Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) acknowledges and accepts the findings of the investigation into the Daylesford – Old Tom Track planned burn, which breached its control lines on 11 April 2025.
We recognise the considerable stress this breach had on the Daylesford and district community and the disruption to the community at a busy time of year, and we thank firefighters for their efforts to bring the fire under control.
The investigation identified eight key findings that contributed to the planned burn breaching its control lines. This included burn planning and delivery, resourcing, approval processes, and forest and weather conditions.
FFMVic is committed to taking the necessary steps to learn from this event and will use these findings as an opportunity to learn and improve.
We are carefully reviewing the findings and recommendations from the investigation and will implement management actions to enhance the planning and execution of future burns.
We have identified 35 actions to respond to the findings of this investigation. These actions will see us make changes across burn planning, approvals and delivery.
These changes will ensure our crews have the best information available to them at the right time and that risks for each burn are appropriately identified, assessed and mitigated.
We are also changing some of the directions we give our crews. We want to make sure in a busy environment that the instructions we give them support them to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible.
Planned burning is essential for community safety. Victoria is one of the most bushfire-prone regions in the world, and climate change is increasing the likelihood of more frequent and severe bushfires.
Without planned burning and other bushfire risk management measures, fires can become larger and more challenging for firefighters to control.
The risk of not conducting burns significantly outweighs the risks associated with carrying them out. In the past 10 years, less than 1% of planned burns have breached control lines, a reflection of the strong systems and expertise guiding our operations.
