Management of fuel loads in the bush capital's parks, reserves and open spaces has been flagged as one of the points of discussion for a new ACT Assembly committee inquiry in bushfire preparedness scheduled for early next year.
The standing committee on environment, climate change and biodiversity is inviting public submissions to its inquiry. Written submissions to the inquiry will close on February 2 next year, with public hearings to follow.
Under its terms of reference, the committee will inquire into and report on the environmental factors contributing to bushfires in the ACT and surrounding areas such as drought, climate change and fuel loads.
It will also examine the management of bushfire risks and preparedness of ACT parks, reserves and open spaces, and coordination among government agencies in relation to minimising bushfire risks.
Labor MLA Dr Marisa Paterson, who will chair the inquiry, said that given the increasing prevalence of bushfires in Australia, it was important that the ACT's environment "is being well managed in the face of bushfires and bushfire risks".
The ACT Multi Hazard Advisory Council published a report in January this year which looked at progress in bushfire arrangements in the 20 years since the firestorm which swept through the western edge of Canberra in 2003. Around 500 homes were lost and four people died in that catastrophic event.
The council made 23 recommendations on eight key issues encompassing bushfire mitigation and suppression planning, whole-of-government coordination, risk identification, resourcing, fire detection and inter-agency communication.
The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 had an enormous impact on lives and property across the south-east of Australia, with 24 million hectares burnt, around 3000 homes and 33 lives lost.
From an ACT perspective, on January 22, 2020, a fire ignited in the Pialligo Redwood Park that burnt 424 hectares of farmland and threatened structures. Five days later, a bushfire ignited in the Orroral Valley in Namadgi National Park which triggered the first state of emergency in the ACT for almost 20 years.
Started by the heat generated by a hot landing lamp attached to the fuselage of an Army helicopter, this bushfire burned over 88,000 hectares and caused significant damage to the environmental, cultural and heritage assets of the park. An inquiry into the Defence's role in that trigger event was held in June.
The ESA Commissioner at the time of the Black Summer fires, Georgeina Whelan, resigned in July this year.
In September this year, Brett McNamara, who left the ACT Parks department after 30 years of frontline service, was hugely critical of the lack of work done to repair fire trails in the remote fuel-rich bush areas around Canberra since the Black Summer bushfires.
His view was that without appropriate fire trail maintenance, fire trucks and dozers can't get to the areas likely to be struck by lightning and fires will not be able to be contained before they spread out of control.
The ACT government's bushfire operations plan 2023-24 was released last month, with Emergency Services Minister Mick Gentleman telling the ACT Assembly that a "strategic review" of the ACT's fire trail network should be completed by the end of November.
