Mark Shelton,Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government has instigated actions to prepare for the 2019-20 fire season in conjunction with the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS), Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) and Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT).
These actions include a fuel reduction program, a public education campaign, regional risk modelling, exercising emergency management plans, and ensuring adequate resources are in place to respond to the fires.
As part of our fuel reduction program, the Spring 2019 season has seen 20 strategically located burns conducted over 3,350 hectares to date.
Since the program commenced in 2014, 608 fuel reduction burns have been undertaken across the state covering 86,294 hectares.
We know from recent bushfires how quickly they can spread, and there a number of examples of fuel reduction burns having directly benefited communities by preventing fires from starting or spreading.
This was seen in Rossarden, St Marys, Scamander, Beaumaris and Zeehan, where the reduction burns prevented lightning strikes creating fires and spreading close to settlements, or reaching intensities that could not be fought.
While we are never complacent, analysis conducted after the last summer bushfires shows that the state-wide relative risk has been reduced to 83.8 per cent, which is the lowest it has been in 15 years.
In addition, from December 1 we will have 7 firefighting aircraft in the state on standby, more than 5,600 firefighters and have invested more than $13.1 million into new fire trucks and advanced technology.
The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of all Tasmanian lives and property, and is doing this by strategically reducing the bushfire risk across the state.
