Private Fire Fighting Units

Private Fire Fighting Units

We are seeing an increase in privately owned fire fighting equipment across Australia as rural people are deciding to ‘go it alone’. In NSW, farmers are working with their neighbours to provide fire protection that was once coordinated and supported by the state of NSW.

We are also seeing a trend where the NSW RFS is holding fire crews back from active firefighting activities because they are concerned about the safety of their volunteers. At the same time, the RFS is determined to stop the freelance firefighters and local land owners from battling the fires without the RFS.

Nowra men’s group learn about cultural burns

Moves are being made in the Shoalhaven to revive the ancient art of firestick teams and cultural burns.
Eight members of the Djuwin Mudjingaalbaraga Men’s Group have undertaken fireground training with the Rural Fire Service in preparation of forming a local firestick team.
Through his job, National Parks and Wildlife Services ranger Noel Webster, one of the facilitators of the program, has attended a number of workshops around the country and came up with the idea that could be adopted at a local level.
“We have developed a partnership with the Djuwin men’s group, Grand Pacific Health, RFS and NPWS to facilitate the program,” Mr Webster said.

Frenchie and Barry Mac are back

Frenchie and Barry Mac are back

Graham French and Barry Mac (formerly the morning show team at South Coast Radio 2ST) are moving back to Community Radio.

The show starts on Thur, 12th Jan at 9:00am on Community Radio Triple U FM.

Don’t miss this first program with the VFFA President, Mick Holton talking about four key areas of VFFA focus:

1. Bullying and Harassment
2. Let’s put the RURAL back into the Rural Fire Service
3. Funding Arrangements
4. Common sense approaches towards firefighting and land management

Credits where credit’s due for frequent fires program

Credits where credit’s due for frequent fires program

Mr Bangmorra role is to use his expertise in preventing exactly the types of savanna bushfires that emit an estimated two gigatonnes of carbon worldwide each year. His is a risky and difficult craft, he carries out cool-weather burns in a mosaic pattern that stop summer bushfires in their tracks and this makes him very valuable in what is increasingly called the carbon economy.

Traditional knowledge of Indigenous fire practices burns pathway to safer, healthier country

Traditional knowledge of Indigenous fire practices burns pathway to safer, healthier country

“What we see here is what I call ‘upside down’ country,” Victor Steffenson says, taking in the typical bush setting around us.

“Where you see the roots sticking in the air and the canopy on the ground; thick on the ground and thin on the top.”

He points to several of the large parent trees whose tall trunks tower above the understorey.

Some have long black scars extending from the ground to several metres above our heads while others appear completely blackened and lifeless.

“You can see from the state of them, the hot fires have come and just been way too hot,” Mr Steffenson explained.

“And when we look at the forest floor, there’s no shade from these big bloodwood trees anymore [so] eventually, if we don’t do anything, more hot fires will come and all the black wattle that’s thickening the understory will burn hot again.

“All we’re going to have is dead wood, rubbish and more black wattle coming up and less grass.”

Firing up Farm Management – The Land

Charlie Massy trials fire stick methods in the Monaro.
Indigenous burning utilising the plant’s adaptations to fire throughout millions of years. “Some Indigenous people believe the die-back of cer­tain populations of eucalypts on the Monaro and other regions has occurred be­cause of the lack of burning” he said. “Burning gets the ecology going… it kills pests which threaten plants, kills exotic seed loads, puts charcoal back into the soil and it gen­erates the germination of na­tive plant seed and tubers.”

Ecology and Economy (in the US)

Without large-scale implementation of fire hazard reduction treatments, the costs of uncharacteristic crown fires in southwest forests will continue to increase. Federal policy continues to allocate vastly more funds to suppression than to prefire hazard reduction. We examined the economic rationality of continuing this policy of emphasizing fire suppression activities over restoration-based fire hazard reduction treatments. We compared treatment plus fire suppression costs to the cost of fire suppression without treatments over 40 years for southwestern forests. This avoided-cost analysis estimates the amount one could invest in treatments to avoid the future cost of fire suppression. Using conservative economic values, we found that avoided future costs justifies spending $238-601/ac for hazard reduction treatments in the southwest. We conclude that the policy of underfunding hazard reduction treatments does not represent rational economic behaviour, because funding hazard reduction would pay for itself by lowering future fire suppression costs.

Ecological Burning

The Sugar Bag Project

Mike Lewis from Charles Darwin University talks with elder Tommy George about stingless bees and hives. Learn how traditional knowledge and cool burning can positively affect the abundance of flora and the bees.

Please Note: This video contains images and video footage of Awu Laya Elder, Dr Tommy George who passed away July 29, 2016. Dr Tommy George was the last fluent speaker of the Kuku Thaypan language. He was awarded an honorary Ph.D with his brother Dr George Musgrave, for their extensive Indigenous knowledge. He co-founded the Living Knowledge Place, Indigenous Fire Workshop, and Laura Dance Festival. His influence extends throughout Australia and the world.

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