March fire meeting

Conservationists from the Bendigo and Otways regions met with DEPI senior staff in March to discuss matters to do with the Fire Operations Plan. Excellent detailed notes on this meeting can be found on the Living with Ecology and Fire website. Among other things, DEPI Deputy Director Paul Smith made the observation to the meeting that smaller burns are more surgical and more costly, being closer to assets (e.g. townships). The worrying thing about this common sense observation is that it tends to confirm our suspicion that DEPI is under pressure to avoid small burns because they cost too much.