Dead and dangerous roadside trees are risking lives across the region, a CFA veteran says.
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Broadwater brigade captain Hugh McFarlane was a section commander at the Gazette/Hawkesdale fire on St Patrick’s Day and said fallen trees were one of the biggest issues for firefighters and the public.
“It was the dead trees causing 90 per cent of the issues we had,” he said.
“The fuel on the side of the road is horrific.
“It was one of the main issues we had on the night. People couldn’t get to the fire stations, some couldn’t get out of their own properties because of the fallen trees.”
Mr McFarlane, a CFA member for 33 years, said regulation had increased so landholders were “stuck between a rock and a hard place” when it came to managing roadsides.
“If property owners were allowed to remove dead trees and do roadside grazing it would help reduce the problem and reduce the fuel loads. This would also assist the CFA crews during a fire because they could allocate more resources to work on the fire perimeter rather than have crews tied up blacking out trees and rubbish on the roadsides.”
Mr McFarlane has written to councils, MPs and some government departments calling for a common sense approach.
“I am not suggesting that all trees should be removed but there is a need for dead and hazardous trees that risk falling should be cleared. This problem needs urgent attention and action before the next fire season... what cost do you put on a human life?”
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell said Mr McFarlane’s comments echoed what she had heard from people across the region.
“After the fires I was told several harrowing story of families who were trying to flee the fast-approaching fire front near Hawkesdale – trees had fallen and blocked their only route of escape, they were forced to use their front-end loaders to go ahead of their cars and clear a path as the fire front approached,” she said.
“They have been asking for roadside trees to be cut but councils have been constrained by departmental bureaucracy and policies.”
Mrs Britnell said she had written to Roads Minister Luke Donnellan and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio at the start of April and was still awaiting a response.
It comes after some councillors in Corangamite and Moyne Shires blamed overgrown roadside vegetation for helping to fuel the St Patrick’s Day fires.
They called for a reduction in red tape and a new approach to roadside management.