As one of the State’s four fire authorities, Forestry Corporation staff serve in firefighting capacities as part of their job roles to protect the native and plantation forest estate.

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North Coast and Far North Coast firefighters attended pre-season fire days near Grafton for training refreshers on equipment, fire-ground procedure, command, control, communications and safety.

Forestry Corporation’s Fire Training and Operations Officer Adrien Thompson said firefighters across NSW were currently testing equipment and procedures in preparation for the coming season.

“We get to see all of our firefighting staff across the State for this part of the year and discuss how we can best prepare for the bushfire season and manage our estate when it comes to fire,” Mr Thompson said.

“It’s one of the core parts of our business to protect the forest estate and each year we run preparedness events including training new recruits, upskilling existing staff and pre-season fire day refreshers to get people thinking about the way we communicate, the interactions between the incident ground and the incident management support teams and the collaboration across agencies to effectively and efficiently manage bushfire across all tenures.”

Forestry Corporation also conducts hazard reduction burns as part of the prevention phase of incident management while also meeting sustainable forest management objectives.

“As a firefighting authority and a land manager we enjoy working in collaboration with the NSW Rural Fire Service, National Parks and Wildlife and NSW DPI across emergency management situations,” Mr Thompson said.

Forestry Corporation trains its firefighters to a world-class standard, with four staff members recently deploying to British Columbia to assist with Canada’s wildfire emergency.

A further two fire specialists are currently preparing to join the international management centre teams controlling the fire emergency in the United States.

In managing two million hectares of native and plantation state forests across NSW, Forestry Corporation uses the latest technology and systems to detect fires early and provide a timely bushfire response.

By Mike HELY