Crown land next to private burn priority
Priority should be given to prescribed burns on bushland that shares a boundary with private properties, according to Northcliffe firefighters.
An additional $20 million to be spent in four years on the prescribed burning program in the South West was last week announced in the lead-up to the 2015/16 State Budget.
Northcliffe Bushfire Brigade captain Rod Parkes said he had been in a meeting with Warren-Blackwood MLA Terry Redman about using Royalties for Regions funds to increase burn-offs prior to the Budget announcement and was all for the idea.
"It's very good the money has been made available but it's only a start," he said.
Brigade committee member Peter Hill said the priority for future burns should be Department of Parks and Wildlife land that bordered private properties.
"They're the most expensive burns because they're trickier to do," he said.
"Strategically, they're more important. You burn the three kilometres around a property and then if another fire does come through the area, it will stop at that previously burned area and get no closer to the property."
Mr Parkes said night burns could also be an option because they required more people, not more equipment.
Both men agreed there were small windows in which to do prescribed burns - during spring and autumn.
