Burn it now

By Casey Neill
AN UPWEY man is calling on the DSE to help save the hills ahead of a predicted summer bushfire onslaught.
Wolf Wirthensohn is concerned an area of bushland below his Hughes Street home known as the Janesleigh burn could channel a bushfire up into the Dandenongs.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) notified nearby residents a year ago that it would complete a controlled burn of the area in spring.
But it did not take place then or in autumn this year, which was its next opportunity.
“It’s now really, really overgrown,” Mr Wirthensohn said.
“There’s a huge amount of fuel on the forest floor.”
Mr Wirthensohn said limiting fuel reduced a fire’s intensity and gave CFA crews a chance to bring it under control.
He defended his home of almost 30 years from the 1997 bushfires.
That blaze jumped from the Ferntree Gully Picnic Ground area into Janesleigh burn.
“And then it came up. I was standing here watching it in terror,” he said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of now.”
Mr Wirthensohn said hundreds of homes in the above townships, including Tecoma, Belgrave and Ferny Creek, would be in danger.
“If it does take hold down here and the conditions are like Black Saturday I’d say there’s Buckley’s chance of stopping it,” he said.
The DSE is responsible for reducing fuel on crown land.
Acting DSE central area land and fire area manager Peter McEwen said DSE scheduled planned burns each spring and autumn.
He said it was unlikely all burns were completed within a scheduled season.
“This is most often because the right weather conditions do not eventuate,” he said.
Mr McEwen said wind speed and direction, humidity and fuel moisture levels were all factors and DSE monitored burn areas to test for the right conditions.
“We work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology to take advantage of every possible opportunity,” he said.
“There is a very small window of opportunity between the bush being too damp to conduct an effective planned burn, and too dry for it to be as safe as possible for nearby residents.”
He said burns that were not completed were scheduled for the following spring or autumn.
Mr McEwen said the 15-hectare Janesleigh burn was not completed this autumn “because the right weather conditions did not present themselves” and was rescheduled for next year.
He said the highest priority burns were those classified as zone one.
“They directly protect assets such as homes and property,” he said.
The 15-hectare Janesleigh burn is classified as zone three.
Mr McEwen said its primary objective was ecological benefit, particularly weed control.
“DSE routinely carries out other fire prevention works on the Janesleigh burn site every year”, he said.
“DSE crews have slashed and cleared an access track for emergency service vehicles, as well carrying out maintenance on a firebreak along the southern boundary.”
Mr McEwen said DSE also completed fuel reduction burns on adjoining land in 2005 and 2008, “which will provide local residents with a level of protection from fire”.
Eastern Victoria MP Edward O’Donohue said a parliamentary committee last year recommended DSE triple the number of fuel reduction burns.
“The government accepted that recommendation in principle but has provided no resources to allow that to occur,” he said.
“The consequence is that DSE has to choose between the most dangerous sites. Sites such as this get bumped off the priority list.”