The first trials using aircraft to attack bushfires in Australia were conducted in Victoria in 1937-38 when the Forests Commission carried out tests dropping brine solution (bitterns) in cartons.

The US Forest Service began trials around the same time and the two organisations collaborated closely over the subsequent decades.

Further trials were conducted after the War in November 1946 by the Commission at Anglesea to compare the performance of RAAF Mustang P51 fighters, Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Avro Lincoln Bombers dropping ammonium sulphate compounds in 500 lb bombs from about 100 feet, which were designed to burst on impact. Several containers were tested on small fires for their accuracy, falling and bursting characteristics. The results were encouraging but inconclusive.

After a lull, FCV fire researcher, Athol Hodgson, resumed testing of retardants in 1963 at Ballarat, dropping water-thickened with bentonite clay from a Ceres CA-28 aircraft.

The 1963 trial was followed in 1965 using a Piper Pawnee to drop the new chemical retardant, Phoscheck, provided by Monsanto.

All this experimental work culminated with two Piper Pawnees from Benambra, flown by Ben Buckley and Bob Lansbury, making Australia’s first operational drop of fire-retardant on a small lightning-strike on 6 February 1967.

The 15 loads were able to contain the remote fire to less than one hectare.

But this was the first real firebombing job and marked the beginning of modern aerial firefighting operations in Australia.

It was also what has become the classic application of firebombing. The “proof of concept” at Benambra encouraged many more innovations with new and more powerful aircraft.

The effectiveness of aerial firebombing is complex and depends on many factors including: aircraft turn-around time, distance from fire, aircraft type (fixed wing vs rotary), aircraft performance, load size, terrain, drop characteristics, drop door system, ambient weather conditions, wind, availability of ground support, fire intensity, fire size, fuel type, pilot skill and suppressant used.

Firebombing improves the chances of successful first attack on a bushfire up to 50% when the Fire Danger FFDI ranges from moderate to high (<24). However, the chances of success fall rapidly as the Fire Danger FFDI rises, fuel loads increase and delays in reaching the fire extend.

For example, the probability of success drops to less than 20% if the FFDI is severe (>50) and the delay is more than 30 minutes. These figures are significantly affected by the presence or absence of ground crews.

Aircraft dropping retardant can be very effective at slowing the rate of spread of fire, which in remote locations, gives more time for the arrival of ground crews. In a few cases firebombing has been sufficient to extinguish small fires such as single trees or very small spots.

Limitations of firebombing are often determined by:

1. the rate at which aircraft can deliver retardant, water or foam on the fire.
2. penetration of retardant through the overstory canopy and the amount that reaches and coats the ground fuels.
3. a threshold fire intensity, above which, a fire will spot across or burn through a control line.
4. firebombing is not generally effective against high intensity or fast-moving bushfires.
5. aerial firebombing fails on its own as a containment strategy if the fire behaviour includes medium or long distant spotting.

The upper limit of fire intensity that can be successfully attacked from the air is estimated to be about 2,000 kW/m in eucalypt forest fuel. This roughly equates to the limits which can be handled by either ground crews alone, or ground crews supported by fire tankers, graders, bulldozers, etc.

Severe bushfires, such as on Black Saturday, generated intensities more than 100,000 kW/m, whereas low intensity prescribed burns are usually less than 500 kW/m. For comparison, a large household radiator emits about 1 kW.

Depending on turnaround times, forest type, fuel hazard and terrain, a small single engine firebomber might construct and hold about 100 m of control line per hour.

By comparison, the sustained rate to construct and hold fire control lines by hand crews is between 5 and 20 m per person per hour depending on forest type, fuel load, understory thickness, slope and terrain.

Unlike foam or water, a retardant like Phoscheck is laid ahead of the fire edge and coats the fuel. As the fire burns into the retardant line a chemical reaction occurs that effectively slows the fire. The main advantage of retardant is that it remains effective for some time after it has been dropped.

Water is efficient at extinguishing fire, and usually has the advantage of being available at little cost, but when dropped from an aircraft it has big disadvantages because it breaks up in the air-stream and a significant proportion erodes into mist and either evaporates before it hits the target or falls in concentrations too light to be effective against a fire, so its extinguishing properties do not last very long.

However, firebombing with foam or water can be very effective at extinguishing grass fires in open farmland, protecting houses by knocking down flames or working in conjunction with ground crews.

While firebombing aircraft play an important role, there is no substitute for “boots-on-the-ground”, particularly in heavy forest fuels.

The technology and application of aerial firebombing using larger and larger aircraft has become an integral part of modern bushfire suppression.

Map of Firebombing Bases

https://www.victoriasforestryheritage.org.au/maps/forestlocations/firebombingbases/index.html#8/-37.130/145.046

Hodgson, A (1987). The Fireman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10qlwRYm23beBF8DfTCpFxFWCr4SmdCMe/view

Fast and aggressive First Attack… has always been the mantra drummed into trainee forest firefighters.

The primary aim is to keep bushfires small, and less than 5 ha in size within the first 24-hour period following detection. This gives the best chance of quick control.

But the main problem for firefighters on the ground isn’t fire area… it’s fire perimeter… a conundrum rapidly compounded by spot fires.

A small 5 ha fire can be nearly 1 km around its perimeter. That’s a long way to build a control line by hand. And believe me… it’s hard slog…

And with big fires, the perimeter to be extinguished can stretch for hundreds of kilometres through thick bush, in rough terrain and remote from any access tracks.

Firefighting is a challenge of balancing available resources in both space and time. Sometimes a bit of agile mental arithmetic is required to judge the expected fire behaviour, rates of spread and where the fire edge might be, against the time and resources available to build and hold control line.

About 18 heavy bulldozers were purchased in the late 1940s in response to the Stretton Royal Commission recommendations.

As technology improved, the Commission began putting smaller D4 size First Attack Dozers (FAD) on the back of tip trucks, and later small trailers, to transport machines more rapidly to the fire edge.

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.

Depending on forest type, fuel load, understory thickness and slope, the sustained rate to construct and hold fire control lines by hand crews is between 5 and 20 m per person per hour.

Logging Contractors & Firefighting.

“Fires always look worse at night, and fires always look worse from a distance” – Alan McArthur, c 1961.

Firstly, it is important to understand that bushfire perimeter, rather than bushfire area, is the main control problem for forest firefighters on the ground. A conundrum rapidly compounded by spot fires.

In extreme cases, the perimeter to be extinguished can stretch for hundreds of kilometres through thick bush, in rough terrain and remote from any access tracks.

The principles of effective forest fire suppression have not changed over the decades. It requires –

• Early detection combined with rapid and determined first attack to keep fires small.
• The flames must be suppressed.
• The perimeter must be surrounded by a bare-earth trail or non-combustible edge like a road or river, to ensure that smouldering fuels are physically separated from unburnt ones.
• Smouldering material in the burnt area, within a certain distance of the fire edge (> 50m), and including large logs, trees alight in hollows and roots that can burn underground must be extinguished. This often requires tree-felling, digging and breaking open large material (aka – blacking out).
• The fireline must be patrolled and blacked out until it is certain that it won’t relight.

Dry firefighting involves building a mineral earth trail down to bare dirt. In addition to building new hand trails, an existing road, strategic fuel break or 4WD track can be a suitable control line.

It is often the only option where there is limited access to reliable and plentiful water supplies, which characterised the prolonged campaign bushfires in remote and mountainous locations in the middle of summer.

A strong fuel moisture differential (e.g. river, heathland or swamp) is sometimes suitable as a control line but needs careful and ongoing monitoring.

Areas that have recently been burnt, with lower fuel levels, generally have milder fire behaviour and can offer safer access for crews and act as anchor points for control lines or back burning.

These operational techniques have proven effective firefighting in heavier forest fuels which, unlike grass, tend to retain heat and smoulder.

Direct attack is the normal tactic in the early phases of a bushfire when it’s still small. It requires getting a crew close to the edge, either on the flanks or at the head of the fire as quickly as possible, and building a break with hand tools like rakehoes, axes and chainsaws… or with small First Attack Dozers (FADs).

It is possible to control a small bushfire using direct attack provided the flame height is less than about a metre or so, the bushfire is accessible on foot or vehicle, the scrub isn’t too thick, and the weather remains stable.

For hand crews on foot, making sure there is a nearby safety zone that is clear, or has already been burnt, if the fire builds unexpectedly. This is often known as “keeping-one-foot-in-the-black”. Maintaining good communication and vigilant lookouts is an essential safety strategy.

Aircraft are very effective, particularly in the early stages. Sometimes a load of retardant dropped from a small firebomber or helicopter can suppress the flames and buy enough time for ground crews to reach it, particularly if the bushfire is remote or a single tree that has been hit by lightning.

By contrast, indirect attack usually involves building a fallback control line along roads or ridges, often well away from the active fire edge , and backburning.

Indirect attack is often done in conjunction with aerial ignition to burn out the remaining fuels, but it also rapidly increases fire complexity, size and perimeter.

And while aircraft and firebombers can make a big difference, particularly in the early stages, absolutely nothing beats “boots on the ground” for blackout and patrol.

The Forests Commission, (now DEECA/FFMVic), honed these firefighting skills over many decades of hard-won experience.

And falling trees and branches remain the greatest risk to the safety of firefighters on the ground.

FCV – Blackout film

FCV – Fire Control Notes (1981)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ldN9Yc8bbKHC9OGkxBwH6EoGIlqTNDHN/view/1ldN9Yc8bbKHC9OGkxBwH6EoGIlqTNDHN/view

The landscape features that distinguish Gippsland, and which strongly influence the weather, and therefore the bushfire behaviour are:

• the remote, sometimes inaccessible, heavily forested mountains with winter snow-capped alpine peaks which rise up steeply from the hinterland and foothills.
• major river valleys like the Macalister, Tambo, Buchan, Mitchell, Snowy and Cann Rivers which are generally orientated north-south and tend to funnel the prevailing weather patterns.
• the Great Dividing Range and the strong north winds that tumble over the ridges which often brings bushfires from the north-east of the state.
• the blocking effect of the Strzelecki Ranges which influences rainfall patterns.
• rivers and valleys which empty out onto the flat fertile plains, the wetlands and the inland Gippsland Lakes.
• the exposed southern coastline of Bass Strait from Wilsons Promontory to Point Hicks.

Far east Gippsland is one of the few places in mainland Australia where the forests extend unbroken from the mountains to the sea.

Eastern Victoria, and Gippsland in particular, sits directly within the Australian bushfire flume.

The thick forested landscape is subject to repeating weather cycles over the long summer months, with hot northerly winds, followed by strong south westerly changes and dry lightning storms, which can ignite many small fires in the mountains.

The heavy forest fuels are hard to fully extinguish without rain and can smoulder for weeks.

Inevitably, the whole drying cycle repeats itself and within a few days after the cool change, the strong north-west winds are back again to push any existing or new fires out of the bush.

Each time making a strong run with the north-west wind and then sweeping back into the bush with the cool south-west change.

Where it waits…

The end result of these repeating weather cycles interacting with the landscape and the eastern coastal forests is what I have termed the “Gippsland Zig-Zag”.

In combination with prolonged drought where natural fire barriers like creeks and tree fern gullies have dried out, these pesky campaign bushfires can burn for months.

The Zig-Zag becomes the typical and infuriating pattern as bushfires move with the wind, both up-and-down, and in-and-out of the forest, while their overall footprint steadily creeps across the Gippsland landscape from west to east.

Another distinguishing feature of the campaign bushfires and the Zig-Zag is the stress it causes to neighbouring communities. The endless sleepless nights waiting and wondering when, and even if, the fire will come out of the forest. Occasionally emotions bubble over and tempers fray.

Major Zig-Zag bushfires in Gippsland include 1965, Cann River in 1982-83 which burnt for several months, while more recent campaigns include the Caledonia River in 1998, the Alpine fires in 2002-03, 2005-06, 2006-07, Aberfeldy/Seaton in 2013, the Snowy River Complex in 2014 and Black Summer 2019-20.

Note- The term Gippsland Zig Zag can be traced back to the campaign fires in 2003. It was the year that the fires burnt through the Omeo base camp on the footy field and the outskirts of Swifts Creek itself. I was leading the planning team at Swifts Creek and we had some Americans with us for the first time. Ben Rankin was the incident Controller. I recall one of the Americans who had recently arrived, made the remark about the zig zag shape of the fire and it sorta stuck. I even renamed the fire in the Incident Action Plan (as it was known back then) for the next shift but the Region and Head Office didn’t see the funny side. But everyone in the bush knew exactly what I was talking about.

Internationally, southern Australia and particularly the State of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the island State of Tasmania, is commonly regarded as one of the three most landscapes on Earth prone to damaging bushfires. The other two are southern California and the Mediterranean coast.

Victorians live entirely within what the international renown fire historian, Stephen Pyne, calls “the bushfire flume.” It is the most distinctive bushfire region of Australia and one of the most dangerous in the world.

When a high-pressure system stalls in the Tasman Sea, hot northerly winds flow relentlessly down from central Australia across the densely vegetated south-east of the continent.

This fiery “flume” brews a deadly chemistry of air and fuel.

The mountain topography of steep slopes, ridges and valleys channels the hot air, temperatures climb to searing extremes, and humidity evaporates, such that the air crackles.

Fires starting under the influence of the strong north-westerly wind move quickly in a long straight line.

An unstable atmosphere with boiling pyrocumulonimbus cloud can also increase lightning and spot fires as burning leaves and bark get lifted up and carried through the air to start more fires downwind.

Typically, dry lightning storms without significant or any rainfall will roll across the landscape from the south-west with a strong cool change. The pattern of these storms begins before Christmas and continues well into autumn.

Depending on fuel dryness, the lightning storms often start numerous small fires on ridgetops as they strike dead trees. These trees ignite and bushfire spreads slowly for a while under the cooler conditions.

It is not uncommon for a single summer lightning storm to start as many as 50 to 100 small fires across the remote forests and mountains of eastern Victoria.

With a strong cool change, sometimes there is rain, but more often in summer and autumn, it is only a light sprinkle. Certainly not enough to extinguish any new blazes or wet the ground fuels.

After the south-west change has passed, the weather is typically benign for a few days with the development of a strong inversion layer and light winds. So new fires that have been started by lightning often smoulder undetected.

Combined with low clouds in the valleys these conditions make detection of any new fires from aircraft or firetowers difficult.

But there is also a chance to do some good suppression works before it gets hot and windy again.

Bushfire behaviour is influenced by many factors including forest type, fuel quantity, fuel arrangement, fuel dryness, drought index, temperature, Relative Humidity (RH), topography, atmospheric stability, aspect and even slope.

Wind has a dominant effect on the Rate of Spread (ROS), and also bushfire size, shape and direction.

Measuring Fuel Hazard.

Fuel quantity (tonnes/ha) affects fire intensity (heat output – kilowatts/metre), the Rate of Spread, flame height and spotting distance.

Put simply – more fuel produces more heat output and greater fire intensity, which directly affects fire suppression difficulty.

But fuel arrangement is just as important as fuel quantity to the overall fuel hazard rating. Fibrous and ribbon bark, wiregrass and suspended leaves, together with elevated and near-surface scrub fuels, act as ladders which can lead flames into the tree canopy. 

Overall fuel hazard can be significantly reduced by rearranging the elevated fuels by mulching or mowing, even though the total fuel quantity initially remains the same.

Perhaps the best simple illustration is to imagine unsuccessfully trying to ignite a thick phone book with a match but then tearing out all the pages and scrunching them up into a pile and then setting it alight. There is no change in overall fuel quantity but the difference in the arrangement significantly affects the resulting fire behaviour.

Fuel size is an important factor in “flammability” too. Fine fuels include dead plant material, such as leaves, grass, bark and twigs less than 6mm thick, and live plant material thinner than 3mm thick. Typically, they burn quickly at the fire edge and contribute the most to the rate of spread and flame height.

Bark quantity and type have a dominant influence on the overall fuel hazard and therefore fire behaviour. Burning can significantly reduce the long-term back hazard.

Under extreme conditions, fibrous bark like messmate (Eucalyptus obliqua) can produce massive spotting 100-500 m, while ribbon bark from manna gum (E. viminalis) in combination with unstable atmospheric conditions can start spot fires 10-20 km ahead of the fire front.

The leaves on standing trees will not, on their own, support a fire, and fires will not occur in tree crowns unless there is an intense fire burning on the ground beneath.  

Available Fuel vs Total Fuel.

The quantity of fuel available to burn (compared to total fuel quantity) depends largely on moisture content. When moisture content exceeds 20-25% not much will burn, whereas 9-17% is the optimal range for safe fuel reduction burning, but if the moisture content drops below 9%, virtually everything will ignite, and fire behaviour can become extreme.

But here is the important bit, fine fuels like leaves and bark act like a sponge and can absorb moisture from the air when the Relative Humidity (RH) is high, and temperature is cool. Conversely, they can also dry out very quickly.

This means that fuel availability can increase rapidly from nearly zero after high RH, rain, dew, drizzle or fog, to many tonnes per hectare as fuel dries out. This can happen quickly over a few hours on hot and windy days. Rapidly drying fuel is the main reason that bushfires escalate during the late afternoon.

Under the normal drying cycle, the fuel dries from the top of the litter bed and the near surface fuel. Under mild conditions, and in spring, the lower litter layer next to the soil often remains too wet to burn.

Heavy forest fuels like big logs on the ground, or dead standing trees (stags), take much longer to dry out and are more affected by prolonged drought and underlying soil dryness. They have a long residual burning time and don’t extinguish quickly or easily like grass. This adds considerably to the complexity and length of the firefighting effort in forests. Campaign bushfires lasting weeks, or even months, are not uncommon in heavy forest fuels.

Finally, the explosive flammability of eucalyptus oil is well known to Australian forest firefighters. The aromatic oil has an energy content similar to petrol, with about 43MJ/kg once its vaporised, but it has a much higher flashpoint like diesel. Fireballs of explosive gas are thankfully uncommon but exhibit erratic behaviour and are very frightening.

Fuel Accumulation.

The rate of fuel accumulation from leaf and bark fall in forests varies between 4 to 10 tonnes/ha/year. The rate of decomposition also depends on forest type, soils, seasonal rainfall and climate.

Contrary to popular belief, forest fuels do not accumulate indefinitely. An equilibrium, or steady state, is eventually reached where the accumulation rate matches the rate of decomposition.

For dry foothill forests commonly found across Victoria, fuel quantities typically range from 15-40 tonnes/ha after 20-25 years. In wet forests like mountain ash it is typically higher.

Wombat – Fire Effects Study Areas (FESA).

One of the most authoritative and comprehensive long-term research projects in Victoria began in 1984 in the Wombat State forest. The research was led by the late Dr Kevin Tolhust and assessed the ecological impacts of repeated, low-intensity prescribed fire. Short and long-term rotation burning in spring was compared to autumn ignition. Some control plots were not burnt.

The structure and type of near surface and elevated fuels in the understory evolved over time. The long-term patterns of fire frequency, intensity, and season play a role in understory and fuel redevelopment (aka – Fire Regime).

The study found that surface fine fuels had an average steady state level of 16 tonnes/ha, but seasonal variations ranged from 9 to 26 t/ha.

Surface fine fuels reaccumulated to within 90% of the long-unburnt state within four years of either spring or autumn burning at the fire low intensities studied. The impact of prescribed burning on surface fuels is therefore relatively short-lived.

The rate of accumulation of surface fine fuels was not significantly affected by the season of burn or the burn frequency.

The study found that while the surface fine fuel complex may reaccumulate very quickly, the overall fuel hazard levels were likely to continue to slowly increase for 20 years or more due to slower of regrowth of bark and accumulation of elevated fuels.

Over the 14-year period, no plant species were either lost or gained as a result of up to four successive spring fires or three successive autumn fires. However, short-rotation spring burning can favour Austral Bracken (Pteridium esculentum), herbs, geophytes and Poa (Poa sieberiana), and disadvantage Forest Wire-grass.

There were also subtle changes in the forest understorey in the absence of fire.  These changes were only small on a year-to-year basis, but amount to significant changes over a period of a decade or more.

When severe bushfire removes or damages the tree crowns and lets the sunshine reach the ground it can lead to a pulse of understory scrub regrowth, particularly in some foothill forests.

In addition to examining fuel dynamics, the Wombat study also investigated the ecological effects of repeated fire on vegetation, tree growth, invertebrates, mammals, birds, bats, reptiles, along with changes to soil nutrition and organic matter.

But the monitoring of these important FESA plots finished in 1999, and it would be wonderful to see them reinstated to put some more science into the debate.

Over the next week or so I will present some material about basic fire management based on my personal knowledge and 40 years’ experience as a Victorian forest manager, senior firefighter and incident controller. The topics covered include –

1. Understanding fuel dynamics
2. Fire hazard
3. Fire danger indices
4. Bushfire Suppression
5. Fuel Reduction Burning (FRB)
6. Effectiveness of fire/fuel breaks
7. Mosaic burning
8. Changing climate
9. Some bushfire terminology.

There is a large body  of scientific literature, technical reports and training manuals which capture the accumulated wisdom of experienced firefighters.

There are also many facts and fallacies, myths and misunderstandings, truths, half-truths, strongly held opinions, ideological beliefs, blatant lies and occasional outright BS surrounding this complex topic.

I acknowledge the science is incomplete and there is always more to learn and understand, but there also are many alternate and, sometimes dangerous, beliefs that commonly circulate, particularly on social media.

In my years of bushfire experience, nothing is ever as simple and one dimensional as it appears, but it seems everyone is an expert on bushfires…

There is often confusion about the many terms used in firefighting. They often vary between States but are outlined in the AFAC glossary. Here are just a few.

https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/glossary/?wordOfTheDay

Fuel Reduction Burning. The planned application of fire to reduce hazardous fuel quantities, undertaken under prescribed environmental and fuel conditions within defined boundaries. (AKA Planned burning, controlled burning, prescribed burning, hazard reduction burning, patch burning, mosaic burning and cultural burning). Often confused with backburning.

Backburn. A fire started intentionally along the inner edge of a fireline during indirect attack operations to consume fuel in the path of a bushfire. Also used a last resort control strategy and very high risk which requires great skill, courage and an element of good fortune.

Burning Out. A fire set to consume islands of unburnt fuel inside the fire perimeter and between the fire edge and fireline.

Backing Fire. The part of a fire which is burning back against the wind or down slope, where the flame height and rate of spread are reduced.

Blacking Out. The process of extinguishing or removing burning material along or near the fire control line, felling stags, trenching logs to prevent rolling and the like, to make the fire safe.

Breakaway. The points at which a fire, after it has been contained, escapes into unburnt areas across a fireline or fire edge.

Bushfire An unplanned fire. A generic term which includes grass fires, forest fires and scrub fires both with and without a suppression objective. (preferred over “wildfire” which is more an American term)

Direct Attack.  A method of fire attack where wet or dry firefighting techniques are used. It involves suppression action right on the fire edge which then becomes the fireline.

Dry Firefighting. The suppression of a fire without the use of water. This is normally achieved by removing the fuel with hand tools, burning or machinery.

Edge Burning.  Perimeter burning of an area in mild conditions prior to large scale prescribed burning. This practice is used to strengthen buffers and to reduce mop-up operations.

Fall back control line. Any fire control line which is at a distance from the fire perimeter and is the second control line at which the fire perimeter may be stopped should it cross the first fire control line. Also known as ‘fallback line’.

Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI). A relative number denoting the potential rates of spread, or suppression difficulty for specific combinations of temperature, relative humidity, drought effects and wind speed. Developed by Alan McArthur from the CSIRO in the 1960s.

Fireline. A natural barrier like a ridge or stream, or a constructed barrier like a road or track, or treated or burnt fire edge, used in fire suppression and prescribed burning to limit the spread of fire. (AKA Control line, hand trail, dozer line, dead edge, tie in point))

Fire Intensity. The rate of energy release per unit length of fire front usually expressed in kilowatts per metre (Kw/m). A function of available fuel quantity, Rate of Spread (ROS) and weather conditions like temperature, Relative Humidity (RH) and wind.

Fire Regime –  described as the long-term cycles and patterns of fire intensity, fire frequency, spatial arrangement (patchiness) and season the year when burning occurs.

Fuel. Any material such as grass, leaf litter and live vegetation which can be ignited and sustains a fire. Fuel is usually measured in tonnes per hectare. Related Terms: available fuel, coarse fuel, dead fuel, elevated dead fuel, fine fuel, surface fuels, and total fine fuel.

Fuel Arrangement. The spatial arrangement of fuel. Flammable bark and highly aeriated ladder fuels with a strong vertical arrangement can have a greater impact on fire behaviour than overall fuel quantity (tonnes /ha).

Indirect Attack A method of suppression in which the control line is located some distance away from the fire’s active edge. Generally done in the case of a fast spreading or high-intensity fire and to utilize natural or constructed firebreaks or fuel breaks and favourable breaks in the topography. The intervening fuel is usually backburnt; but occasionally the main fire is allowed to burn to the line, depending on conditions.

Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI). A numerical value reflecting the dryness of soils, deep forest litter, logs and living vegetation, and expressed as a scale from 0 – 200 where the number represents the amounts of rainfall (mm) to return the soil to saturation.

Over many decades the Forests Commission used and developed a wide range of incendiary devices for its burning operations.

These pyrotechnics included “strike anywhere” wax vestas, safety fusees, burning tyres dragged behind vehicles, humble drip torches, incendiary shotguns and mortars, flame throwers of various designs, blow torches, jellied petrol blivets wired up to electrical circuits and heavy-duty detonation chord to create firelines, and even gelignite to blow up dangerous trees.

One of the most common incendiaries in the 1960s and ‘70s were Delayed Action Incendiary Devices (DAIDs) which were a long double ended match with a short length safety fuse in between. These were mostly dropped from helicopters.

Another common technique used to ignite small spot fires was the Gun Operated Flamer (GOF). This was a modified DAID which was fired using blank ammunition from a modified .22 rifle fitted with a larger shotgun barrel.

But they were all bloody dangerous.

The most tragic accident occurred on 19 April 1978 when a helicopter crashed at Wandiligong near Bright during fuel reduction burning operations, killing two FCV officers, Peter Collier and Stan Gillett, along with their pilot, John Byrnes.

But only a few months earlier on 3 October 1977, there was another significant accident when a box of GOFs exploded in flames in the back of a short-wheel-base Land Rover carrying three staff from Briagolong in Gippsland.

Noel Bennett, Peter Killeen and Keith Lee were returning after a day in the bush along the Marathon Road when the GOFs, which were stored in a safety box in the back, caught fire and their vehicle crashed into a tree. All three escaped but with serious burns and spent some time in Sale hospital recovering. Noel’s small dog also managed to escape, but without injury.

It’s reported that a box of GOFs was later tested on a shake table at the Altona workshops where they indeed caught fire.

These two incidents, plus many other minor ones, led to the Commission banning these types of incendiaries and developing safer techniques like the aerial ping-pong ball machines which are still in use today.

https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/677c93a47f2053f3e5cdb540

Spot and Ted Stabb became friends in the late 1980s during the days of the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands (CFL).

Rob Chalwell (ex-Bright Forests Commission) told Ted that Spot had been looking very sad and lonely in the front window of the Lands Department Office at Bright for some years. 

Ted then rescued Spot and gave him a new lease on life with a focus on State forests, recreation, bushfires, planned burns, office openings, statewide videoconferences and similar gala events (invited or not).

Spot enjoyed many adventures and travels with Ted over the next 35 years or so, and became very popular and well known, particularly in northeastern Victoria.

But not everyone liked or appreciated Spot, and one Departmental Secretary, who has long since been forgotten, even referred to him as “That Dog”.  But the locals ignored the rudeness and Spot stayed.

And outside work, Spot was also known to be active in his local community. He even had a social and political conscience and was occasionally seen trying to influence the way we vote.

On Friday 13^th November 2025, Ted finally, and somewhat reluctantly, retired from the Department after a very long and distinguished career as a forester.

And while Spot would have liked to go home with Ted  – which he did during Covid lockdown and for the duration of the Wodonga office refurbishments – Ted has a fairly small house and backyard, and Spot is a big dog that needs space to run. 

Besides, Spot was not under any pressure to leave the department like other oldies, because he is not paid a salary, doesn’t need a computer or desk space and has no large credit of unused sick leave. 

Pleasingly, Aaron Kennedy, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Hume Region, promised to give Spot a bit of a spruce up and find an appropriate place for him in the Benalla Office, rather than the dusty museum at Altona. He has also assured Ted that Spot will never end up in the dumpster or standing in a lonely window again.

But the staff objected to Spot’s transfer to Benalla, so he stayed in Wodonga. Allegedly for his own protection he has been placed in a Perspex display case at the front of the office, where he keeps a watchful eye on staff and visitors.

Spot and Ted… both Victorian forestry and bushfire legends…

The colours and emblem for the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) were designed in 1916 when Charlie Carter became the Principal. The school opened only a few years earlier in 1910 and he remained as Principal until 1926.

The design was a joint effort with the students.

The motto “CIRCUMSPICE”, which is Latin for “look around you”, was suggested by Mr Carter who believed that foresters should always be observant.

The plant in the design is acacia mollissima (black wattle) the bark of which was used extensively as a source of tannin used in the leather industry at the time.

The boomerang beneath the crown was incorporated as another Australian element.

Lapel Pin date unknown.

The graduates of the School formed the Victorian Old Forestry Students Association and produced an annual magazine Sylvanite, from 1920.

The Association aimed to preserve the school spirit, personal contacts and close friendships.  The magazine was a means of not only maintaining contact between the foresters after graduation but also serving as a technical journal.

But the Association and the magazine seem to have fizzled out by 1930s, which helps to date this medallion.

In 1934, the first issue of The Victorian Forester was published. This was replaced in 1953 with the Victorian State Foresters Association Newsletter which continued until demise of the Forests Commission in the mid-1980s. Both publications aimed share information about technical, social and other matters to all forestry staff.

The Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association (FCRPA) was formed in 1979 and continues to this day with over 150 members.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14VJnOBYKlPuhxyIE3_vhykL-sBo0W-iY/view

Picture this… a leisurely Sunday drive in the Wolseley 24/80 from a modest weatherboard home on a quarter acre block in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, along Ferntree Gully Road up to the nearby Dandenong Ranges, to spend a lazy afternoon in the bush, and let noisy kids run riot with sticks, with Dad bent over a smoky fire pit pretending to be MasterChef, clacking metal BBQ tongs to sizzle a snag or incinerate a chop, while enjoying a cold frothy straight from the Esky, while Mum buttered the Tip Top, or made a yummy salad, and perhaps sipped a chilled glass of Ben Ean, or maybe drank a mug of hot black tea made in a billy, then sitting in the sunshine on a wobbly deck chair or picnic rug to juggle a plastic plate on your lap, or devour a burnt banger smothered in Rosella tomato sauce wrapped in soggy white bread. The leftovers (if there were any) got packed in the Tupperware for weekday school lunches. These were the memorable family rituals of the 1960s and ‘70s. 

The Forests Commission, National Parks Service, Country Roads Board (CRB) and even the Board of Works (MMBW) provided woodfired BBQs at nearly all their picnic sites and campgrounds. And in some cases, they even supplied firewood and hot water at the more popular places.

Local Councils and Lions Clubs tended to provide more substantial public BBQ shelters, often with gas or electric hotplates.

The Forests Commission had a wide variety of wood BBQ designs ranging from small fire pits to large brick and concrete erections.

Or in some cases, there was just a simple circle of river rocks with a hotplate that could be pushed aside so it could also be used as a roaring campfire in the evening to keep warm and toast marshmallows.

Innovation was encouraged and designing a bush BBQ that was attractive, functional and vandal proof was always a worthy challenge.

There was fierce competition, and sometimes outright rivalry, between forest districts over the best BBQ and fire pit design.

The steel components were often fabricated in district workshops, and they were installed and maintained in the bush by local FCV crews. These projects also provided important off fire season and wet weather work.

The Commission produced a Recreation Facility Manual in about 1983 which captured and standardised BBQ designs.

But portable fire pits are now very common, and it seems to me that many of the traditional BBQs have been removed and not replaced over the last few years, so I have started to collect a few photos.

I welcome your photos and stories of forest BBQ and picnic grounds.

Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) originates in South Australia in three distinct populations: the Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island.

Sugar Gum is also widely planted across the drier western district of Victora as a windbreak or shelterbelt and for durable farming timber as well as magnificent firewood.

Sawn timber harvested from sugar gum has little defect and is prized for its durability. It is particularly suited to situations requiring high strength where appearance is also important, such as flooring and joinery. Its durability also makes it a valuable timber for exterior applications such as cladding, decking, outdoor furniture and pickets.

The Forests Commission recognised value of sugar gum from its earliest days.

A plantation near Majorca (south of Maryborough) was established in about 1887 to supply mining timbers when it was thought there would be a shortage due to the slow regrowth of local native timbers after being cleared.

But the mines closed before the plantation fully developed and then became a valuable resource of durable fencing timber and firewood.

The current stand is thick regrowth coppice from previous harvesting that would respond well to thinning.

Photos – April 2026, Peter McHugh

On ANZAC Day we gather to remember those who served our country. We may attend a dawn service, go to a march, wear some precious family medals, or lay a wreath at a cenotaph. We may even follow with a cold frothy or two and a game of two-up at our local RSL.

But across Australia there are many silent and enduring war memorials we may pass every day, often without realising their significance.

Avenues of Honour might be trees lining a road or street, along a path through a park, or a magnificent lone specimen.

The Baden-Powell Avenue at Havelock near Maryborough is considered Australia’s very first commemorative avenue of trees. It was planted in June 1901 to commemorate those who served in the Boer War.

Reports vary, but between 40 and 50 sugar gums (E. cladocalyx) were planted with seedlings supplied by the Forest Department from its nearby nursery.

The spacing of the trees was generally one chain (66 feet), and they appear to have been planted a set distance back from the road rather than on the edge of the road reserve.

The avenue begins where the old Havelock railway station once stood, through to the site of the local Primary School, and the trees were all named after a dignitary, local person or family.

There are 27 original trees, 2 standing dead trees, 3 replacement trees (probably 1920s), and 13 missing trees.

After World War One, these arboreal tributes were particularly popular, with some 325 planted throughout Victoria alone.

The Australian Government did not repatriate bodies of soldiers after the War, so a tree close to the family home or town became an important way of remembrance.

https://avenuesofhonour.org/places/victoria/havelock/havelock-baden-powell-boer-war-avenue/

This great footage from the Imperial War Museum highlights the events at a sports day competition between Forestry Companies from Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand at Pont-Remy, France, on 15th September 1918.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022799

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to a worldwide economic collapse, which quickly spread to the Australian economy and signalled the beginning of the “Great Depression”.

At its worst in 1932, unemployment in Australia reached 32 percent, but this figure did not include women who had lost their jobs or teenagers who had never had one.

To relieve the distress caused by unemployment the Victorian Parliament established a sustenance relief fund.

Many families depended on these government payments and were called “sussos”, which was slang for sustenance.

Payments were only available for the truly destitute, who had been unemployed for a sustained period, and had no assets or savings.

Sustenance payments were made of 8s 6d per week for a man and wife, with an additional 1s 6d per week for each additional child, up to a maximum of 20s 6d per week. By 1932, more than 60,000 people depended on sustenance payments

And individuals receiving sustenance were obliged to work.

A central Unemployment Relief Works Board was formed to assess projects, and allocate money, while local relief committees were created throughout Victoria.

Forests Commission work, unlike major infrastructure projects like the Yarra Boulevard or Melbourne’s water mains, was considered very effective because most of the money was spent on labour, with only about 5 percent on materials.

It also provided much needed employment for rural communities; it could be quickly mobilised and could employ large numbers of city and country men doing unskilled manual labour.

Although it must be said that the unemployment relief program was plagued by political interference, with largess flowing to marginal electorates and party supporters of the Ministers choosing.

Forest camps were in operation as early as 1929 at Ballarat, Bealiba, Beaufort, Beechworth, Castlemaine, Chiltern, Heathcote, Lal Lal, Neerim, Niagaroon, Rushworth, Tarnagulla, Upper Yarra, Wombat, Anglesea, Creswick and the You Yangs.

The camps, generally comprising twenty-five men on the principle of two-thirds from the cities and one-third from the local area.

The program offered eight weeks work, followed by eight weeks off and then eligibility for another eight weeks if alternative employment had not been found in the meantime.

During 1932, the Commission engaged 5295 men with a total expenditure of £11,870 3s. 5d.

The following year, in 1932-33, unemployment relief funds gave work to 8288 married and 504 single men for periods up to 8 weeks. The total expenditure grew to £205,645.

Between 1931 and 1943 the Forests Commission spent approximately £1.5 million pounds and employed about 51,300 people. Some may have been employed more than once, and in different locations.

For some, it was often their first experience of country life, especially in the forests.

Despite the blisters, this taste of open-air life and forestry suited many. Better still, some proved very capable and well suited to forestry work and found ongoing employment on the crew, or as overseers with the Commission.

In the Ovens Valley, the men established softwood plantation and did nursery work at Bright and Porepunkah. The works were arranged and supervised by Commission overseers.

But there was a certain irony to these susso programs during the Great Depression. Thin royalty revenues from the sale of sawlogs and forest products restricted the funds available to the Commission for much needed fire protection and silvicultural works.

The slump in royalty revenue also led to the retrenchment of staff at the same time as the Commission had to manage the employment of large number of relief workers.

The need for unemployment relief funds diminished by 1939-40 with the start of World War Two.

It took almost ten years for the Australian economy to recover from the Great Depression, but it affected people deeply for decades to come. It also radically changed economic thinking and policy in Australia.

Photos: Sustenance workers Ovens Valley – Rob Kaufman 

An innovative School Plantation Endowment Scheme was initiated in 1923 as a joint venture between the Education Department and the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV).

Mr William Gay, the former Principal of the Victorian School of Forestry (VSF) resumed his role with the Education Department in 1922 and took responsibility for the Scheme under the guidance of Owen Jones, the new chairman of the Forests Commission and Frank Tate, Director of Education.

While some plantations were established on private land donated or leased for the purpose, most were established on Crown Lands or Reserved Forest made available to schools, without cost, by the Forests Commission.

Areas ranged from about 5 to 50 acres and were planted up at the rate of 1, 2, 3 or more acres per year, according to the planting strength of the school.

The plantations were vested in trustees, who then became responsible for their care and control. The trustees consisted of the Chairman of the School Committee or Council, the Head Teacher of the school, the District Inspector of Schools and two additional members nominated by the School Committee and the Head Teacher and approved by the Minister of Public Instruction.

The plantation was not only designed to provide a financial return to the school, but also to instil a sense of civic pride as well as an understanding of the value of land, conservation, together with developing a forest consciousness in younger generations for benefit of the nation.

One of the first to adopt the scheme was a group of Melbourne-based high schools including Essendon, University, Coburg, Williamstown and Melbourne who formed a partnership known as the Metropolitan High Schools (MHS) to establish softwood plantations in Sherbrooke Forest in the early 1920s. But that number soon dwindled down to two, Melbourne and Essendon High.

The original 70-acre site allocated to the schools had been burnt out in earlier bushfires and was covered with bracken and scrub. The five high schools were issued with a “permissive occupancy” licence.

The Forests Commission assisted in providing technical support and a subsidy for fencing materials of 80%. Some specialist tools such as pruning saws were provided to schools by the Commission.

The Forests Commission also supplied the seedlings free of charge from its Macedon and Creswick nurseries, including Pinus radiata, Pinus ponderosa, Pinus laricio, and Douglas fir or Oregon, Pseudotsuga menziesii.

About 10 acres was planted at Sherbrooke in April 1926 with 6800 seedlings with a mixture of Oregon, pine and spruce. The school planting adjoined a FCV plantation.

Access was via Sandells Road, up the hill from the Tecoma railway station, and planting was done by the school students under the guidance of their teachers and the local forest officer, James O’Donohue. Heavier work such as fencing was often done by parents.

But within 10 years, some local residents were beginning to object to the loss of their sweeping views caused by the rapidly growing pine trees.

The scheme was a success, and, by 1938, three hundred and forty-eight school plantations had been established across Victoria, with a gross area of 3550 acres. The number of seedlings supplied from Forests Commission nurseries averaged from 80,000 to 90,000 annually.

But the school plantations at Sherbrooke seem to have faltered during the Great Depression of the 1930s and later during the war years.

A hut had been built on the Sherbrooke site in 1930 and became known as “Melbesson Hut” (a truncation of Melbourne and Essendon High Schools), but it was blown up during WW2 by the Army, believing it to be occupied by the German Club. The Army offered the school a totally inadequate compensation of 35 pounds, but they later sent a cheque for 75.

Alan Gregory wrote a history of Melbourne High School, “Strong Like Its Pillars”, in 2005, which describes how the plantation program was revitalised by the School Headmaster, Brigadier George Langley, in the early 1950s.

In 1955, the School applied to the Forests Commission to expand the plantation to some 28 acres.

Essendon High School withdrew from the plantation partnership in about 1956, and Melbourne High School paid out its share of future timber royalties.

In 1956, Melbourne High School also purchased two ex-army huts from Fawkner Park for 40 pounds each and relocated them to Sherbrooke forest. The District Forester, Jack Gillespie, supported the camp proposal.

The new camp buildings included a dormitory, school room, kitchen/dining hall, admin annex and ablutions block.

The sale of some logs to the Alexandra sawmill, realised 176 pounds 17 shillings, which helped to pay for the new camp. One thousand pounds had been raised earlier from the sale of some Oregon logs in 1951.

Then in 1957, the Forests Commission set aside Sherbrooke Forest Park under Section 50 of the Forest Act.

Meanwhile, there were growing rumblings about the softwood plantation scheme in Sherbrooke Forest and the new school camp buildings. On 4 September 1957, a group of influential conservationists, including Sir John Latham from Save the Dandenongs League, Professor John Turner from the University of Melbourne, Ros Garnet from the Field Naturalist Club, Hugh Wilson from the VNPA and several others protested directly in a meeting with the State Premier, Henry Bolte. They called for the cessation of the softwood plantations and conversion back to native forest, a new strategic plan, the removal of the MHS camp and the creation of a new Sherbrooke National Park. In the notes of the meeting, the Premier gave a polite response to the delegation but appears to have done nothing much about it.

By 1958, the Tecoma Forestry School was in full use by MHS students, and Langley’s dream of the plantation as a branch of the school that taught forestry, geology, botany and zoology, and provided outdoor adventure, was gradually being realised.

The main aims of the week spent at the camp were to experience community life and to foster an appreciation of the Australian bush and its flora and fauna. A local Forests Commission officer came and talked to the boys while observing lyrebirds was a favourite activity on forest walks.

Over time, other schools including Kallista, Box Hill, Nunawading, and Upwey had established their own endowment plantations in the Dandenong Ranges.

But in August 1959, under continued pressure, the Chairman of the Forests Commission, Alf Lawrence, decided to pause all softwood plantation establishment in Sherbrooke, but this displeased the school principals who feared about the loss of timber revenue to their schools and even of the fate of the MHS camp itself.

However, the MHS camp continued to operate for the next 30 years but its focus shifted from softwood plantations onto environmental studies.

But with growing concerns about fire danger and other issues, the future of the camp became uncertain by the mid-1980s, and a lot of effort went into finding an alternative site. In 1988, the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands (CFL) offered the school the former National Fitness camp at Millgrove, which was gratefully accepted. The plantation was sold for $19,000 at this time and the site cleared.

Proceeds from the sale of the harvested trees were used for school purposes.

A school plantation endowment program continues today for some rural schools, although in a much-reduced form, and is partly supported by Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tiVclfaDh4o2PrERx1yqbdKj1o02ZKFD/view

Source: PROV – FCV File – 62/947 MELBOURNE HIGH SCHOOL PLANTATION AT TECOMA; 8-2-07; 25/1002, 26/1935, 27/1302, 28/4262, 29/1409, 33/1039

Kester Baines – pers comm