While southern Australia is experiencing another period of
extreme bushfire activity with homes and lives threatened, northern
Queensland is looking for the wet season to provide much needed
relief to fires still burning.
In north Queensland, a late wet season and a hot dry winter have
fuelled bushfires burning across large areas of Cape York, the Gulf
Country and coastal areas around Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone and
the central highlands.
“The fires are burning later in the year and more areas
are burning than on average,” said Peter Thomson from the
Tropical Savannas Cooperative Research Centre (TSCRC).
Up to 40 times more area is burnt every year in the north of
Australia than in the south.
While the fires burning across northern Australia each year
receive far less press than those in the south, they can be
devastating to the people that live in the region, affecting
pastoralists, Aboriginal communities and conservation values.
The main differences between the north and south relate to the
level of population and infrastructure, the timing of the peak fire
seasons and the attitudes of fire agencies in managing the bushfire
issue.
“Bushfire activity will always remain part of the
Australian environment but now the emphasis is increasingly being
placed on new equipment to fight fires rather than manage
it,” Mr Thomson said.
“The amount of fuel available and the weather influence
how severe the fires will be. The simple truth is that an unplanned
fire will almost always occur under the worst possible weather
conditions.
“The only practical way to provide a measure of fire
protection is to remove the continuously accumulating fuel on a
regular basis through activities like controlled
burning.”
The emphasis in north Australia has been on proactive fire
management strategies that assist landowners to burn excess fuel
during milder weather conditions and minimise the impact and spread
of high intensity wildfires during hot dry conditions.
This is one of the reasons the TS—CRC developed the North
Australia Fire Information (NAFI) website to assist people with the
latest satellite information about fires.
People can access the site at any time to see where fires are,
where they are likely to be and what areas have already been
burnt.
“In this way, they know where fires have already burnt,
what areas have not had fire for some time and may need controlled
burning, and when a fire is approaching or on their
property,” Mr Thomson said.
“The NAFI site indicates that huge areas of Queensland
have not been burnt for many years. This means there is the very
frightening prospect of uncontrollable fires in the
future.”
Quotes from people using NAFI in north Queensland are
available – contact Jenni Metcalfe (includes: grazier,
Aboriginal community, National Parks manager, Threatened Species
Unit Ranger)
For interview:Peter Thomson, phone: 07 4031 3432,
0438 313 432
For media assistance: Jenni Metcalfe, phone 0408
551 866, jenni@econnect.com.au
Quotes from people using the NAFI site in north Queensland
Doreen Quartermaine and her husband Cameron own Watson
River, a 89,000 hectare cattle grazing property near Weipa.
“During the dry season, we go on to the site every day to
check for fire activity,” she says. “The NAFI web site
saves me heaps of time and worry. Without it, I have to rely on
seeing smoke in the distance and looking at the Bureau of
Meteorology website to see which way it is likely to go.
“Our property is 60 kilometres by 30 kilometres. If we see
smoke, we have to drive and check it out. But with NAFI, I can tell
before going out if the fire is big enough for us to have to grade
a track and back burn to avoid it getting any bigger.”
NAFI also provides information to National Parks looking to
control fires.
“NAFI is an extremely handy tool,” says Andrew
Hartwig from Lakefield National Park in Cape York. “The
area here is half a million hectares of flat country and you
can’t tell where the fire is coming from.”
“On the NAFI site, you can see where the hot spots are,
where they started and more importantly you can see where the fires
are in relation to fire breaks in the Park or on neighbouring
properties.”
“By looking at the hot spots we know if we need to go out
and do something about it. It gives us peace of mind about what is
or isn’t going on. When I am away from the Park, I can get on
the net and see if we need to get on the phone and get someone to
do something about the fires.”
Hartwig says NAFI gives a bird’s-eye view of the state of
fire breaks and where the fires are. He uses it to plan the burning
program for the following year.
Peta Standley works with the Kuku Thaypan Fire Management
Research project near Laura and uses NAFI to check how
traditional fire practices are helping to manage bushfire.
“As a researcher the NAFI site provides access to
information about fires that have or are occurring in the area I am
interested in. As a modern scientific tool that other land manager,
researchers, government departments and the wider community are
beginning to understand, I can use it to help the Elders to promote
the benefits of their fire man practices.
Our research project uses tools of both Aboriginal and Western
knowledge systems to help translate the benefits of traditional
fire knowledge.”
Keith McDonald, Chief Ranger of the Threatened Species
Unit with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service says they
have an unusual use of the NAFI site. While others use it to
protect species from fire, they use it to detect threatened
species.
“Certain mammals rely on species of fungi that regenerate
after fire,” he says. “Some rare plants grow after a
particular combination of fire and rainfall distribution.
“We are seeing some plants that we have not seen for
almost 100 years by tracking where the fires have been and when
plants are most likely to regenerate.”
For interview:
Doreen Quartermaine, phone 07 4060 3267
Peta Standley, phone 07 400 966 223, 0400 966 223
Andrew Hartwig, phone 07 4060 3271, 0427 601 095 or 07 4069
5777
Keith McDonald, phone 07 4091 8126
For media assistance: Jenni Metcalfe, phone 0408 551 866,
jenni@econnect.com.au
See: NAFI website - www.firenorth.org.au
