Published on Tuesday, 7 January 2025 at 3:43:43 PM
Audio Transcript
“Hi, I’m Kingsley Gibson, the Denmark Shire President. Today, I want to talk a bit about bushfire risk and bushfire mitigation.”
“The Shire has a number of ways that we address the risk of bushfire in what is, in fact, the highest risk Shire in the State. Obviously, every landowner gets their Fire[break and Fuel Management] Notice and they need to comply with that on their own property. The Shire
also works with DBCA and other State agencies to ensure that everyone is doing their bit.”
“But we also annually apply to the State Government through what’s known as the [Mitigation Activity Fund]. So we ask for money every year from the State and we look at how we can best spend that money strategically to ensure the safety of the entire Shire.”
“Now, we only get a limited amount of money and we also have to balance that against our capacity as a Shire organisation and the capacity of our local contractors to deliver the works, so we choose the most important projects that we can do to make sure that if and when there is a fire in Denmark, we’ve got the best capacity to defend lives and properties wherever that may be.”
“One of the most common questions we get asked is whether or not the Shire will be addressing the concerns you might have on a reserve next to your place that might be overgrown for example.”
“That’s a very typical question. Obviously, we need to prioritise our works. We don’t have unlimited capacity or money and so we will always choose to do the works where we can see the risk is the most critical, and the outcome is the most beneficial to the community as a whole.”
“That means, addressing a particular concern may not occur for a number of years but we’re always doing what we can to ensure the overall safety of our community is our number one priority.”
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