Firefighters and landholders should make the call on backburning

Earlier this week, AgForce called for a State Parliamentary Inquiry into how this summer's bush fires were handled across Queensland.

Brooweena Rural Fire Brigade secretary Lesley Brand, who was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal and has been involved in the brigade for 34 years, said she would like the inquiry to look into giving property owners and rural fire brigades the ability to do backburns when they deem it necessary to control a fire.

She said, as it stood now, permission needed to be obtained from somewhere further up the heirarchy.

"Fires could be controlled a lot better if they relied on the expertise of people who are already on the fire ground and the property owners," she said.

"They're not letting judgements be made by grassroots people on the ground, they're deciding it from an office."

Mrs Brand said this meant many fires were going for a lot longer and burning more country unnecessarily.

"We've got to wait for somebody higher up (the chain of command) to make the decisions and then things are well and truly out of control before we get to do anything about it," she said.

AgForce CEO Michael Guerin said a full and in-depth review of the consequences of this past summer's bush fire season was critical.

"And a State Parliamentary Inquiry is the best way to provide the investigative rigour required," he said.

"It's the only way we can avoid watching the same mistakes that we saw in 2023/24 from happening again.

"We need to listen and learn from those who fought the fires on the ground so that we can prevent bush fires where possible, and otherwise be more successful in managing them."

Mr Guerin said preserving Queensland's landscapes was crucial to managing the biodiversity of our environment and human and animal welfare.

"It's this rich and diverse ecosystem that ensures food security for all Queenslanders in a way not possible in most of the world. It's worth protecting," he said.

"And when fires burn out of control in the way that some did during this past summer, that undermines the ability of ecosystems to function and recover."

Mr Guerin said the fires at Carnarvon should not have burnt with the intensity it did and the State Government must recognise the need to increase resourcing of our national parks to prevent these fires, and better manage pests and weeds.

"The national park itself will suffer for a couple of years as a tourist attraction because of the severity and extent of that fire," he said.

"Reflections on this and other ferocious fires through the Southern Downs provide a rich learning opportunity, and AgForce is urging the Queensland government to not let it pass."

Mr Guerin said the current whispers of legislative change in QFES and short time frames for responses from a select number of stakeholders reeks of secrecy and protectionism, and was hampering constructive changes that needed to be made.