New WA rural fire service could cost $560m a year, report finds

New WA rural fire service could cost $560m a year, report finds

07 July 2017

Australia – West Australian property owners would have to pay hundreds of dollars more in Emergency Services Levy each year to fund a professionalised rural fire service (RFS), but a volunteer-based organisation could be created for a fraction of the cost, a report has found.

An Economic Regulation Authority (ERA) report found it would cost the state as much as $560 million each year to fund an RFS manned by professional firefighters, but a volunteer-based structure could be established for as little as $4.2 million annually.

The establishment of an RFS was a key recommendation of an independent review into last year’s devastating Yarloop bushfire, which killed two people and destroyed nearly 200 properties.

The former Barnett government supported that recommendation, but the new Labor regime has been reluctant to follow through, citing concerns about the cost and added bureaucracy.

According to the report, the cost and impact on the Emergency Services Levy (ESL) would vary widely depending on whether the firefighters involved were professional or volunteers.

Transitioning to professional rural firefighters would require 3,600 new personnel to be hired, and see the average property owner face an annual $580.84 ESL charge, an increase of 166 per cent.

But, if existing volunteer brigades were brought under a new RFS structure, the report found that could be funded by increasing the ESL by as little as 1.1 per cent, or an extra $2.41 annually.

Most rural brigades and advocates have called for the volunteer-based structure to be maintained, but for control and oversight to be done by an independent RFS.

“The cost estimates assume a rural fire service is established within [the Department of Fire and Emergency Services],” the report stated.

Cost has been the primary factor cited by the new Labor Government in casting doubt over the implementation of an RFS.

“I don’t want to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into something that doesn’t achieve a better outcome,” Premier Mark McGowan said in March.

But the Yarloop review found there was a need for “fundamental changes” to WA’s system of rural fire management, saying the existing structure was failing the state’s citizens.

Meanwhile, the ERA report also called for Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) to be stripped of responsibility for the ESL and for a new, independent agency to instead oversee the charge.

The report recommended a new office of emergency management advise the Government on levy rates, and how money should be spent.

“Additional external oversight of how ESL revenue is applied is needed because DFES has an opportunity in its dual role of allocating and spending ESL revenue to favour its own needs over that of other stakeholders,” the report stated.

The report rejected calls for ESL funds to be used on bushfire prevention, such as prescribed burning.

“There is no strong case for using the ESL to fund prevention, except for activities that landowners are unlikely to be able to do themselves, such as coordination and planning,” it stated.

ERA chair Nicky Cusworth said there was a wide range of options the Government could implement, which would result in dramatic cost differences.

“Most submissions did tend to favour a minimalist idea, that was basically using existing resources and volunteers,” she said.

“But if we were to go down the rural fire service model that happens in other states and that is more professionalised, that would cost a lot more.”

It’s been a fairly wet spring and summer this year, but when it gets dry for weeks at a time, the New York State Forest Rangers keep a close watch on forest fire danger in the Adirondacks.

In the early 1900s, fires ravaged thousands of acres of forest land in the Adirondack Park, particularly along railroad corridors. It caused alarm in Albany. The old system, created when the Forest Preserve was formed in 1885, wasn’t working.

A new approach was needed, so the New York Legislature enacted new laws in 1909 to fight fires in the Adirondacks and Catskills. It was a game-changing moment, one that would lead to the establishment of the Forest Ranger Division in 1912 and the construction of more than 100 fire towers.

It’s been a fairly wet spring and summer this year, but when it gets dry for weeks at a time, the New York State Forest Rangers keep a close watch on forest fire danger in the Adirondacks. In the early 1900s, fires ravaged thousands of acres of forest land in the Adirondack Park, particularly along railroad corridors. It caused alarm in Albany. The old system, created when the Forest Preserve was formed in 1885, wasn’t working. A new approach was needed, so the New York Legislature enacted new laws in 1909 to fight fires in the Adirondacks and Catskills. It was a game-changing moment, one that would lead to the establishment of the Forest Ranger Division in 1912 and the construction of more than 100 fire towers.

It’s been a fairly wet spring and summer this year, but when it gets dry for weeks at a time, the New York State Forest Rangers keep a close watch on forest fire danger in the Adirondacks.

The forest fire, which started on the night of June 24 and still smoldering in Spain’s southwestern region of Huelva, burned a total of 8,486 hectares, the Andalusian Regional Government said on Wednesday. Environmental spokesman for Andalusia, Jose Fiscal, confirmed the damage on his Twitter account. Over 2,000 people had had to be evacuated from hotels and campsites on the perimeter of the fire, he said. He added that the perimeter established around the fire was actually 10,900 hectares, but within that perimeter, 2,414 hectares of woodland were still intact. The fire damaged two protected areas: 6,761 hectares of Donana National Park, which has UNESCO protected status and is home to around 400 different species such as the threatened Iberian Lynx and Iberian Eagle, and 17 hectares of Laguna de Palos y Madres Nature Park. The Andalusian government believed that had it not been for the work of fire fighters, who at the height of the blaze numbered around 500, the damage would have been far worse for the 43,225 hectares of woods and scrubland. According to the regional government, temperatures were around 40 degrees Celsius when the fire began, with a wind-speed of between 30 and 40 km per hour (km/h) and gusts of up to 90 km/h at night, which helped propagate the flames and made it impossible to use aircraft or helicopters to fight the fire. A total of 50 firemen remain in the zone to continue the work of damping down and to ensure there are no flare ups, while investigations continue into the cause of the blaze. Authorities have not ruled out a human cause.
Read full text at: http://eng.belta.by/society/view/spanish-forest-fire-burns-over-8400-hectares-in-and-around-national-park-102857-2017/
If you use BelTAs materials, you must credit us with a hyperlink to eng.belta.by.Tropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-peatlands-dwindling-losses.html#jCpTropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

7. July 2017/by GFMCadmin