Fire Management Plans

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for the Environment on the subject of fire management.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: On 20 October 2014, Mr John Schutz from the environment department told the Budget and Finance Committee, in response to some questions on fire management:

The government has adopted a target of 5 per cent of all high-risk public lands to be treated every year, and our aim is to work towards having all of those high-risk parts to the reserves to have fire management plans in place by the end of next year…

My question to the minister is: given that it is now the end of next year (2015), has that commitment been met by the government?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources is responsible for fire management activities on public land under my care and control to help mitigate the impact of bushfires. As I have said in this place previously, these lands cover about 23 per cent of the state. DEWNR plays a major role in supporting the South Australian Country Fire Service in response to bushfire emergencies across the state.

The key component of DEWNR's fire management activities is the delivery of an annual rolling program of prescribed burning. This prescribed burning is, in fact, a five-year rolling program. This prescribed burning program aims to reduce fuels in strategic locations on public lands in an attempt to reduce the impact of bushfires on life, property and the environment. The importance of prescribed burns has been reinforced many times but most recently in January 2015 during the Sampson Flat bushfire. I am advised that analysis and fire intensity mapping on both the 2014 Bangor and 2015 Sampson Flat bushfires has demonstrated that prescribed burns play a pivotal role in modifying bushfire behaviour and their spread.

These fuel-reduced areas provide buffers for firefighters, who are then able to gain tactical advantages during the bushfire events, whilst also providing refuge for wildlife during and in the period of recovery after a bushfire. As I have mentioned previously, we are the largest brigade of the CFS, with 558 brigade members, including 363 firefighters who can be called upon at any time to attend bushfire incidents both on and off public land, as well as delivering prescribed burning programs. They are also on call if we are needed to assist interstate or indeed, as has been the case in recent times, overseas, most particularly in the United States and Canada.

The DEWNR program has always been set in terms, as I have said, of a five-year rolling program of prescribed burning, and we do that based on solid science from people analysing past burning programs, whether they be prescribed burns or burns that have been caused by either accidents or otherwise. We then plan a rolling plan for five years to readdress those fuel loads.

As I have said many time in recent weeks, we only burn when it is safe to do so. It is very important that people understand that, whilst we have a plan for burning in the state-owned lands, which includes forestry lands as well as SA Water land, we over-plan, because we know that the weather conditions in any particular season will never be absolutely ideal for burning, so we have extra locations in our plan for burning and, if the weather conditions are not ideal, we can shift a planned burn for example, say, from Eyre Peninsula to somewhere in the Mount Lofty Ranges or perhaps in the South-East.

Of course, when we are doing that, we may have a planned burn for 300 or 3,000 hectares in the Far West, and, if we shift that burn because of weather conditions to the Mount Lofty Ranges, we may be burning only three hectares, or slightly more than that, so flexibility is the key in these matters for us.

In terms of fire management plans, DEWNR has developed comprehensive fire management plans for public lands. These plans are risk-based and provide the strategic direction to mitigate the risk that bushfire poses to life, property and the environment. Fifteen fire management plans and one fire management strategy have been released across the state, I am advised, covering approximately 52 per cent of parks and reserves managed by DEWNR, and I am told that is 186 parks and reserves.

The South Para Fire Management Plan, developed by the three land management agencies of DEWNR, ForestrySA and SA Water, together with the CFS, was scheduled to be released in February 2015. However, during the 2015 Sampson Flat bushfire, much of the planning area was impacted and, as a result, the release of the plan has been delayed and a review of the plan will be undertaken before a decision on how to proceed is reached.

A further two fire management plans are currently being developed, I am advised. These plans will cover the Northern Flinders Ranges and the Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island. It is worthwhile reminding the chamber that our fire management programs and, indeed, the resourcing of them have changed markedly over the last decade or so.

DEWNR's fire management operating budget for 2015-16 is $10.304 million, compared, I understand, to approximately $390,000 in 2002-03 when we came to government. Increased funding provided by this government has enabled the department to recruit and train staff in specialist fire-management skills and to purchase and develop equipment, which includes the use of aircraft for undertaking prescribed burning and fuel reduction programs in higher risk areas.

Since 2003, there has been a consistent increase and commitment by this government towards reducing the risk that bushfires pose to the lives and property of the people of this state. The number of brigade members in the DEWNR brigade have increased year by year, every year, from 300 in 2003-04 to more than 560 in 2015.

The numbers of firefighting appliances and support vehicles, such as large fire trucks, small fire units, bulk water carriers, command vehicles, logistics vehicles and others used for different fire ground roles have increased to 150 in 2015, and DEWNR's budget for the training of firefighters has more than doubled from $92,000 in 2003-04 to $241,000 in 2015-16. DEWNR's budget for conducting prescribed burning has more than quadrupled, increasing from $127,000 in 2003-04 to over $683,000 in 2015-16. This government is committed to putting in place the best possible protections for this state in terms of preparing for fire.