Eleven community meetings have been conducted around the state, resulting in hundreds of Victorians from rural areas having a say about the need for better land and fire management.

Many have expressed the view that current management is not providing the best outcomes for the environment or communities.

The objective of this campaign is to bring about policy change that results in a reduction of roadside and forest fuel levels.

This will be achieved by:

• Accepting the parliamentary Environment and Natural Resources Committee and royal commission recommendations to treble fuel reduction burning to 385,000 hectares per year (5% of the public land estate)
  
• Reinstating safe escape routes for rural communites by removing regulatory obstacles to roadside fuel management
  
• A review of seasonal, controlled grazing on public land as an ecological and fire management tool for land managers
• Encouraging active forest management through sustainable forestry
• Establishment of an independent Community Fire Forum to take community concerns direct to government

COMPLETE THE BUSHFIRE SURVEY VIA THE TAB ON LEFT HAND SIDE OF PAGE TO HAVE YOUR SAY ON LAND MANAGEMENT AND FIRE ISSUES

It is said that the first steps in solving a problem is to admit there is a problem, clearly identify the problem, collect information and then move to solving the problem.

There have clearly been problems with fire management, and broader public land management in Victoria for the last 25 years.

There has not yet been any acknowledgement, other than from Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin, that a failure to adopt recommendations from previous inquiries contributed to the environmental and human disaster of Black Saturday.

Many in the community voiced their concerns about fire and land management prior to the Alpine fires of 2003, the Great Divide fires of 2007 and the Black Saturday fires of 2009.  These concerns were largely brushed aside and little changed in how we prepared for fire.

Closing submissions from counsel assisting the royal commission suggest that it is highly likely multiple adverse findings will be made regarding the state's preparedness for bushfire.

The people of Victoria wait to see if the government has yet learned from the multiple disasters of the last decade.

DSE surveyed a portion of the Victorian community in May 2009 as they have done for the last five years to determine the attitudes of the Victorian community to various aspects of fire risk and planned burning programs.  This is a worthwhile exercise to determine if attitudes are changing and to measure response to education initiatives the department undertake to inform the public.

Some interesting results were gleaned from the results.  42% of respondents disagreed with the statement:  Victoria is well prepared for this current season.  This rose from 27% in 2008.

The vast majority of respondents, 81%, support DSE's prescribed burning program, which is very similar to the results so far from the VLA Bushfire Survey

93% of respondents to the DSE survey agreed that 'planned burning helps minimise the risk of intense bushfires'. 

These are figures the government should carefully scrutinise before determining their final response to royal commission recommendations.  The attitude of the public appears to be at odds with the submission presented to the commission by counsel representing the state on April 15th which can be seen here on ABC TV news.

The Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group have initiated an online survey for Dandenong Ranges residents to express their views on audible emergency alerts for communities in the Dandenong Ranges.

LINK to survey

Professor Mark Adams from the University of Sydney gave a very informative presentation on bushfires and prescribed burning effects on water yield at the Australian Environment Foundation annual conference in Canberra on October 20th 2009.

Professor Adams was able to show from the data he and his team have collected in the field that prescribed burning can increase the yield of water from catchments subjected to bushfire or conversely no fire at all.

LINK to conference presentation extract

The Victorian Lands Alliance has been invited, along with a number of other groups, to participate in a live-to air discussion on prescribed burning between 10am and 12 Noon on Monday November 23rd.

If you have something to contribute to this debate call ABC Melbourne on 1300 222 774 between 10am and 12 Noon.

The VLA commends ABC for taking the initiative in enhancing the public discussion of this vital issue.

The Australian Capital Territory government is under no illusions about the use of controlled cattle grazing as one of the tools available to the land manager to reduce fuel loads.  They are putting into practice commonsense management that strategically removes fuel from areas they want to protect.

This government says this is a useful land management tool and yet the Victorian government rejects this approach even when endorsed by its own experts and those commissioned to do research for them.  One of these governments must be right.

Read more....click on the link

The latest No Fuel No Fire meeting was held at Stawell on September 30th and heard from a range of speakers on fire management and prevention.  Acting District Manager of DSE, Mark Corr gave a comprehensive rundown on the operations his staff had planned for the upcoming season. 

Peter Marshall, National Secretary of the United Firefighters Union informed the meeting of the serious staffing deficiencies in some CFA districts and how this had been brought to the attention of the government some time ago.  Peter said in some areas, for some of the time, there were not enough staff volunteer or paid, to man a single truck in the event of a call out.

Philip Ingamells from the National Parks Association of Victoria gave the meeting an insight into the effects of prescribed burning on all aspects of biodiversity in the bush and the need for care in deciding how much prescribed burning should take place.

Dr Kevin Tolhurst, fire ecologist from Melbourne University showed the value of prescribed burning across the landscape and how this could protect flora and fauna in the event of wildfire.  The concept of 'fire shadow' in the wake of previous prescribed burning was of real interest to the meeting with the satellite imagery showing the obvious benefits.

Max Rheese from the VLA highlighted the inadequacies of funding and commitment by the government to the major recommendations of the well regarded Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Bushfires which tabled its report in parliament in June 2008.  This presentation showed that the continuing stream of reports and royal commission evidence bore testimony to the failure to act on past tragedies and previous inquiries into systemic land and fire managment failures.

Question time allowed the audience to elicit further information from the speakers until the chairman, local CFA captain, Lyall Johnson called a halt to proceedings and time out for a cuppa.

A thank you to the speakers and organisers was articulated by an audience member and was greeted with a strong round of applause.

Over 40 people attended the latest No Fuel No Fire meeting held at the Burrinja Cultural Centre at Upwey in the heart of the Dandenong Ranges on Thursday 3rd September 2009.

Guest speakers for the evening included Shane Vandenborn from DSE, bushfire expert Rod Incoll, Gwynne Brennan, Manager of Community Development with the CFA and Max Rheese from the Victorian Lands Alliance.

Rod Incoll, former Chief Fire Officer for public lands in Victoria from 1990-1996 holds a Diploma in Forestry and a degree in Social Sciences and is a member of Forest Fire Victoria. Rod developed fire management skills as a forester from 1960 and set up the Forest Commissions fire training 1971-72.

Rod spoke of several tools that are available through Styrox (an arm of the CSIRO) to assist in predicting the severity of possible fire threats and also enlightened the meeting of his own personal House Defense Rules that he has put in place for many years now.

Gwynne Brennan foreshadowed the changes that are being made with regard to information and warning systems for use during the bushfire season.   Gwynne commented on the difficulty the CFA has found previously in attempting to engage with and educate the public about fire and fire prevention.  She noted that the Fire Guard meeting that had been scheduled for Woodend had been cancelled as not one person had registered an interest in attending.

 Many questions followed from the audience as most were concerned about the risk to their families from current fuel loads in many parts of the Dandenong Ranges. 

Fire ecologist from the University of Melbourne, Dr Kevin Tolhurst, [pictured at right being interviewed at the meeting by ABC Radio] gave a very interesting insight into the long term benefits of fuel reduction burning in the broader landscape.  Dr Tolhurst showed slides of previous burns, both wildfire and prescribed burns, and their continued protective capabilities years after the burn.

Maps of previous burns and the 'fire shadow' effect they provide to large areas adjoining the burn area were stark examples of the value in reducing the available fuel for future fires over broader areas.

Some interesting facts were also provided to the meeting during question time when it was revealed that up to the meeting date very little had been to increase the intake of seasonal fire-fighters for the upcoming season.

This was raised by meeting attendees on Neil Mitchell's 3AW Morning program several days later, after the government announced what appears to be a very minimal increase in fire-fighter numbers for the 2009/ 2010 season - an increase of 50 for the whole state.

Fire-fighter numbers and season preparation will feature in future meetings.

More stickers are now available at No Fuel No Fire Community meetings

Dozens of people turned up on a rainy winters night, July 22nd to hear Professor Peter Attiwill give a talk on the effects of uncontrolled fire on the forest and in particular on water catchments.  These effects included a reduction of up to 30 per cent in water yield over 50 years if there was a substantial fire in the catchments. 

Edward O'Donohue MLC member for Eastern Region spoke on the parliamentary Bushfire Inquiry that tabled its report in June 2008.  The primary recommendation of that inquiry was a trebling of fuel reduction burning from the current level of 130,000 hectares to 385,000 hectares per year.  This recommendation has not been fully adopted by the government.   Mr O'Donohue launched a petition at the meeting calling for support for that recommendation.

DSE Fire Manager, Geoff Scales provided the meeting with detailed information on the many protocols that DSE and its fire-fighters are required to adhere to in conducting fuel reduction burns.  Meeting participants voiced their support for more controlled burning and acknowledged that whilst this was sometimes inconvenient with smoke and traffic disruption, controlled burning had the support of the community.  Not one person spoke against this practice.

VLA secretary Max Rheese informed the meeting that the VLA was very concerned that to date very little had been done to protect the community from a repeat of last summer's disaster.  The VLA had written to the Premier three times since Black Saturday on behalf of the community seeking a commitment to change in fire management.  but this had not occurred as yet.

Following the speakers an enthusiastic question time showed a high level of interest in obtaining more information.

Several motions calling for improvements to public land management were put to the meeting and overwhelmingly supported.

Parliamentary members from around the state used their time in the parliament to highlight the concerns of their constituents on various fire issues such as access, fuel reduction burning and roadside burning.  Issues we have all discussed many times before.

Craig Ingram member for Gippsland East on fuel reduction targets                June 3rd 2009

Terry Mulder member for Polwarth presenting No Fuel No Fire motions          June 2nd 2009

Donna Petrovich member for Northern Victoria on Barmah forest fire

Edward O'Donohue member for Eastern Victoria on fuel loads and fire risk    June 2nd 2009

Gary Blackwood member for Narracan with a petition on roadside burning    May 6th  2009

A public meeting to discuss public land management co-hosted by member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram and the Victorian Lands Alliance was held in Bairnsdale on May 19th 2009 and attended by approximately 110 people.

Craig Ingram is the deputy chair of the parliamentary Environment and Natural Resources Committee which was given a reference by the parliament to investigate the Impacts of Public Land Management Practices on Bushfires in Victoria.  This resulted in a well regarded, comprehensive report that was tabled in parliament on June 26th 2008, seven months before the Black Saturday fires.  The major recommendation of this inquiry report was a trebling of fuel reduction burning to 385,000 hectares per year.

Craig made the point in his presentation, as the member for Gippsland East, that the government had not responded anywhere near well enough to the Inquiry report and the accepted view was that an effective response was stymied by Treasury bureaucrats.  He also made the point that, on financial considerations only, of suppression and recovery costs of $1B for the Black Saturday fires against a rise in funding and resources for fire prevention from the current level of $10M per year, an increase as suggested was a no-brainer.  If the cost of lost water yield, timber production and environmental outcomes were to also be included in the costs of the fires then prevention is a much better return on investment than extra money spent on suppression.  This is the area where we need a fundamental policy shift in public land management according to Craig – from fire suppression to fire prevention.

Craig launched his petition [pictured above] to be presented to the parliament at the meeting.

The chairman of the East Gippsland Wildfire Taskforce, John Mulligan spoke of the need to bring about change to the management of vegetation on roadsides to provide safe escape routes for residents in the event of fire.  The build up of vegetation on roadsides had put many communities at risk.

Bushfire researcher David Packham OAM spoke next on some of the physics of fire.  One point that David made was that Black Saturday was not an unprecedented fire event for Victoria.  On the elements of fire, David spoke of the fire trinity, the three essential elements for fire: elevated temperatures, ignition and fuel.  The only element that the community has any real control over is the level of fuel and this is the key to fire management in Victoria.  The upper level of fuel per hectare on average for safe control of fire is considered to be about 8 tonnes per hectare.  David made comparisons between the fuel reduction burning regime in Western Australia at levels of around 18 per cent of the landscape and the current situation in Victoria at just over 1 per cent.

The next speaker was the DSE Land and Fire Manager for East Gippsland, David Tainsh who gave an outline of the Codes of Practice and Fire Protection Plans that the land managers work to in providing fire protection for public land.  An interesting point made was that there was no dispute that fuel reduction burning would occur, only the amount that would be burnt.  David highlighted the number of codes, plans and regulations he and his staff are required to comply with in carrying out their burn activities. 

The last speaker was Max Rheese from the Victorian Lands Alliance who started by highlighting the need for change by improving public land management and in particular, fire management.  Max pointed out the response from the government in the Victorian parliament, which failed to initiate the change that was evidently required from the Committee report.  Max’s presentation also made the point that the level of funding, as announced, for fuel reduction burning had not changed from prior to the Black Saturday fires, nor had the target for fuel reduction burning changed as announced in the 2009 Budget papers. 

Almost 12 months since the Inquiry handed down its recommendation for a quantum increase in fuel reduction burning and recommendations on staffing and resources for public land managers there has been no change on these issues.

After considerable discussion and questions, the following motions were passed by the meeting at a ratio of 105 for to 1 opposed.

Motion 1:
 Directed to the Premier, John Brumby:
 That seasonal cattle grazing be allowed to be a part of fire management in the East Gippsland area.

Motion 2:
 Directed to the Premier, John Brumby:
 Recent catastrophic fire events have increased the concern of the East Gippsland community with the management of many areas of public land in this region.  We call upon you to provide sufficient resources and to direct the Department of Sustainability and Environment to undertake all necessary fire prevention works without delay to minimise the risk of wildfire to the community.
 
Motion 3:
Directed to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria:
 That the people of Victoria draws to the attention of the house the devastating impact of the State Government's public land and fire management practices. This meeting therefore requests that the Legislative Assembly calls on the State Government to fully implement the recommendations of the Environment & Natural Resources Committee's (ENRC) report into public land management, including providing the resources and direction to increase the levels of fuel reduction and ecological burning to 385,000 hectares per annum.
 
Motion 4:
Directed to the Premier, John Brumby:
 The communities of eastern Gippsland request that your government provide direct financial and administrative support, without delay, to CFA brigades to enable sufficient roadside fuel reduction burning to provide firebreaks and safe fire escape routes for rural communities.
 
Motion 5:
Directed to the Premier, John Brumby:
 On page 4 of The People’s Review of Bushfires, [previously presented to your government] it states that in the case of fire much of the basic knowledge about local topography, fire and wind conditions lies not with city-based institutions, but with the local people themselves.  This is why the people need such a strong voice.  The People’s Review recommends the establishment of a State-wide peak fire forum for the people, which they have chosen to call the People’s Fire Forum to urge the people to pick up where this People’s Review concludes and carry forward the imperative that the people have a right to be heard, their views assessed and changes implemented.
Since the People’s Review, the Victorian Lands Alliance, a non-government body, has been established, and this meeting moves that they are appointed as this recommended State-wide peak fire forum, to speak for the people.

A public meeting which attracted 120 attendees was held in Inverleigh, 27kms west of Geelong, on Monday 20th April 2009 to mark the beginning of the local community's fight to have their voice heard in regards to the safety of their town from bushfire.

The meeting heard some strongly held views on current public land management and participants were largely in accord with the need to bring about better outcomes from fire prevention works.

Speakers for the evening included Andrea Bolton, spokesperson for the Inverleigh No Fuel No Fire group, Ross Peel from the Inverleigh Progress Association, Alan Guilfoyle Electorate Officer for Peter Kavanagh MLC, Lee Gleeson Fuel Management Officer, Midlands Fire District DSE, Ray Evans a participant in public policy discussion for many years, Richard Palmer from the Friends of Inverleigh and Max Rheese, secretary of the Victorian Lands Alliance.

Others who were present to answer questions from the community included David Roberts Ranger In Charge, Parks Victoria, David Koch, Liberal member for Western Region and Cr. Jenny Blake, Mayor of Golden Plains Shire who commented that local council did not have the ability to instruct government employed land managers to undertake the fire prevention works considered necessary to provide a minimum of risk to the community from bushfire.

In response to the speakers presentations and to issues arising from questions, the meeting moved to present two motions on fire prevention to the Premier, John Brumby without delay.  These were passed unanimously.

The Inverleigh No Fuel No Fire group has taken the cue from other Victorian communities and produced this postcard.  A total of 2000 of these postcards are being distributed throughout the Golden Plains Shire (27kms west of Geelong) calling on the premier to direct Parks Victoria to undertake proper fire prevention works on public land.  Already 1150 of these cards are signed and ready to go.  Residents, visitors and anyone else who is interested in the safe and sustainable management of public land are encouraged to obtain one of these postcards and mail to the Premier without delay.  See our Contacts page.

Click on postcard to see enlarged image

At 11.30am on Saturday April 4^th members of a number of Victorian communities gathered at the Fernshaw Reserve in the Yarra Ranges National Park to launch a campaign to triple the amount of fuel reduction burning on public land.

This campaign recognises that prescribed burning is not a panacea for bushfire control and is just one of a suite of forest management tools available to the forester.

The No Fuel No Fire campaign was launched by Christine Fyffe MP local member for the state seat of Evelyn and member of the parliamentary Environment and Natural Resources Committee which tabled a report in parliament in June 2008 calling for a tripling of prescribed burning to 385,000 hectares per year.  The Environment minister in his response to this recommendation in parliament did not support “hectare based targets” for fuel reduction burning.

At the launch, Ms Fyffe spoke of the need to care for the bush and the whole environment and that realistic fuel reduction targets were part of the management required if the community were to avoid further events such as Black Saturday.

Fernshaw Reserve was chosen for the launch as an example of the value of management of the natural environment.  Although surrounded by burnt forest in the national park, this small reserve was untouched by fire as there was a minimum of fuel in the reserve because of management.  Similar examples existed in fire areas, where landholders who removed vegetation close to their homes – sometimes in defiance of regulations – survived unscathed.

Several speakers from communities, as yet untouched by fire, spoke of the danger to their communities from unmanaged public land adjoining their communities.  Andrea Bolton from Inverleigh, 27km west of Geelong, said the 1000 hectare Inverleigh common posed an unacceptable fire risk to her home and community.  Max Rheese spoke of the Barmah community’s unsuccessful campaign to have fuel reduction works undertaken in the Barmah forest by the Department of Sustainability and Environment because of community fear of a firestorm destroying the town, which adjoins the forest.

David Barton, a resident of Marysville and member of the local SES told of the ordeal suffered by himself, his wife and other residents on Black Saturday and the frustration he felt from the apathy displayed by public land managers to the repeated calls for fuel management over the last decade.

Healesville, Marysville, Inverleigh and Barmah communities have come together to launch the No Fire No Fuel campaign while communities at Colac, Cohuna and Bairnsdale are preparing for meetings in their communities calling for a change to public land management practices.

20,000 No Fuel No Fire bumper stickers have been distributed with another print run being organised.

Paul Weller MP for the northern Victorian electorate of Rodney launched the No Fuel No Fire sticker at a community meeting in Barmah on Tuesday April 7^th at 10.30am.  The emphasis in the red gum forests is fuel reduction through controlled, seasonal grazing rather than fuel reduction burns because of the sensitivity of red gums to fire.