10 June 2016 – Strategic Fire Planning Presentation in Castlemaine
Posted on 2 June, 2016 by Connecting Country
The guest speakers for the June meeting of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club (CFNC) are Paul Bates (District Manager, Murray Goldfields District, DELWP) and Ben Matthews (Regional Fire Planner – Loddon Mallee Region, DELWP).
Paul has provided the following information about the presentation:
“We would like to talk about strategic fire planning and the risk based approach to fuel management. This work is guided by government policy called Safer Together which can be summarised as follows: Safer Together – our new approach to bushfire management, combines stronger community partnerships with the latest science and information to more effectively target our actions to reduce our bushfire risk. We will use a risk reduction target across public and private land to focus our bushfire management activities (like planned burning) in areas we know (through fire modelling) will have the greatest impact.
Our planned burning program under this new risk target does not mean we will burn less, or burn more – it means we will be burning smarter.”
There will be ample time for questions after their presentation.
As per usual for the CFNC, this free presentation will occur on the second Friday of the month (10 June), commencing from 7.30pm. It will be held in the Fellowship room, which is located in the hall behind the Uniting Church (On Lyttleton St, next door to the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum). Visitors welcome. Tea and coffee afterwards.
Too many DELWP staff do not understand true Risk-based Fire Planning. Some DELWP staff assume that the 1st step in risk-based fire planning is to equate high fuel (as estimated, not measured) with high risk. The 1st step in risk-based fire planning is to identify & locate the assets in the area under consideration. Then highlight those assets that would be affected by being burnt, and then those affected assets that are realistically threatened by wildfire or by escapes from planned burns.
Some DELWP staff understand the freedoms offered by the new Government policy. We should assist these staff in bringing the (decreasing) remainder of DELWP staff on this journey.
Unfortunately, as scheduled, this meeting conflicts with the Campaspe Valley Landcare Meeting in Barfold.