The Minister for the Environment has advised she will ask Departmental staff for specific advice on the condition of East Gippsland fire tracks after being questioned by the Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, in Parliament this week.
Mr Bull said he was pleased with the Minister’s response, which he said was likely to reveal a considerable amount of maintenance is required.
“I stressed to the Minister I was not raising the matter for political purposes as this has clearly not happened overnight, but for community safety reasons. It followed a recent tour of some fire tracks just north of Bairnsdale with a concerned resident and experienced bushman.
“We travelled along, or attempted to travel along fire access tracks located in the Asset Protection Zone (APZ) just north of Bairnsdale. These APZ’s are the areas nearest to public assets (population centres) and are to be given the highest priority.
“There were many tracks in the APZ north of Bairnsdale that were inaccessible and had not been maintained with sections washed out and overgrown and certainly not a track you could take an emergency vehicle down responding to a bushfire.”
Mr Bull told Parliament a recent report by the Inspector General for Emergency Management (IGEM) highlighted the need for fire track maintenance for rapid responses.
“There has been a lot of media around more fire-fighting aircraft for this summer, but based on what I was shown, it appears one of the most basic and important fire protection measures is being overlooked.
“Fire fighters have explained to me the lack of maintenance on fire access tracks is becoming one of the biggest impediments to successfully fighting fires and rapid response.
“Recent fire events have shown what can happen when fires are left to burn and conditions change.
“In recent events, decisions were made to put remote fires on a watch status, waiting for the fire to come out. However, when it came out, it was in conditions that made it unstoppable and homes and assets were lost.
“It has been recognised by IGEM that where possible, rapid responses are required to attack fires early. That is why the basic fundamental of clearing tracks and ongoing maintenance needs to be done, particularly in APZ areas.
“Each year Victoria allocates a large budget to fighting what are now called ‘campaign fires’ when they are out of control and I believe more of this budget could be put into prevention in this important area,” Mr Bull told the Legislative Assembly.
In her response, Minister Lisa Neville, acknowledged East Gippsland is a fire prone area and once she has received the information on the state of the tracks, she would provide further information.
Mr Bull thanked the Minister for her response and said he was aware there were budget pressures, but hoped some more funds could be allocated to this prevention work, which in some cases may avoid the massive costs of a major fire event.
