Category Archives: Fire Management

Fire

Posted on 12 September, 2016 by fobif

DELWP seems to be expanding and varying its community consultation processes on fire. A ‘listening post’ was conducted by fire officers in Castlemaine on Saturday; and last Wednesday representatives of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists toured the district with the Department’s … Continue reading →

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Yes we do, no we don’t

Posted on 5 September, 2016 by fobif

Do we know enough about fire behaviour to justify present fuel management practices? ‘Of course we do! Our practice is informed by generations of research and experience!’ is one view. ‘No: our practices are blunt and often blind to local … Continue reading →

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Aboriginal fire for the goldfields

Posted on 13 June, 2016 by fobif

Some intriguing ideas on fire were floated by DELWP fire managers at a briefing to the June Meeting of the Castlemaine field naturalists last Friday. Most of what the officers said related to DELWP’s change to a risk management fire … Continue reading →

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Fire: change, slowly

Posted on 30 May, 2016 by fobif

On Tuesday May 24 DELWP held an information session in Bendigo on future fire plans for the region, including draft maps showing possible new fuel reduction zones under the risk management system. A similar session will be held in Castlemaine … Continue reading →

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What do we know about all these burns?

Posted on 12 May, 2016 by fobif

Two of the terms of reference of the current enquiry [see above] relate to the environment. It’s fair to say that a recurring question–probably since Black Friday in 1939–is, how much fire can our environment stand before it starts turning … Continue reading →

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Here we go again

Posted on 15 February, 2016 by fobif

Like many other groups, FOBIF has been invited to make a submission to the fire planning process this year. The substance of our submission is as follows: Our views on fire management have not changed since our 2015 submission, the … Continue reading →

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It’s Australia’s only National Heritage Park: so, should it be managed in a unique way?

Posted on 14 December, 2015 by fobif

What is a heritage landscape, and what difference does the tag ‘heritage’ make to the way a landscape should be managed? Of course, all landscapes are ‘heritage’ or ‘cultural’ landscapes in one way or another: but there’s only one in … Continue reading →

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‘Risk management’: what does it mean, in practice?

Posted on 22 November, 2015 by fobif

The recently abolished ‘five per cent target’ policy aimed at burning at least 390, 000 hectares of public land per year. This target was never reached, and was probably never going to be possible. In the last five years, the … Continue reading →

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Lessons from Lancefield [1]: resourcing

Posted on 22 November, 2015 by fobif

The management burn which escaped from the Cobaw State Forest in October with disastrous results was the subject of an independent investigation led by Stuart Carter. His report was released last week. It can be found here. We won’t comment … Continue reading →

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Lessons from Lancefield [2]: public land, private land

Posted on 22 November, 2015 by fobif

A second point worth highlighting in the Carter report is the importance of integrating public and private land in fire preparations. The report says: ‘The Department must adopt a tenure-­‐blind approach to the management of bushfire risk including the planning … Continue reading →

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