The largest hazard reduction program the ACT has seen in 40 years has finally been completed, announced Shane Rattenbury today.
The program was implemented as a part of the 2012-2013 Bushfire Operations Plan.
“This year 96 per cent of the BOP has been completed including 42 controlled burns totalling over 12,500 hectares, 8000 hectares of slashing, 7000 hectares of grazing, 74 hectares of physical fuel removal and over 650 kilometres of fire trail maintenance and upgrate,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“One of the controlled burns completed in Namadgi National Park was the biggest in the ACT in over 30 years. It took 13 days to complete, several months to plan and covered an area over 6000 hectares. It was located on the foreshores of one of the main drinking water catchment dams in the ACT, at altitudes exceeding 1500m and in an area of high ecological value.
“This bushfire season, many of the staff were also called upon to assist our interstate colleagues in fire suppression operations as they battled out of control fires on large scales. Parks crews spent several weeks in Victoria and were also called to various fires in NSW. All this provides additional skills and experience for the crews to bring back to the ACT.
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