A total of 17 regional local governments and agencies will share in $5 million to help combat against the threat of catastrophic bushfires as part of the bushfire management funding assistance.
The funding is part of the state government’s inaugural $15 million Mitigation Activity Fund, which has already helped 15 local governments treat bushfire risks in their communities this year.
The fund will help to deliver more than 400 bushfire mitigation treatments including planned burns, weed control, mechanical clearing, fire breaks and access roads.
South West shires including Donnybrook-Balingup, Bridgetown-Greenbushes and Augusta Margaret River will receive funding to carry out mitigation treatments.
Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray said he was pleased that the Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup and others in his electorate had taken up the opportunity and were working hard to reduce the risk of bushfires.
“As those of us who live in the regions know all too well, fire is an ever-present threat during the warmer months and we have to try to reduce the threats where we can,” he said.
“This record funding through DFES’s new Rural Fire Division will help our local regional communities identify their bushfire risks and do something about them.”
Emergency Services Minister Francis Logan said the funding would help to make communities safer as the warmer months approached, increasing the threat of bushfires.
“It is by identifying and treating bushfire risks that we can improve efforts at reducing catastrophic bushfires and make those fires that do occur hopefully more manageable,” he said.
“We are putting to the side whose responsibility mitigating those bushfire risks may be and simply getting on with the job of trying to improve community safety.”
Mr Logan said it was the first time DFES would co-ordinate mitigation of bushfire risks on unallocated Crown land through the Rural Fire Division.
Eligible regional local governments will be provided with $500,000 of funding later in the year, and nearly $1.2 million will be made available to other government agencies to treat bushfire risks in areas such as unmanaged Crown reserves.
A further $1.2 million under the Department of Fire and Emergency Service’s new Rural Fire Division to treat bushfire risks on unallocated Crown land.
The expenditure will be spread throughout the state, and DFES regional officers will work with partners on a range of activities, including planned burning, weed control, mulching and fire breaks.
