Throughout September, Healthy Land & Water’s QFBC team worked in collaboration with the Queensland Fire Department (QFD) to create Property Fire Management Plans for two areas that were affected by bushfires in late 2023: Tara and Ballandean.

In September 2023, the township of Tara lost 54 homes to a large bushfire that burnt out of control for several days. In October 2023, areas from Tenterfield northwards to Ballandean experienced several large bushfires which resulted in the loss of over 21 buildings.

Tara
On 14 September 28 landholders across 24 properties attended the workshop delivered by QFBC, totalling 967 ha of landholder properties. The event was also attended by representatives from the Queensland Department of Resources, RSPCA, local fire brigade members, QFD, and Lifeline who shared their valuable knowledge.

Participants were engaged and interested in the topics and shared some great feedback:

“Great to hear from the RSPCA and considering evacuation of my animals. I found it hard to evacuate with my pets last year as was told centres don't take them but now, I know some do and I have to go early.”

“Very interesting big map to see where last year's fires burned.”

“Now we can understand our vegetation and the rules better and can actually do more than we realised we could do.”

Ballandean
The Ballandean workshop was held on 28 September to educate landholders on how to plan and prepare for bushfires in the future. 37 landholders from 24 properties attended the event, totalling 1260 ha of landholder properties.

Some attendee feedback highlights included:
“The maps were fantastic and I felt we have a clearer vision for our fire management plan after this workshop.”

“It was great to chat with local fire brigade and network with neighbours.”

“There were large gaps in my knowledge, such as being aware of vegetation types and where to find information useful for planning burns.”