Pine Tier fire puts TLC’s Fire Action Plan into practice
TLC Reserves Officer, Tim Devereux, waiting for Tasmania Fire Service to arrive at Pine Tier.
“Fire at Pine Tier. Call me...” was the alert left for us by Brady’s Lake Fire Brigade Chief David Hean early last Wednesday morning. The TLC’s Reserve Management Team quickly and efficiently put our Fire Action Plan into practice; supporting the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) efforts, who are the responsible party in fighting fires on private land, including TLC’s conservation reserves.
Pine Tier is an area in the southeast of our 11,000 hectare Five Rivers Project Area, which is a few kilometres to the northwest of the town of Bronte Park in Tasmania’s Central Highlands. With hot and windy weather being forecast for the day, the fire had the potential to threaten the town by spreading rapidly and so containing and controlling the fire was imperative.
Reserves Officer, Bruce Hay, attempting to control the fire at Pine Tier.
The combined effort was a blur of activity to strategically coordinate fire trucks, helicopters, bulldozers and people to battle the fire. Two-way radios stuttered in the background delivering directives, while helicopters lingered overhead offering the reassurance of 400L of water instantly in critical areas. The wind would die down at times with fire settling into a trickle and the only noise would be the quiet chatter of the on-ground team and occasional laughter of the firefighters, waiting for the flames to leap up again with the next weather turn.
The fire eventually covered 370 hectares but did not spread beyond the TLC’s land. Six TLC staff trained in fire suppression worked alongside firefighters from the TFS and Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS). Their purpose was to both actively control the fire and to provide detailed knowledge of the property to support planning efforts. Our staff will continue to patrol the edges of the fire over the next week to ensure that any smouldering embers do not escape into unburnt bush and reignite the fire.
Backburning a containment line at Pine Tier.
Volunteer firefighters from at least nine different brigades assisted over the five days that the fire was burning and we are extremely thankful to these people, along with the professional firefighters from TFS and PWS.
Images captured by Denna Kingdom