Community invited to have say on draft bushfire risk plan

Residents across the Namoi Gwydir region are being invited to have their say on a draft plan aimed at reducing the impact of bushfires over the next five years.

The Namoi Gwydir Bush Fire Management Committee has placed its draft Bush Fire Risk Management Plan on public exhibition, giving the community an opportunity to provide feedback on proposed strategies to manage bushfire risks.

The plan maps and describes bushfire risks across the region and outlines treatment strategies designed to minimise and mitigate those risks.

Some of the proposed measures could have a direct impact on residents and their properties.

The plan has been reviewed by the Namoi Gwydir Bush Fire Management Committee, which includes fire agencies, land managers and other stakeholders.

The committee has been working to identify ways to reduce the impact of bushfires on communities, properties and other assets across the region.

“Fire is a part of living in Namoi/Gwydir. It has been a part of this landscape for millions of years,” the NSW Rural Fire Service says in its online exhibition information.

“As our population and region changes, the risk of fires impacting on our community has changed.

“To understand the bush fire risk in Namoi/Gwydir, and help inform the best ways of managing and reducing the risk, we’ve looked at what’s important to local communities – including where people live, as well as environmental, economic and cultural assets.

“We look at the assets across the landscape, and using computer modelling, we have tested scenarios for possible fire conditions to understand the impact on the community.”

The draft plan can be viewed online through the fire service website.

Hard copies are also available at Narrabri Shire Council and the Narrabri Fire Control Centre, Gwydir Shire’s Warialda and Bingara offices and the Bingara Fire Control Centre, and the Moree Plains Shire Council office and Moree Fire Control Centre.

Community members can submit feedback online, by email to the BFMC executive officer at namoi-[email protected], or by post to C/- Executive Officer, Scott Mack BFMC, PO Box 3047, Narrabri West NSW 2390.

Submissions close at 5pm on Monday 21 September.