Jacquie Petrusma,Minister for Parks
The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) is winding up another successful planned burn season after carrying out 48 scheduled burns, resulting in the reduction of fuel load of more than 10,000 hectares of reserved land.
These planned burns are undertaken for fuel reduction, asset protection, cultural and natural values protection and ecological reasons, and aim to reduce the chance of uncontrolled bushfire over the warmer months.
While the variable autumn weather pattern this year has meant appropriate weather windows were limited, the PWS made the most of these smaller windows.
The season included three planned burns on Flinders Island within the Patriarchs Conservation Area, with 25 PWS fire fighters and several local Tasmanian Fire Service volunteers directly involved in the burn, providing planning and logistics support.
Eleven firefighting appliances were shipped to Flinders Island ahead of the planned burn, along with the use of local Parks and Wildlife Service and TFS firefighting units.
These burns were conducted with the aid of a helicopter and a small group of staff remains on the island to continue to mop up and patrol the burned area.
I would like to thank the local community, businesses and TFS volunteers for their assistance and support in welcoming, accommodating and feeding the large contingency of staff deployed to Flinders Island over the period of several weeks.
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is ensuring that the threat of wildfire on our communities is minimised, while ensuring that our treasured environment is protected for future generations to continue to enjoy.
