Denmark electors gather in passionate meeting to carry five motions urging change to prescribed burn process

The heated issue of prescribed burning came to a head in Denmark on Thursday as almost 100 passionate residents gathered to call for change to the bushfire mitigation process. Organised by environmental group Friends of Harewood, and supported by a 340-signature petition, the electors meeting saw five motions successfully carried. The initial trio of motions flagged in the electors meeting agenda — requesting the Shire of Denmark write to the State Government for increased insurance and accountability for escaped burns, health and wellbeing reviews, and independent ecological assessments — were joined by two additional motions from the floor. These included requesting the Shire of Denmark seek to use funds set aside for prescribed burning to invest in rapid suppression technology and restricting prescribed burning to the same seasonal timeframe residents themselves are limited to. Emotions ran high for the speakers, who referenced the “anxiety” they felt about the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ upcoming prescribed burn of the Harewood Forest, scheduled to take place in spring this year. Also known as FRK_108, the burn is earmarked to cover 2924ha of land inside a 49km perimeter of the Harewood Forest, a karri regrowth reserve located north of Scotsdale in the Shire of Denmark. “Residents living near Harewood received DBCA warning letters months ago, about scheduled burn,” said Friends of Harewood convenor Sheree Webb. “Since then, we’ve all living in a state of anxiety, wondering when the burn will happen, will we be home, will our animals be safe.” As well as increased communication, electors called for a repeal of section 132 of the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984, which effectively absolves the State of civil liability if a prescribed burn gets out of control and damages property. Volunteer firefighter Julie Marsh, referenced the 2018 Stirling Range fires that was the result of an escaped prescribed burn, recalling that her 18-year-old son, also a volunteer firefighter, feared for his life when called up to fight it. “To prep for this speech, I had to open old feelings, bearing nightmares that our family experience time and again,” she said. “We all want to mitigate bushfire (risk), and don’t want to do polarisation or get into the pro or anti burning argument that divides our community. “This practice is a blunt instrument, frequently too destructive at an end of an industrial scale.” Only one speaker spoke against the motions, who said he worried about the snowball effect of making DBCA responsible for burn damage when they were conducted in “good faith”. DBCA maintains that prescribed burning is the best strategy to mitigate the risk of large summer bushfires and is backed up by an evidence and risk-based approach. Denmark Shire president Kingsley Gibson presided over the meeting at the Denmark Civic Centre and acknowledged the feeling in the room. “Fundamentally, I love our community; I love the passion that it brings to so many things, but also the knowledge and the wisdom and incredible variety of skilled professionals in different fields that help to inform our community’s views on so many things,” he said. “Whatever recommendation and final decision that council makes, I absolutely am confident that it will be done with the utmost of respect and consideration of what you have raised.” The five motions will be put to the Denmark council at its next meeting, where the councillors will vote on whether on not to action them.