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Fire report fuels farmer outrage
20 Oct 2003
The final 370-page report into last summer's bushfires has failed to address key issues raised by Victorian farmers. Instead, it just recommends more reviews.
Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin delivered the report and said prescribed burning is not a guarantee against unplanned fires. He recommended further reviews into fuel management zones.
The Victorian Farmers' Federation is furious that the report has not provided answers for farmers and communities in Victoria's north east and Gippsland, devastated by the January 2003 bushfires. VFF president Paul Weller said a report into fire prevention can't be taken seriously when it talks down fuel reduction burning, which is the No 1 way of preventing massive bushfires.
Mr Weller said the inquiry "just was not good enough". It doesn't address adequate post-fire recovery issues, such as the replacement of burnt boundary fences, issues regarding the way the fire was fought, and it didn't address the concerns that farmers had that emergency services did not proactively attack the fires when they had the opportunity to do so.
Stock & Land, 18/10/03.
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