Dolphin Sands ‘fire bomb’ danger
Dolphin Sands ‘fire bomb’ danger
29 November 2009
published by www.themercury.com.au
Australia — The native plant stopping Dolphin Sands disappearing into the sea is also turning it into a potentially lethal firebomb.
When a bushfire tore through Dolphins Sands, north of Swansea, just over a week ago, even local firefighters were stunned by how vigorously the boobialla scrub burned.
And some residents are demanding that Glamorgan Spring Bay Council is more aggressive in penalising people who do not clear the incendiary plant — known by locals as kerosene bush — from their properties.
Most residents of Dolphin Sands were evacuated on November 20 when a bushfire raged through the settlement.
There is only one road leading into the area, which is populated by permanent residents as well as visitors.
With the temperature reaching 32C and winds gusting over 100km/h, the inferno destroyed three houses and either damaged or destroyed 15 outhouses, three caravans, several tractors, some boats and one car.
Nobody was killed or seriously injured but volunteer firefighter Bob Moore said things could easily have been very different.
Mr Moore has been a member of the Swansea Volunteer Fire Brigade for three years and was one of the first firefighters on the scene.
He became clearly emotional when recalling his close call.
“There was four of us,” he said.
“When we first turned up it all went a bit haywire, we had to run and regroup.
“We lost some hoses, they were burnt, we were defending a house and the fire surrounded us and we had to make a quick exit.
“We got burnt, a couple of us got burnt on our faces, it was so hot it burnt the straps off our face masks.
“With 125km/h winds, it would swirl around, die down, then come back up again.
“The heat was so intense that in some places where houses used to have wooden decks, there’s not even any charred wood remaining, but you can see neat little rows of nails where they dropped into the sand.”
Mr Moore, who runs the Swansea BP service station with wife Judy, said the biggest hindrance to firefighting was the boobialla that grows so densely all along Nine Mile Beach, the sand spit where Dolphin Sands is located.
“It has grown so thick all over the place, often we have no access and most of the people who live out there have it growing right up against their houses,” he said.
“Sometimes we couldn’t drive the tanker truck onto a property, the driveways and access roads were completely overgrown with it, and we had to back the trucks in or not at all.
“Some were so overgrown that we just had to drive off and head to the next one.”
Some species of boobialla are fire-retardant but the type at Dolphin Sands is known for being particularly flammable as the old growth dies off, dries out and accumulates beneath the bushes.
Glamorgan Spring Bay mayor Bertrand Cadart said the boobialla seed was sown in the 1950s as a way to hold the Nine Mile Beach sand dunes together.
“It was spread by aeroplane — at the time there were no houses or shacks there,” he said.
“It helps stop the sand from shifting.
“Without it the whole spit would have moved and changed shape over time from wind and weather and tides and it would be impossible to build on it at all.
“But unfortunately it is also a fire hazard.”
Cr Cadart conceded the area was a fire bomb but said Dolphin Sands had a strict planning scheme that was very different from the rest of the municipality, in order to account for the spit’s unusual ecology and density of boobialla.
“The council has produced a booklet which is a guide to living at Great Oyster Bay and Dolphin Sands which warns that the area has the potential for a fast-moving, high-intensity fire and has advice for how to prepare,” he said.
“Residents are required to keep the area for 20m-25m around their homes cleared of fuel and to have a 20,000-litre water tank on the property with a coupling that can be used by firefighters.
Body: “Fire vehicles must be able to park within 3m of the water tank and new properties must have a large turning circle to allow easy access for firefighting vehicles.”
Cr Cadart said claims the council was stopping people from clearing dangerous vegetation were false.
“We are inciting people to prepare, reminding them of their obligations,” he said.
“We slash the sides of the road every year, but that is where our responsibility stops.
”We do not have to prepare and protect private property — that is for the residents to do.”
But Dolphin Sands residents Mike and Shirley Allen said the council needed to get tougher on people who do not comply.
The Allens, who own North City Cars in Hobart, built their home at Dolphin Sands three years ago and have cleared a defendable area around it, including water tanks and access, a large turning circle and fire-retardant plants and landscaping.
“We understand a lot of people aren’t here most of the year, they only have a caravan on their block and are only there part of the year, but they still need to think about the other people living around them,” Mr Allen said.
“All people need to do is clear around their boundaries and it makes it safer for the whole community.
“When we were living under the mountain in South Hobart the council demanded that we clear our land and if you don’t, they do it for you and charge you for it.
“Why isn’t it the same here?”
Mrs Allen said the rules that applied to new houses should be extended to all the houses at Dolphin Sands and even older residences should be made to comply.
“We’re very grateful for the standards council set but why are they not being enforced for vacant blocks as well?” she said.
“The boobialla has been building up for 30-odd years. Something needs to be done about it before someone dies. There are less fire-prone native plants like pigface that could be grown in its place and still hold the sand in place.
“My suggestion was that council, residents and the fire service all work together, have two or three spots to dump everything we clear and burn it off in the cooler months.
“Even the people who live on the mainland, we could have done it for them. Then it’s done.”
With the real fire season ahead, Mr Moore was concerned a similar fire could happen again and next time residents might not be so lucky.
“We’re worried about campers, visitors to the area who don’t know what this boobialla is like, lighting campfires and starting another bushfire,” he said.
“Last week those flames were higher than the telegraph poles and the boobialla wasn’t even dry.
“So imagine what it will be like when it dries out over summer.
“And it only burnt about three kilometres along Dolphin Sands, so there’s a lot more of it out there still.
“People like living the clean, green lifestyle out here, which is great, but there needs to be a sensible balance.”
