Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Manager Gamba Fire Mitigation Roni Opden talk Fire Ready Week coming up in March, with pointers to get us bushfire ready

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Manager Gamba Fire Mitigation Roni Opden talk Fire Ready Week coming up in March, with pointers to get us bushfire ready · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now we know that fire Ready Week. It's back in
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  Speaker 1: the first week of March and the Department of Environment,
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  Speaker 1: Parks and Water Security is asking Territorians to touch base
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  Speaker 1: to get help in preparing for the bushfire season. Now
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  Speaker 1: I'm joined on the line by the Department's manager of
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  Speaker 1: gamber fire Mitigation, Ronnie Opton. Good morning to you, Ronnie.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show. Ronnie, what happens
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  Speaker 1: during fire Ready Week?
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  Speaker 2: So fire Ready Week is where we invite the community
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  Speaker 2: to come on down to the Bushfire's headquarters and get
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  Speaker 2: some information. Ideally book a personalized property management plan with
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  Speaker 2: a fire officer, so a fire officer can help you
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  Speaker 2: identify the risks that might be on your rural property
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  Speaker 2: and also to put in a plan for survival in
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  Speaker 2: the event of a bushfire.
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  Speaker 1: And Ronnie, I know that quite often, you know, particularly
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  Speaker 1: out in the rural area, when people have those larger blocks,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it is a bit more difficult to get some
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  Speaker 1: of that gamber grass and some of the other sort
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  Speaker 1: of grass under control. Does this week specifically target those
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  Speaker 1: in the rural area or is it absolutely everybody?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's absolutely everybody. But what we do know
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  Speaker 2: is that properties that have a lot of gamber grass
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  Speaker 2: on them are really, really at a much higher risk
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  Speaker 2: of being impacted by bushfire and the dry season. So
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  Speaker 2: this is why we're holding the week in March. It's
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  Speaker 2: the perfect time to be getting on top of the
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  Speaker 2: gamber grass and other grassy weeds as well. And getting
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  Speaker 2: on top of those grasses now will save you a
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  Speaker 2: lot of fuel load in the dry season. Yeah, there
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  Speaker 2: will be resources available at fire Ready Week. We've got
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  Speaker 2: officers who can help you put together a gamber plan
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  Speaker 2: for how you're going to attack it and also put
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  Speaker 2: you onto some free resources to help you get started
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  Speaker 2: on your block as well.
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  Speaker 1: And Ronnie, are we preparing for a bad bushfire season
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  Speaker 1: this year or do we know yet what kind of
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  Speaker 1: conditions we're expecting.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'd say that we are nearly always going into
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  Speaker 2: bad bush fire seasons when we have unmanaged gambergrass out there.
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  Speaker 2: Managing it now will help it just to mulch down
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  Speaker 2: so there's less fuel load. But look, we are expecting
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  Speaker 2: a fair bit more rain before the end of the
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  Speaker 2: wet sorry, before the end of the dry season, so
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  Speaker 2: it's possibly going to be a slightly later one. But
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  Speaker 2: I think fairly typical and what are.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the most important things that territorians do need
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  Speaker 1: to know as we know as we gear up to
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  Speaker 1: head into the bush fire season. I know it's still
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  Speaker 1: a little while away, but like you said earlier, it's
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  Speaker 1: good to make sure that you're organized and ready now
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  Speaker 1: rather than waiting until the dry arrives.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. We don't want to wait till the dry
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  Speaker 2: season and the risk is here, so this is the
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  Speaker 2: time to be thinking about what actions you're going to
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  Speaker 2: take to have a fire break in place, to reduce
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  Speaker 2: your fuel loads. And there's also a lot you can
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  Speaker 2: do around your house itself, such like clearing out the gutters,
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  Speaker 2: making sure you have a reliable water source and look,
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  Speaker 2: one of the things that's really important and particularly we're
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  Speaker 2: pushing for this fire ready week is having a survival plan.
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  Speaker 2: So if you are on a rural property and you
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  Speaker 2: are affected by a wildfire that might be coming in
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  Speaker 2: your area, is having a plan in place, knowing what
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  Speaker 2: to do, and that's what a bush by a survival
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  Speaker 2: plan is all about. It's knowing what you're going to
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  Speaker 2: do with your animals. Where do your kids know what
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  Speaker 2: to do if a fire is coming and they're home alone.
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  Speaker 2: So it's having a plan in place so that if
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  Speaker 2: the worst happens, you've already got a plan. You don't
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  Speaker 2: have to think on the spot.
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  Speaker 1: And Ronnie, territories generally pretty good at being prepared or
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  Speaker 1: do we sometimes lack in that space? Oh?
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  Speaker 2: Look, you know, I think most of the people who
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  Speaker 2: live on their rural properties are really aware of the
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  Speaker 2: dangers and take good steps towards preparing. We get issues
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  Speaker 2: where there might be absent land or unmanaged vacant land
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  Speaker 2: that's no one's been living on there for a long time.
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  Speaker 2: So those sort of properties we can sort of deal
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  Speaker 2: with through other processes. But there are so many willing
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  Speaker 2: people out there, and you know, people are just really
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  Speaker 2: open to getting this sort of assistance, And that's what
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  Speaker 2: this is all about.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Ronnie, how big? Look how tough is it
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  Speaker 1: sort of managing the gamber, particularly after we've had quite
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  Speaker 1: a good wet season like we've seen over the last
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  Speaker 1: couple of you know, a couple of months.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's pros and cons with that. So having a
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  Speaker 2: good wet season it means that we get really good
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  Speaker 2: seed germination. So the seed bank of gamber grass is
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  Speaker 2: all coming out of the soil essentially, so it's prime
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  Speaker 2: ready to target. Gamber is best to be targeted while
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  Speaker 2: it's actively growing, and which is right now. And also
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  Speaker 2: this extended wet that we might be seeing might actually,
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  Speaker 2: if we're lucky, might just push back the seeding a
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  Speaker 2: little bit longer, which will just give us a slightly
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  Speaker 2: greater window of opportunity. So hopefully the control can keep
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  Speaker 2: on being effective right up till about of April May
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  Speaker 2: and get as much as we can done before before
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  Speaker 2: it starts to seed.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Ronnie, if there's anyone out there listening this morning
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  Speaker 1: and they're keen to find out a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: about fire Ready week, or if they want to make
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  Speaker 1: one of those appointments that you'd spoken about, where's the
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  Speaker 1: best way for them to do that.
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  Speaker 2: If you've got Facebook, you can jump onto the Bushfire's
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  Speaker 2: Facebook page. That'll give you the information, and it'll also
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  Speaker 2: give you a link. You can just click on it
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  Speaker 2: and you can select a time that'll suit you a
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  Speaker 2: date and time, so you can sort of see what's
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  Speaker 2: available by clicking on the Facebook link. Otherwise, if you
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  Speaker 2: don't have Facebook, give us a call. Eight nine double
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  Speaker 2: two eight, double four. That's Bushfires and the event's going
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  Speaker 2: to be held out at the new Bushfires headquarters at
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  Speaker 2: Akasha Hills on the corner of Stuart Highwaytown End Road.
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  Speaker 1: Good stuff for Ronnie. Lovely to speak to you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you're welcome. I hope to see a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the people out there. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we'll talk to you again soon, no doubt.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.