Bushfire expert Dr Tony Bartlett warns of rising bushfire threat to ACT

A strong advocate of the prescribed burning of bushland to avert the coming fire threat, Dr Tony Bartlett, a former member of the ACT Bushfire Council, has urged a discussion of Canberra's bushfire readiness be reconvened while the current wet spring season provides a "window of opportunity" to prepare for the summers ahead.

Dr Bartlett had been part of the panel of experts across fields including firefighting, land management and farming, which had been appointed to provide recommendations to the minister and the Emergency Services Agency commissioner on bushfire preparedness.

The council fell out with ESA Commissioner Georgina Whelan in January last year.

In a letter to the chair of the council Dr Sarah Ryan, Commissioner Whelan said she had lost confidence in the group's advice, accusing its members of undermining her agency in the aftermath of the terrible Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.

The advisory body had warned the ACT government of "persistent shortcomings" in the territory's bushfire preparedness and criticised reviews into the 2019-20 fires, saying they had glossed over the concerns of firefighters.

The rift has since been repaired, although the advisory body's role and terms of reference has expanded to include all natural hazards which may emerge as a result of climate change, including the increased likelihood of high storm activity.

Dr Bartlett's warnings on the lack of preparedness for the coming bushfire seasons is timely after a recent ACT coronial inquiry into the Namadgi National Park bushfire revealed how a searchlight on an Army helicopter which landed for a "piss break" in the park on January 27, 2020, triggered a fire which burned more than 80 per cent of the park.

Dr Bartlett said the discussion on appropriate measures to lessen the risk of bushfire threat to the ACT had to start now, and warned ignoring the lessons of the past would only dramatically heighten the risks in the future.

He said there was around 180,000 hectares of bushland and nature parks around Canberra which needed to be carefully "cool burned" during the autumn months on a cyclical basis - and in sufficient volume to keep ahead of the problem.

"I've been concerned for some time now that we are running out of time to prepare for what's ahead of us," he said.

"From about 2010 onwards, the amount of prescribed burning to avert the bushfire threat has been in steep decline. We are going in the wrong direction on this.

"While we are experiencing a wet season now, this will come to an end and, in fact, the build up of vegetation from this wet season will only exacerbate the issue for future years."

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Dr Bartlett is part of a three-person advisory panel commissioned by the Victorian and Commonwealth governments in the wake of the 2019-20 season when 1.5 million hectares of the state were burnt. One of the tasks of that panel was to consult and engage with Traditional Owner groups.

"There were 16 different Traditional Owner groups involved and they all had slightly different perspectives but overwhelmingly they are saying that basically European people have stuffed these forests and the idea that there are wilderness areas which shouldn't be managed is wrong, and we need to turn the clock back around and go the other way," he said.

"So while there are various opposing positions on this by a number of academics, I'm firmly of the opinion that if we don't try to lessen the risks, we're in trouble.

"We have to try to develop strategies which get ahead of the issue. We will get bigger fires, more devastating bushfires, and we will lose even more flora and fauna."

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