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Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service has advised that their planned hazard reduction burns of the bushland/urban interface will begin on Tuesday 20 June, if weather conditions remain suitable – so it's time to dust off those N95 masks!
Bribie residents received notice in the mail a few months ago advising of upcoming planned burns, and you might have seen the illuminated advisory sign as you've driven on to the Bribie Bridge. Authorities use planned burns not only to achieve hazard reduction and to maintain healthy ecosystems, but agencies also test emergency response and management procedures too. As residents of a fire prone landscape, we'd recommend signing up to Moreton Alert (see below) and if you reside in proximity of the National Park, revise your bushfire plan. USEFUL RESOURCES Scheduled Dates - Tuesday June 20th-22nd 2023
Wildlife Rescue Queensland Moreton Bay Region 24 Hour Hotline +(617) 0478 901 801 Queensland Health - Staying Safe in Smokey Conditions
Bureau of Meteorology - Fire Weather Forecast
Moreton Alert - sign up for alerts sent straight to your phone Emergency - Call 000 Woorim QFES Info Stall (opposite Woorim SLSC) - Tue 20th / Wed 21st / Thu 23rd Bribie Shopping Centre QFES Info Stall - Tue 20th / Wed 21st / Thu 23rd
A STORY OF SAND AND FIRE This island and its people have always lived with fire. Fire has been used to manage the landscape for tens of thousands of years, but in the last hundred or two, the timing and intensity of fires has altered, and skewed the cycle out of equilibrium. The regular, cool mosaic-style burning regime used for thousands of years by indigenous custodians was replaced by a cycle of fire suppression and control, resulting in excess fuel loads building up through wet periods, and then exploding into extreme wildfires that have devastated Bribie's woodlands and wallum. These high intensity fires alter the island's resilience, wildlife carrying capacity and it's biodiversity. Fortunately we're entering a time period where land managers may have begun to heed the savage lessons of the post colonial era, and are looking further back in time to understand the critical role fire has played in maintaining a balanced environment. Fire management in the 21st century is a complex, cross agency operation that involves cooperation between landholders, authorities and traditional owners to ensure outcomes that both protect lives and property, and promote a healthy ecosystem. When you reflect on traditional cultural burning practices, those common goals of protection and maintaining a healthy ecosystem are foundational. Low intensity, cool patch burns that allow wildlife to seek safety, that burn at low intensity through the understory without affecting the canopy, are important drivers of habitat health and at the same time mitigate the risk posed to habitat, wildlife and people by extreme wildfire. The reintroduction of traditional cultural burning practices is in its early phases. Current fire management regimes remain mostly a balancing act between mitigating risk to lives and property, supporting a healthy, productive ecosystem and reflecting broad community expectations. Greater involvement of First Nations custodians in planning and operations will over time influence fire management culture and will not only improve outcomes from planned burning but also ensure the island's important cultural sites are properly protected.
Read more about Fire ecology here: https://www.fireandbiodiversity.org.au/images/publications/Living_with_fire_An_introduction_to_fire_ecology_16pp_2022_web.pdf
A DELICATE BALANCE
The species mix and structure of Bribie's heathland and wallum vegetation is inherently prone to hot fires, and our coastal location adds local weather variability to the mix when considering the safest time to burn.
A worst-case scenario for this landscape is for fuel loads to build up to levels that produce unmanageable, Catastrophic Fire as the island has seen in the not too distant past. A notable example is the 1994 fire, which jumped Pumicestone Passage from Beerburrum, burned its way south through the island's pine plantations and natural habitat, and onward to threaten the villages on both sides of the island. Woorim was cut off as the flames wiped out the woodland, and jumped 1st Ave, before continuing to the southern coast.
For the National Park, fires like this cause destruction of the underlying peat layer in the wetlands, effect root systems, trunks and woodland canopies and give wildlife nowhere to hide. The post-fire invasion of weeds and invasive native vegetation into the fire-ground has long-term negative consequences for the island's habitat.
To mitigate that risk of these planned fires escaping containment lines and becoming wild fires, a QPWS spokesperson said this year's burns have been planned early in Winter, intentionally when the Fire Danger Rating is forecast to be Moderate, and the soil is still relatively moist. A helicopter will be employed to drop fire-starters, providing accuracy with good oversight for those doing the planning.
It's important however, that authorities also plan for the unexpected, as bushfire intensity can change and there is still a risk that these fires could escalate to Higher intensity. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Moreton Bay Regional Council and Queensland Fires and Emergency Services will be coordinating the burn. In cooperation with Healthy Land and Water's Qld Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, six members of the Kabi Kabi traditional owner group have been fire-trained, and will be joining this operation. We wish everyone a safe week.
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