Published on Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 11:56:57 AM

At the Ordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday 19 March 2024 Council endorsed the 2024 bushfire mitigation treatments as proposed and funded under the Mitigation Activity Fund Grants Program.

Shire President Tom Major said due to the high volume of bush in the Shire of Ravensthorpe, bushfire mitigation is vital.

“This work is extremely important for our Shire and while we understand that bushfire mitigation is often an emotive issue, these proposed mitigation treatments are taking place on a very small amount of land,” he said.

“Out of 860,000 hectares of bush, less than 200 hectares is included in these plans, which is less than 0.1% of land across our whole Shire that needs to be mitigated.”

Treatment types

Pictured: Example of mechanical bushfire mitigation work in Ravensthorpe.

The Shire of Ravensthorpe uses a number of methods to mitigate the risk of bushfire in the region.

Mitigation activities outlined in the proposed plan endorsed by Council include chemical and mechanical (example pictured above) treatments, as well as reducing fuel loads and hazard reduction burns to minimise the potential risk of fires.

Details of the proposed mitigation work for the year, including location and which treatment is to be used, can be found here.

It should be noted these are proposed works for 2024 and are subject to weather conditions. 

Planned burning

Council has endorsed the use of planned burning as part of the 2024 bushfire mitigation treatment work.

This means planned hazard reduction burns are due to take place in several locations throughout the Shire of Ravensthorpe in 2024.

Locations identified for planned burns this year include:

Ravensthorpe 

A follow up burn is planned near the Ravensthorpe Hospital to clean up debris in the undergrowth since the last burn in 2022. This will ensure the reserve is in a low fuel state with reduced flame length in the event of a bushfire. 

Machinery will go in first to prepare the site before the burn.

A burn is also planned to reduce fuel loads on the Shire of Ravensthorpe recreation reserve on the north side of private property at Sleepy Hollow, south of the Ravensthorpe townsite.

Hopetoun

A planned burn is proposed for the road reserve and vegetation at One Mile on the eastern outskirts of Hopetoun to reduce the fuel loads and reinforce the strategic buffer.

Blue Vista

Another proposed treatment is a planned burn to manage fuel loads in the road reserve on the eastern side of the Hopetoun Ravensthorpe Road adjacent to the Blue Vista subdivision.

All proposed burns are subject to weather conditions.

Bushfire Attack Level Report

Along with these proposed mitigation works, where possible the Shire of Ravensthorpe will coordinate the recommendations made in the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) Report received in February 2024.

These recommendations aim to effectively reduce the BAL for each of the townsites, not only to reduce the risk of fire coming into the towns but also in aiding the planning process for any future development applications and building design requirements, and may also have flow on insurance benefits.

Improved communication 

The Shire of Ravensthorpe is committed to improving communication to the community about planned burns and other bushfire mitigation in 2024.

The full list of proposed mitigation treatments is available for viewing now.

Each month an updated list will also be released and in the week that a planned hazard reduction burn is due to take place, a reminder notice will be published as well as confirmation notice on the day it is to take place.

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