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Campfire Sparks Calls For Fire Ban Review

Nationals MP Peter Hall has called for an urgent review of total fire ban laws, following an incident involving State Government workers in Far East Gippsland.

By The Nationals - 21st December 2006 - Back to News

Mr Hall, the Eastern Region MLC, raised the matter in Parliament this week, after a constituent revealed that a group of workers had started a large campfire on a day of total fire ban.

"After reporting the incident and being told that the people involved would be prosecuted, my constituent was told later that day that no charges would be laid because the workers had demonstrated the fire was for warmth and comfort," Mr Hall said.

"Surely a day of total fire ban should be just that; I would have thought that total fire ban means no fires at all."

In Parliament, Mr Hall called for the Minister for Police and Emergency Services to urgently review the "absurd" loophole.

Mr Hall told Parliament the incident occurred at Buldah, which is about 48 kilometres from Cann River, close to the New South Wales border and very close to the Croajingalong National Park.

A local farmer left his property to travel to New South Wales on the total fire ban day early in November, and came across a group of people who were employed to conduct willow tree damage prevention activities around the Buldah area.

"He returned home to Buldah at about 11:30 p.m. that day and saw the men camped on private property, just below a low bridge close to the Buldah River," Mr Hall said.

In an email, the constituent said: "At that time they were in the bush with a large fire blazing. The fire consisted of approximately seven or eight logs sawed into lengths about a metre or longer piled up into a triangle with the pointed end pointing skywards. The fire was well alight, with sparks and flames roaring into the air, despite it being located in relatively thick bushland and on private property at a time when a total fire ban was in place."

Mr Hall said the farmer was aghast that a fire of that magnitude was lit on private land on a day of total fire ban.

"He made contact with people the next morning to report this particular incident and was assured by local authorities that it was illegal to have such a fire and that prosecution would take place.

"However, later that day he was notified by a Department of Sustainability and Environment official from Melbourne that no charges would be laid against the workers as they had lit the fire for warmth and comfort. He was assured that if somebody can prove that a fire has been lit for the purposes of providing warmth and comfort, despite it being a day of total fire ban, that is quite permissible."

Mr Hall said he and residents of Gippsland were horrified that it was legal to light a fire in the open on a total fire ban day, if it can be proved that the fire is for warmth and comfort.

"I think this particular ruling is absurd, and I ask the Minister for Police and Emergency Services to review this particular provision, because certainly in my mind and the minds of the many people I represent in bushfire prone areas, no such fires should be lit for any reason on any day of total fire ban."

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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