Fire for life group
Australia:Fire For Life’ group to lobby for more
controlled burn-offs
09 May 2002
A new group has been set up in Western Australia’s south-west to lobby for more prescribed burning.
“Fire For Life” has been set up because of growing concern that the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) is not carrying out enough preventative burning in forest areas and timber communities.
Group spokesman Tom Muir says more controlled burns are crucial. “The protection of the regrowth forest that is going to be the future of our hardwood forest is crucial,” he said.
“It’s just part of the forest you can not get away from that you have to burn because if you don’t burn, it will burn one day.”
CALM’s director of regional services Alan Walker acknowledges there has been a decline in prescribed burning in the last three years. However, he says this is almost completely due to a series of dry winters, which have limited burn-off opportunities as fires are able to become too intense.
