WARRNAMBOOL’S dense foreshore vegetation has been officially given an extreme fire risk status, yet the city council is still barred by government red tape from bringing in the chainsaws and controlled burns.
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Meanwhile, another government department has brought in draconian rules for clearing trees near power lines which potentially could mean some Norfolk Island pines would have to be pulled out.
City councillors last night adopted a new municipal fire management plan developed in consultation with the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and other relevant agencies following the Black Saturday royal commission.
It lists Warrnambool foreshore camping area and Woodford Primary School precinct as extreme fire risk areas with potentially catastrophic consequences.
The rest of Woodford township, Lake Pertobe park, Warrnambool industrial area, Fonterra dairy factory, Deakin University and agricultural areas in the city fringe were also listed as extreme risks with slightly lower priority.
Councillors unanimously supported the new plan with a proviso that negotiations continue with the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and CFA to manage vegetation, including the foreshore, with controlled burning of undergrowth.
Mayor Jacinta Ermacora said the plan was further evidence to support council’s push for reintroduction of fuel reduction burns on the foreshore.
“It endorses community concerns,” she said.
“If Woodford is in the second tier for township protection plans, it seems logical we should have a protection plan for the foreshore because its population in summer holiday season is more than Woodford’s.
“We need to be very clear on our strategy to DSE that we want them to recognise the foreshore as a fire risk,” she said. Cr John Harris said there was renewed hope in achieving a sensible outcome on the deadlock over power to trim foreshore vegetation.
“The last thing we want is to have to cancel holiday bookings because the foreshore has become a fire timebomb,” he said.
“It will also give council more power to make people cut their vacant blocks.”
A few minutes later councillors heard that Energy Safe Victoria had set new rules on clearing vegetation near power lines without consulting any councils across the state, triggering a boycott call by the Municipal Association of Victoria.
For Warrnambool it would mean 900 trees would either have to be savagely pruned or removed to comply, which would double the annual trimming cost to $120,000. City infrastructure director Peter Robertson gave an example of some Norfolk Island pines which would either have to be removed or the power lines put underground or bundled together.
Cr Ermacora said it was difficult to understand how one department could order trees to be decimated for “unevidenced cause and effect” while there was still no approval for the high-risk foreshore area.
Several other councillors said it was an opportunity to review the suitability of tree species and to call for the state government to pay for power lines to be put underground.
