my shock my locality was highlighted by the flames signifying a bushfire alert, and it was then I was confronted by the TFS Officer at my front door. Having explained my fire protection equipment, the officer relented and allowed me to stay.

Later that day I attempted to drive to my supply town (by the only escape route from my property), but was confronted by impenetrable smoke and a raging fire in the roadside vegetation and retreated hurriedly. Later the TFS officer returned and advised that I could leave with care.

I stayed that night with my partner in Derwent Park and returned the next morning to find that on approaching my house the vegetation was ablaze. I don’t think I can adequately express my shock and horror at the prospect of my home going up in flames, especially when I could have stayed home the previous evening and fought the fire with my defences. As it turned out, the fire was a backburn initiated by the TFS and on continuing up my drive I came across a group of TFS officers enjoying a morning cuppa and my home still standing.

The guilt I felt about not being present to protect my home almost overwhelmed me, despite being unwarranted given the TFS actions in protecting my property. I still feel uneasy when I look at the revegetating bush in the backburn area, however I draw some comfort in that about 50 per cent of my property has effectively been subjected to a fuel reduction burn and thus is somewhat protected for the near future.

Given my experience, and Tasmania’s horrific summer in 2019 (as well as the terrible fire events on the mainland recently), I was very happy to assist in putting together a forum of leading experts in the field of protecting property with fuel reduction burns, including Professor Bill Gammage (author of The Greatest Estate on Earth). This event will be held at the Ross Hall on Saturday, May 2 and any landowner interested in a wealth of information dealing on the subject should consider attending.

Bookings can be made at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/land-management-for-conservation-truths-from-the-first-tasmanians-tickets-97029288213.

The forum is a collaboration between Conservation Landholders Tasmania and Reconciliation Tasmania.

Graham McLean is honorary treasurer of Reconciliation Tasmania and a trustee and honorary treasurer of Conservation Landholders Tasmania.