Emergency services are preparing for potential fires through mitigating measures
By Kirra Livingstone
EMERGENCY service authorities say they are deep in preparations to avoid a repeat of the fires that tore across the hinterland this time last year.
Despite regular rainfall, authorities have been reducing fuel loads and undertaking an education program to help residents prepare with bushfire mitigation strategies September 17 marked a year since the first of three major fires ignited across the lower hinterland, burning through over 1,000 hectares of bushland.
Get Ready Queensland recently released a brochure to prepare Glasshouse Country residents for the disaster season, funded by local and state governments. The brochure includes a selection of emergency services’ contact details, including SES and Energex. It also provides tips on how to deal with and prepare for different types of natural disasters.
Rural Fire Service Queensland area manager Andrew Allan said the local fire and rural fi re brigades have been working to mitigate bushfire risks this year. “We have ensured all of our trucks have been serviced, safety certificates are in place, and everything on the trucks is operational,” he said.
“We also conducted mitigation through burnoff s in the cooler months this year to reduce potential fuel loads, and we achieved most of the targeted areas.” HQ Plantations’ Beerburrum-based corporate fire manager,
Andrew Dunn, said HQ was doing all it could to prepare for the fire season. “During the 2024 season, from March to August, we proactively reduced forest fire fuel loads by prescribed burning approximately 3,000 hectares of plantation and native forest in the Beerburrum estate,” he said.
The Caloundra and Caloundra South Fire and Rescue stations have both received new equipment, including a 1,500-litre water tank and a 4,500-litre-aminute pump.
