By MARA PATTISON-SOWDEN
THE Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges has been part of a coalition government milestone with more than 200,000 hectares of planned burning carried out across the state during this financial year.
The government said planned burns will continue as weather conditions remain stable, but the full 220,000 hectares still falls short of the annual 5 per cent target that the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission recommended.
In the previous state government’s 2010 submission it estimated there were 5.5 million treatable hectares in Victoria, and the recommended five per cent would be about 275,000 hectares.
But Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe said an extra $33.7 million over the next two years, announced in last week’s budget, will help expand the government’s planned burning program.
She said the funding announcement was in line with the Napthine Government’s commitment to deliver on all recommendations made by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, specifically Recommendation 56 – the five per cent target.
“The Napthine Government is putting the safety of the Yarra Valley first by undertaking sensible planned burning,” she said.
“High vegetation levels and fuel loads were a key component of the intensity of the catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed 173 lives.
“Reducing fuel loads on public land is a very effective technique for preventing bushfires.”
Environment Minister Ryan Smith said reaching the 200,000 hectare mark was a significant achievement and reflected the hard work of fire crews from the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) and Parks Victoria.
“Despite a prolonged bushfire season followed by significant rain, planned burning has been carried out on almost 220,000 hectares of public land.
“This is 22,000 hectares more than was accomplished last year,” he said.
“Our crews have done an amazing job and have been able to seamlessly switch from fighting some of the largest bushfires in the past several decades to preparing and undertaking the largest planned burning program in the last 20 years.
“We’ve also done a lot of other work to reduce fuel loads including slashing, mowing and clearing in high-risk areas such as the Dandenong Ranges.”
Fire crews from DEPI and Parks Victoria will take advantage of stable weather conditions to carry out planned burns across the state over the coming week.
