General News
13 November, 2024
Heavy fuel loads to blame for North West fire season: mayor
John Wharton says more needs to be done in the vegetation management space to prevent a repeat fire season.
With the heaviest fuel load in four decades feeding dozens of massive fires across the North West there is an urgent need for the new Crisafulli government to review vegetation management laws to strengthen landholder fire preparedness, says Richmond mayor John Wharton.
Fire fronts extending for hundreds of kilometres have roared from Camooweal to the Gulf and east of Hughenden in recent weeks, destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of productive grassland, threatening properties and even prompting a warning for Cloncurry residents to prepare to evacuate.
Rural firefighters and landholders have been forced to work around the clock across multiple locations in complex coordinated operations involving multiple aerial water bombers and rotating fire crew deployments.
More than 300,000 hectares was also burning between Richmond and Croydon in recent weeks prompting a local fire ban across the Flinders, Richmond, Croydon, and Etheridge Local Government Areas that ended at the weekend.
Cr Wharton said it was at least four decades since comparable fuel loads had been seen on many properties across the region. He said declining cattle numbers had contributed to the heavy fuel load feeding the massive fires.
“There have been a few good seasons in a row and not a lot of cattle,” Cr Wharton said.
“This year we’ve seen it – landowners have a lot of grass but they’re not buying cattle ’cause they’re nervous. But if you don’t eat it, it will burn.”
Meat and Livestock Australia says the national cattle herd size has declined in the past year as producers offload cattle.
Numbers going through meat processing facilities have risen by more than 20 per cent compared to last year, with many meatworks now fully booked at least one month in advance.
According to Elders, live exporters have also started buying Queensland cattle to fill orders as supplies of Northern Territory pastoral cattle have dried up.
Cr Wharton said a combination of successive state governments appeasing the green vote in cities, especially by restricting land management laws, had reduced the ability of landholders to adequately prepare for the fire season.
“A lot of the responsibility to prepare for fires falls on the shoulders of the landowner,” he told North West Weekly.
“We haven’t had the same fuel fires since the 1970s or 80s – when these big seasons come back you have got to prepare for big fires.
“The younger landowners these days probably have not had to fight such big fires, so this has all probably been a learning experience for them.
“But you are not allowed to clear enough of your area of land – if landowners could clear their fences and their roads and clear fire breaks, they would be in a much better position.”
Cr Wharton called on the new Crisafulli government to empower landholders, local governments and national park operators to be able to manage their land without restrictions dictated by Brisbane-based bureaucrats.
He said the state government should immediately review the vegetation management laws.
“People are scared to knock down a tree – you can see it on the Flinders Highway – there are trees that close to the bitumen that trucks are banging their mirrors on them,” he said.
“We have got to get past this debate and start focusing on the safety of the travelling public and the livelihood of landowners. We need to look at the Vegetation Management Act, we need to allow landholders to clear their boundaries sufficiently, we need to tell national parks to put in decent fire breaks – all these common-sense things have gone out the window during the past 25 years and it is just ridiculous.”