NSW:Coming bushfire season could be even worse, fire chief warns
SYDNEY, Aug 9 AAP - NSW's next bushfire season could be worse than last year sinceso much of the state was still crippled by drought, Rural Fire Service (RFS) CommissionerPhil Koperberg said today.
However, the commissioner said the RFS and the National Parks and Wildlife Service(NPWS) were confident that their off-season strategic hazard reduction measures wouldprepare them for the worst.
NSW Premier Bob Carr and Emergency Services Minister Tony Kelly today joined the firechief at a burnoff at Galston Gorge in Sydney's north.
Mr Carr said such efforts by volunteer firefighters were vital if the state was tobe prepared for another hot, dry summer.
"You can't have a scorched earth policy, fire is part of the Australian landscape,"
Mr Carr told reporters.
"What this is about is strategic intervention to minimise the risk to communities,conducted in a responsible way."
Commissioner Koperberg said two million hectares of land across NSW had been burntas a result of either wild fire or hazard reduction over the last 12 months.
But a large part of the state was still susceptible to fire.
"Given the fact that 89 per cent of NSW has slipped back into drought and given thefact that meteorologists are talking about the possibility of a re-emerging El Nino effect,then we can't dismiss the possibility of either this drought extending or us slippingback into drought (completely)," Commissioner Koperberg said.
"If that's the case then much of NSW will continue to be exposed to probably marginallyworse prospects for the fire season."
He said weather was the obvious factor in any fire season and it was hoped optimumconditions for precautionary burnoffs would continue, given the RFS's chance to reducefuel loads on 200,000 hectares before summer arrived.
AAP ld/gmw/cjh/de
KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES NSW
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