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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
A Single Burning Tree A VICTORIAN Liberal Member of Parliament has revealed that a single burning tree which could have been extinguished was responsible for the devastating bushfires last month that destroyed 70 per cent of the Grampians National Park plus thousands of hectares of adjoining farmland. MLC John Vogels said the Liberal Party would be demanding an inquiry into the fires which burned an estimated 100,000 hectares of public and private land, killed a father and son as well as an estimated 60,000 sheep and hundreds of cattle. "When investigated, an incident report will show that a single tree was reported burning in the Grampians National Park on Thursday 19th January," Mr Vogels said this week. He claimed that little if any action was permitted to get equipment to the seat of the fire due to bureaucratic red tape and the possibility of damage to native vegetation which was subesequently burned anyway. According to Mr Vogels by the following day the fire had spread to approximately 40 hectares and locals had again demanded to be allowed to take in heavy equipment to tackle it. But bureaucratic red tape continued to cause delays, he said. "We all now know that well over 100,000 hectares has been burnt in the Grampians area, not to mention loss of lives, 60,000 sheep, 200 head of cattle, 1,200 beehives, thousands of native animals, flora and fauna, and personal property including 28 family homes, 10,000 tonnes of hay, the list goes on." Mr Vogels accused the Bracks Government of being captive to green activists and said that the state government should compensate landowners whose property or livelihood was destroyed by fire originating on public land. "If a fire starts in a State or National Park, which goes on to destroy private property and infrastructure which destroys the livelihood of landholders due to a lack of fire mitigation works or failure to act when a fire is first reported, then the State Government should be liable and forced to compensate all those affected," he said. Mr Vogels noted that there were hundreds of call outs to fires during the recent extreme weather but the ony fires that burned for a week or more and caused massive damage were those originating on public land. "The evidence is overwhelming of a complete lack of access maintenance in our National Parks and the lack of fire prevention measures undertaken prior to bushfire seasons and an unwillingness to act by DSE and Parks Victoria at the critical time when a fire is reported." Victoria has now suffered three devastating bushfires in three years. In 2003 around one million hectares were devastated in the Alpine areas of East Gippsland and North-East Victoria. Last year a fire laid waste to Wilsons Promontory National Park. Philip Maguire blogs at Bundarrah Days http://bundarrahdays.blogspirit.com Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Great Divide at 10:44 PM |
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