32 hazard reduction burns have been approved by the Blue Mountains Bush Fire Management Committee 7 have been fully completed, and 5 have been partly completed.
Click here for the list of the approved hazard reduction burns.
Click here for colour coded map - shows where the burns are, and which have been completed. You can zoom in and out and move around on the map. Green marks hazard reductions that have been done, blue marks partly done, red marks extreme priority and not done, yellow marks lower priority and not done.
Contacts
The Blue Mountains Bushfire Management Committee has approved around 32 hazard reduction burns in the Blue Mountains for 2009-10. They are listed in the Blue Mountains Hazard Reduction Program 2009. I was able to obtain a copy using a Freedom of Information request.
Click here for a list of brigades in the Blue Mountains.
Click here for list of hazard reductions that I was able to find out about by other means.
The relevant legislation for bushfires is the Rural Fires Act.
The Blue Mountains Bush Fire Management Committee was established under this legislation. It covers the Blue Mountains City Council area, and contains representatives from many organisations, including Council, NSW National Parks and Wildlife, the Rural Fire Service, and the Nature Conservation Council.
In accordance with the legislation, they wrote a Bush Fire Risk Management Plan (PDF 563 KB) in 1999. They are currently working an update of this plan, which is expected to go on exhibition in around October 2009.
In accordance with this plan, they developed the Hazard Reduction Program 2009. It lists approximately 32 hazard reductions that they have approved for 2009-10. This list is confidential. Tom Shirt, the Fire Control Officer for the RFS, has said this is because the locations of the proposed hazard reductions, and other information, are private, and that the consent of the owner is required before this information is released. I spoke to Scott Seymour, Blue Mountains National Park, who said he will think about releasing some of their hazard reductions. Frank Garofalow, of Blue Mountains City Council, said he will send a message to Tom Shirt saying they may release the hazard reductions involving Council land.
Residents might be able to get information about hazard reductions approved for their area by talking to their local bushfire brigade. Click here for the list of brigades.
Scheduled hazard reductions are listed for the next two weeks in the hazard reduction announcement area on the RFS website. Click here for a list of hazard reductions that I was able to find out about by searching these announcements back to 1 January 2009.
Hazard reductions are supposed to be done by the end of September, but this is usually extended to the end of October. Hazard reductions on the south side of the highway are harder to do because they are in shade and have higher mosture. To be effective, a hazard reduction should burn strongly. A weak burn can result in partly burned trees, which provide lots of fuel if a fire comes through. In addition to burning, it is possible to do mechanical clearing of the fuel.
Bushfire hazard complaints about dangerous levels of burnable materials on private or council land need to be sent to the Blue Mountains City Council. Complaints about other land, such as National Parks, need to be sent to the RFS. A notice can then be issued, that requires the landowner to remove the hazard.
Blue Mountains City Council has not delegated the handling of bushfire hazard complaints to the RFS. Because of this, complaints can take a lot longer to process.
Freedom of Information: Christine Roach, RFS, 8741-5110 $30/hr, 1 hour minimum, half price for concession card holders, will phone if a lot of hours required to do the work 21 calendar days to process, can be extended to 35 if people have to be contacted because of privacy issues