Today marks two years since commercial timber harvesting on Victorian State forests ceased. And it’s been a difficult transition for many.
One of the major consequences has been the loss of experienced machine operators and logging contractors to assist with forest firefighting.
Sawmill workers and logging contractors have always been an integral part of Victoria’s firefighting effort. In fact, of the 71 deaths during the 1939 bushfires, over half were timber workers.
And while they were employed as contractors, they were always considered part of the Forests Commission’s firefighting fraternity.
In addition to the current department’s fleet of tankers, trucks, graders and bulldozers, the firefighting effort is supported by over 400 contractors from across the civil and forestry industries.
If it has tracks or wheels, over 4000 machines are now registered on the DEECA’s “Panel Contracts”.
The Panel Contracts system was developed in Gippsland by logistics wizard, Max Stewart, and being registered on the panel before the fire season ensured contractors were available when needed, prices were agreed, machines met all the safety and insurance requirements, as well as technical standards. But more importantly, they came with the highly skilled people needed to operate them.
Dry firefighting with rakehoes, chainsaws and axes, by its very nature, is hard physical work but an essential skill in these far-flung places with limited access to water. It’s something that had been developed and honed over many decades by the Forests Commission.
I always found that 15-20 metres per-person-per-hour was a good “rule of thumb” for the sustained rate to build and hold a fireline using only hand tools in moderate fuels, but there are lots of things that can speed this up… or slow this down…
A small D4 bulldozer in the hands of a skilled operator could construct about 350 m/hr of control line in moderate fuels provided there wasn’t too much side slope, while a bigger D6 could double that figure.
But a new D6 bulldozer can cost in the vicinity of $750,000, and about $450/hour to operate, so having ready access to such expensive and powerful machines over the summer months was, in effect, “subsidised” because the owners had work in the “off season”.
Tough, ruggedly independent and self-reliant, logging contractors were familiar with working for long periods, both day and night, in remote bush, in steep terrain, in dust, often with only snakes and flies for company.
They also built and maintained many of the roads needed to access the bush. Logging machines were often conveniently located in the bush nearby and could be quickly moved and deployed to the fire edge.
It’s one thing to be able to pull levers and push dirt, but experienced bush contractors were able to safely cut a fireline down a precipitously steep ridge where crews could barely stand upright. They could push over dangerous burning trees which were a threat and then follow up during the recovery period by dextrously clearing roads and rehabilitating control lines with an excavator to minimise soil erosion.
The Caledonia bushfire in 1999 saw the introduction of a new role of Plant Operations Manager (POM) to better support the independent contractors. An initiative of local forester, Geoff Pike, with the support of Peter Broome, Denny Johnson and Mack Berry from Briagolong, they identified and numbered each machine and its crew in the bush and made sure they were looked after with time sheets, fuel, food, support and safety information.
Over the last few years, many logging contractors have sold their machines and businesses and moved on. But many others have wisely diversified into trucking, earth moving, road building, vegetation management such as slashing, mulching and tree lopping.
As time progressed, the cohort of traditional logging contractors across regional Victoria matured and shifted from burley blokes in bluey singlets, with Mack trucks and covered in dust, to professionally run family businesses.
Victoria’s contractor fleet now allows for both a massive surge capacity but also allows for a widening diversity of machines than would not otherwise be available within the Department.
Increasingly, excavators and large harvesters are being used because they can be deployed into areas with a high safety risk due the dead stags or dry limbs left behind by previous fires.
Roads, tracks and fire perimeters cannot be fully accessed by ground crews until the tree hazard has been removed. Many of these machines have come directly from commercial timber harvesting operations.
At the other end of the scale, bobcats or positracks with mulching attachments can nimbly reduce the fire risk posed by the shrub layer – creating a “park-like” break alongside populated areas and roads, as an alternative to, or to complement the treeless slashed breaks.
The tracked positracks minimises soil disturbance and can operate across much boggier or sandy terrain. Whilst these machines might not have been used in commercial timber harvesting, increasingly contractors have diversified their fleet, which provides another opportunity to engage their skilled forest operators.
During the transition period of the closure of the timber industry, FFMVic retained many of the displaced logging contractors for firefighting and preparation works, but it’s uncertain what the long-term future may hold.
Either way, these wonderful folks have always been, and will always remain, a vital part of Victoria’s forest firefighting family.
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 