NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has scheduled a hazard reduction burn commencing on Saturday 9 October 2021 in Goonoo National Park about 30 kilometres north east from Dubbo town centre, weather permitting.
Goonoo National Park has a total area of 9090 hectares. This burn is planned to cover a combined area of 692 hectares on the western edge of the reserve.
National Parks and Wildlife Service Area Manager, Fiona Buchanan, said: “The objective of the burn is to reduce the fuel load in an area which has not been burnt for 25 years. By lowering the amount of fuel on the ground, we hope to reduce the risk of fire over the coming months.”
Smoke may be visible but shouldn’t have any impact on Dubbo and the surrounding towns. Fire trails throughout Goonoo National Park will be closed for the duration of the burn, but roads should not be impacted.
This burn is one of many hazard reduction operations undertaken by NPWS across NSW each year, many with assistance from the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW.
Hazard reduction burns are essential to reduce bushfire fuel loads to help protect the parks, neighbours and communities from bushfires.
Hazard reduction is a critical function of fire services and land managers which continue to operate in accordance with Public Health Orders. Operations are conducted in a COVID-19 safe manner to ensure the safety of fire crews and the community.
COVID-19 safety briefings are provided to all staff who are required to wear masks along with their normal fire personal protective equipment. Contact tracing is also enabled via the QR code sign-in all fire crews must complete when starting.
Fire agencies and land managers will be working to limit the potential impact of smoke, such as through smoke modelling and adjusting the times and lighting patterns of the burn to reduce the likelihood of widespread smoke impact.
All burns across NSW will continue to be coordinated with the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and details on specific burns will be made available in advance on the Rural Fire Service website, ‘Fires Near Me’ app, and on NPWS Alerts website.
For health information relating to smoke from bush fires and hazard reduction burning, visit NSW Health or the Asthma Foundation.
For up to date information on this/these, and other, planned hazard reduction activities, visit the Rural Fire Service website.
