Hazard reduction burning to protect Tea Gardens Industrial Estate Myall Coast Myall Coast by News Of The Area - Modern Media - May 17, 2023 Area of hazard reduction operation, with the industrial estate ‘Tip Sector’ immediately south. LONG overdue hazard reduction burning was performed to protect the Tea Gardens industrial estate on Saturday, 13 May. Locals and visitors down near the river may have been alarmed to spot the plume of smoke rising from the top of the hill, on Council land just off the Myall Way. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au “This area has not been burned for more than 25 years, and it was actually missed by the big fires more recently,” Ralph Clark, Deputy Captain of Pindimar/Tea Gardens RFS, told News Of The Area. “We are removing built up ground fuel, aiming for 20 tonnes of fuel per hectare, five and a half hectares today.” The long-overdue hazard reduction has been designed and delicately executed as a critical protective measure for the Tea Gardens industrial estate just down the hill, and town’s primary artery, the Myall Way. Without such actions, both areas stand unacceptably high chances of becoming raging infernos, with the dry El Nino months to come. The planned hazard reduction burn near Tea Gardens was one of five such actions scheduled for the MidCoast area on Saturday. “It’s been delayed twice since February, once by wind, once by rain,” Mr Clark added. The hazard reduction had a late start, around midday, as the mild, cloudy morning mitigated sunlight drying out the dewy undergrowth, of which quite a lot had visibly amassed. The Pindimar/Tea Gardens volunteers were joined by brethren volunteers from Tilligerry, Bungwahl, Salt Ash and Coomba Park, allowing the visitors to gain some familiarity with the location, should they have to respond there in future. Shifting winds throughout the afternoon had fire crews vigilant about the flames’ movements, with careful application of the drip-torch and wetting down of tall trees used to prevent fire racing up the gums, or jumping gaps to untargeted areas. Unfortunately, the local RFS was later redeployed to deal with an unplanned log/mulch dump fire on the Wootton Way, which was later handed over to Forestry Corporation. By Thomas O’KEEFE Visiting Tilligerry7 crews controlled burning to reduce fuel on the ground. Bush Firefighter Peter Plain wields the drip-torch to limit future problems. Tea Gardens7 and crew’s work clearly shows how much fuel is precisely burned back.
