Tim and Kathy Davidson from Tanilba Bay believe that bushfires actually saved homes recently.

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The couple who live in Tanilba Road which skirts the bushland, said that two bushfires before the recent firestorm in November, reduced fuel levels to a minimum, thus removing the threat from wildfire.

Kathy said, “Two or three years ago, a small bushfire in this scrub saw the local firies take out the section with backburns.”

“This created a firebreak and when the September fire came through there was very little ground fuel buildup. A simple low intensity back-burn was all that was needed to halt the fire,” she added.

“All you have to do is to look at the bloodwoods (eucalyptus gummifera) across from the house. The fire didn’t run up the trunks very much because of the lack of fuel,” she said.

Tim, a former volunteer firefighter said, “If those two earlier fires hadn’t happened, the fuel overload would have been catastrophic. With the 100k howling gale the other week, the bushfire would have roared right through, showering the town with burning embers and creating spot fires well ahead of the main blaze.”

“As things turned out, this fire stopped when it ran into the area which was burnt out in the September fire.”

The couple praised the efforts of the unpaid volunteers.

“These people do a wonderful job,” said Kathy.

“It’s such a shame that they are hog-tied by rules and regulations which make it very hard to do low impact burn-offs in the cooler months.”