Fire Management

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Fire is part of the Australian landscape

Our fire management programs aim to protect life and property, while conserving our natural and cultural heritage on lands we manage.

Fire is part of the Australian landscape. It is generally recognised that appropriate fire regimes are important for maintaining healthy habitats, with infrequent fires being as damaging as too frequent fire. To get the balance right, fire management staff from the Department for Environment and Heritage are using the best available knowledge and science to make decisions about prescribed burning programs. Research and monitoring is undertaken to add to our knowledge and continually improve the programs (eg see Fire Research in West Region). This will provide useful information for the development of regional fire management plans.

Department for Environment and Heritage fire crews operate as part of the SA Country Fire Service

In West Region, a fire management plan is currently being written for the parks and reserves of southern Eyre Peninsula that we manage under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. This plan will outline fire management measures and prescribed burning strategies that will be used to lessen the impact of bushfire and manage conservation values in these parks and reserves. Other plans are proposed for the parks and reserves of central, northern and western Eyre Peninsula.

Fires that occur under very high or extreme fire conditions may have significant impacts on the community, sometimes with tragic consequences. To limit the impact of bushfire, our fire management programs aim to maintain access and equipment for fire fighters, and manage fuel loads adjacent to towns and other assets. It is important to remember that fuel reduction burning by itself is not the answer to fire prevention; it is only one tool for limiting the impact of bushfire on the community. Preparation by individuals remains the key to preventing loss of life and property.

Across South Australia, the Department for Environment and Heritage responds to fires with trained crews, fire units, and specialised fire suppression plant and equipment. Our fire crews form a brigade that operates as part of the SA Country Fire Service (CFS).

Black Fire-orchids Pyrorchis nigricans flower well after bushfire

Fire and Biodiversity

Fire plays an important role in shaping Australia's biodiversity. As an ecological community recovers from fire, some plant species will regenerate quickly, while others may not regrow until many years later. Similarly some animals prefer to live in recently burnt habitat, while others occupy long unburnt habitat.

For more information see the brochure Fire and Biodiversity: Fire - a natural part of our landscape (100Kb PDF).

Survival of Plants and Animals

Many of Australia's native plants have developed mechanisms that enable them to survive fires. Features vary between plant species and include:

• 'Re-sprouting' mechanisms such as new growth sprouts along limbs from epicormic buds under the bark (eg eucalypts), new growth sprouts near ground level from organs known as lignotubers (eg some Hakea and Melaleuca species), and thick bark that provides protection during fire
• 'Seeder' plants recolonise from seed following fire. Seeds may be found in the soil where they are protected from high fire temperatures (eg some Acacia species), or stored in the plant's canopy, protected by woody fruits (eg some Hakea species).

The impact of bushfire varies according to fire frequency, size, intensity and patchiness. During intense fires most animal species are impacted by bushfire. This is either a direct result of the fire intensity at the time, or those animals that initially survive may die shortly after due to a lack of food and increased predation. Some animals are able to survive fire by using different survival methods such as:

• moving out of burning areas to places of safety (eg kangaroos and birds)
• seeking shelter in burrows, logs or hollows while the fire passes (eg reptiles, amphibians, wombats, echidnas and possums).

After fire, Eucalypt trees re-sprout new growth from epicormic buds under the bark		Malleefowl fossicking after fire

Some animals, such as birds of prey and grazers (eg kangaroos), can find an abundant supply of food in recently burnt areas and actively seek them out.

Fire Research in West Region

Researcher checking a pitfall trap line. Photo:Don Driscoll

Research provides vital information that enables us to better manage habitats in our parks and reserves. In West Region, Heggaton, Hincks, Hambidge and Pinkawillinie reserves are the focus of a collaborative research project between the Department for Environment and Heritage and Flinders University. Researchers are examining how plants and animals recover after fire. This information will be used to make decisions about the appropriate frequency and size of prescribed burns in National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 reserves on Eyre Peninsula.

Research commenced in July 2004 with survey sites installed in areas burnt by fire less than 10 years ago, next to areas that have not been burnt for a long time. Insects, reptiles, birds and plants are being sampled at each site to investigate changes in flora and fauna diversity over subsequent years.

We also carry out prescribed burning in reserves to manage conservation values and limit the impact of bushfire. As part of the research project, prescribed burns are conducted in each of the four reserves to compare the differences between various ages of habitat after fire.

The research project will help answer some of the questions that exist about:

• how areas recover after fire
• time periods required for plants to reach reproductive maturity
• time periods for different animals to recolonise areas
• the importance of unburnt refuges for recolonisation.

Different plant and animal species have different habitat requirements. No single fire regime favours all species, so a diversity of fire regimes in reserves is needed to conserve a variety of plants and animals. Both infrequent and too frequent fires may have negative consequences for conservation values. Our challenge is to conserve ecosystems in our reserves by maintaining natural processes, such as fire.

Desert Banded Snake Simoselaps bertholdi Photo: Don Driscoll		'Starred Knob-tailed Gecko Nephrurus stellatus Photo: Don Driscoll		Eastern Spiny-tailed Gecko Strophurus williamsi Photo: Don Driscoll

Prescribed Burning

Lighting a prescribed burn in Kellidie Bay Conservation Park

The results of a prescribed burn in Coffin Bay National Park

Department for Environment and Heritage fire crews invest significant amounts of time and effort in prescribed burning to reduce the impact of fires on adjacent assets.

Prescribed burning is conducted to remove fuels less than 6 mm in diameter (eg leaf litter, bark, shrubs, leaves etc) that are burnt during the passage of the fire front. Prescribed burning reduces the amount of bark and other material that may ignite and cause spot fires. Prescribed burns in mallee woodlands are conducted as intensely as is feasible, in order to remove as much of this fine fuel as possible. This changes the amount and arrangement of fuels until the area recovers to pre-fire levels.

Dead, standing timber left after prescribed burning does not increase the risk of future fires. This large timber (eg tree trunks and fallen limbs) requires a large amount of heat to ignite and only catches fire after the front has passed.

Prescribed burns are planned to take advantage of favourable weather conditions. While these are not without some risk, the Department for Environment and Heritage works closely with the SA Country Fire Service (CFS) to ensure that risks are identified, and an appropriate level of fire fighting resources are on site during the burn.

For more information see the brochure Prescribed Burning: Using Fire to manage our Parks (100Kb PDF).

More information

• Department for Environment and Heritage Fire Management webpage
• Contact the West Region Fire Management Officer
• Fire and Biodiversity: Fire - a natural part of our landscape brochure (100Kb PDF)
• Prescribed Burning: Using Fire to manage our Parks brochure (100Kb PDF)
• Conference proceedings for Bushfire 2004: Earth, Wind and Fire - fusing the elements
• SA Country Fire Service (CFS) website
• Managing remnant mallee vegetation for biodiversity using fire and fox control project web page on the Australia and Pacific Science Foundation website