West Australian conservationists have renewed calls for the government to stop the prescribed burning program in old-growth forests. The WA Forest Alliance argues that the practice is harmful to both wildlife and the trees. However, professional foresters and firefighters warn that the recent fires in Los Angeles serve as a tragic reminder of what happens when forest fires get out of control.
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00:00On the banks of the Franklin River on the state's south coast, conservationists rally
00:10to raise the alarm about prescribed burning in the old forests.
00:15The first big major thing we want to do here is protect that forest.
00:18In the lead up to the state election, the WA Forest Alliance is ramping up pressure
00:23on the state government to stop using aircraft to set light to large bush blocks.
00:29Putting out whole forest blocks at a time is not a strategic way of doing it. We can
00:34put in strategic fire breaks, we can put in strategic prescribed burns in the right spots
00:39to protect towns and assets. We don't need to wipe out the forest to do that.
00:43We really just want the minister to wake up and realise that we don't want this prescribed
00:47burning the way it's being conducted. It's too destructive.
00:51The rally comes after the Los Angeles fire ignited debate in WA about the best way to
00:57protect lives and homes close to forests. Emergency authorities standing by the state
01:04government policy of the last 60 years.
01:08Undertaking prescribed burns, mitigation, fire breaks, all these sorts of things, they
01:13all are the preparedness pieces that put you in the best place that you can be leading
01:18into a bushfire season.
01:19We're very aware that there's small groups of people in the south west who just don't
01:23like fire. They don't like prescribed burning and they believe that the strategy that our
01:28government should adopt is one of suppression, which would just fail as has been proven tragically
01:34in Los Angeles.
01:35A local firefighter of 47 years, Dave Guthrie, believes there's a middle ground.
01:40I would like to see a return to smaller, cool burns or mosaic burning, which would require
01:48a lot more manpower. Moving away from aerial bombing.
01:55A debate set to heat up during the hot summer ahead.