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Subscriber only As the time to share concerns regarding the management of the Fraser Island wildfires ended, a major organisation confirmed it had prepared its own suggestions for the inquiry being undertaken by Inspector-General Emergency Management, Alistair Dawson. Institute of Foresters of Australia and Australian Forest Growers president Bob Gordon said the submission made by the organisation urged the review panel to weigh up the effectiveness and cost of relying on waterbombing aircraft as a reactive measure against the need for conventional wildfire responses and enhanced year-round prevention activities across Queensland. We often see aircraft bombing established fires, and people think that they put the fires out, he said.
Martin van Beynen/Stuff
The Port Hills fire of February 2017. Council should instal CCTV cameras on Port Hil;ls accce4ss roads to track suspicious vehicles, argues Mike Yardley.
OPINION: As a hill-dweller in Huntsbury, memories of the devastating 2017 Port Hills fires still run raw. Like most hill residents, the reports of a spate of suspicious fires being lit last Wednesday fast rekindled that shared sense of dread, fear and “not again”. Saturday morning’s dramatic scrub fire on Hillsborough has only compounded the heightened sense of unease. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) got a spectacularly lucky break that Friday’s howling westerlies weren’t ripping through the early hours of Saturday. Bravo to Fenz for knocking out that fire so effectively, without the loss of any homes.
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