Fire ire: Farmers’ management concerns after Grampians, Little Desert fires

Crucial hours lost, fewer strategic burns and a “severe lack” of communication are country firefighters’ leading concerns, after two major national park fires.

Crucial hours lost, fewer strategic burns and a “severe lack” of communication are Victorian volunteer firefighters’ brewing concerns amid calls for change in the management of the state’s response to bushfire.

Regional communities are hosting meetings across Victoria following the Little Desert and Grampians National Park fires, to air their grievances about statewide fire management.

Dimboola farmer Simon Nuske believed there was a “severe lack of communication” between state management and rural fire brigades, adding he was lucky to be forewarned about the recent fire’s severity by a friend.

“It could have been a lot different. I could’ve lost all my sheds, but I was out there fighting on my block,” he told a Winiam Hall meeting last week.

“It gave me time to do my things and put my things in place, but it could’ve saved other people too.”

Farmers and Nhill district residents met at Winiam Hall to discuss an alleged dingo breeding program, a fire levy, and the Little Desert National Park fires. Picture: Rachel Simmonds

CFA volunteer Mark Colbert was part of the Little Desert National Park firefighting efforts on January 27, and said there needed to be more strategic burn-offs and better communication.

“The best part of the day, we are not active,” he said. “We get nothing done between daybreak and midday because of meetings, we cannot go and act on our own directives. We must have DEECA approval, we cannot move.

“Some days there are hours lost in those critical times. That has to be my biggest operational bugbear.”

Rainbow’s Tony Clark, who is also a police officer in the township, said he hoped to see emergencies better streamlined.

“I’ve worked in (the incident centre) on the police side, and it’s just been a bloody nightmare,” he said.

Meeting chair and Lawloit farmer John Bennett said there were past meetings between senior fire authorities and rural brigades about the Little Desert’s management.

“Those guys had intimate knowledge of their environment in the scrub … Is that still happening?,” he said.

Lowan Nationals MP Emma Kealy, Forest Fire Management Victoria and CFA representatives will meet at Willaura Memorial Hall on Wednesday to review the Grampians National Park fire.

Grampians Asset Protection group secretary and Howitt Society president Peter Flinn said the meeting would call for more effective and timely fire prevention with broadscale fuel reduction and firebreak rehabilitation.

“Obviously, rapid suppression is vital in dangerous fire weather, but a response-only strategy, as favoured by some environmentalists, would be disastrous,” he said.

“In particular, the path of the Yarram Gap fire was eerily similar to that of 2006 in so many ways, and it begs the question as to whether we have learnt from history.”