Concerns over excessive vegetation growth along roads ahead of bushfire season
Residents on the NSW south coast say they're concerned going into this bush fire season because of excessive vegetation growing along roads. They say it's brought back painful memories of the Black Summer fires when their communities became isolated for weeks.
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:00 A horror New Year's Eve still etched into people's minds.
00:07 It was the height of Black Summer and flames had jumped the Princess Highway, before ravaging
00:13 dozens of south coast villages.
00:15 Gail Luce's Sussex Inlet home came under threat before the fire quickly changed direction,
00:21 leaving the community cut off for 10 days.
00:24 "When the road's on fire, no one can get in or out, and then the road's shut after the
00:30 fire's gone through, because the power lines are down and there's trees across the road,
00:34 so you can't get, there's no power, there's no fuel, no food."
00:39 She's among many residents who have been calling for trees and bushes to be cut back, to secure
00:44 access along highways and single access roads.
00:48 "The vegetation's back up to the road, the highway again.
00:51 They should be getting in and just getting it back away from the highways."
00:56 Former Roads Minister Andrew Constance unsuccessfully pushed for mass clearing along the highway
01:01 during Black Summer.
01:02 "Put a 40 metre buffer zone either side of the highway.
01:06 The highway's going to get duplicated anyway.
01:09 Clear the vegetation back."
01:10 Katrina Walsh lost her Conjola Park home in the fires and says while some clearing has
01:15 been done, access remains a concern.
01:18 "There are still, as far as I'm aware, no evacuation plans for Lake Conjola and Conjola
01:23 Park."
01:24 Transport officials say $28 million is being spent, making roads safer during bushfires.
01:30 "The removal of at-risk trees, the trimming of other trees, a slashing of the road corridor
01:38 and weed reduction."
01:40 South Coast residents say they're getting their own properties prepared, but that can
01:44 only go so far.
01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]