The City of Hobart works year round to protect Hobart from bushfire, carrying out fuel reduction burns and managing the fire trails in our forest that will be critical for the Tasmania Fire Service if a fire threatens our city.
But we also need the community to take steps to protect properties and families from the threat of bushfire.
If you haven't done so already please:
- Prepare a bushfire plan
- Clean up your garden
- Make an emergency kit
- Plan to leave early.
- Head to bushfire.tas.gov.au to create your Bushfire Plan and download a copy of the Bushfire Safety Guide
What we do
Every year the City of Hobart invests around $2 million in bushfire mitigation to protect people, businesses, city infrastructure and our natural assets.
- We maintain a highly trained fire crew who carry out an annual fuel reduction program in the forests that surround Hobart.
- The same crew maintains our 120 km fire trail network, ensuring it's fit for purpose when Tasmania Fire Service crews need direct access to a fire front.
- We also manage 170 hectares of fuel breaks – the spaces between houses and bushland reserves – to help reduce the impacts of radiant heat on homes and provide safe defensive areas for firefighters.
We work closely with the Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, and our neighbour Glenorchy City Council – bushfires don't recognise council boundaries.
Over the past decade, we've carried out fuel reduction burns across more than 1000 hectares of the 4600-hectare bushland reserve network we manage, including the Queens Domain, Bicentennial Park, Knocklofty Reserve, McRobies Gully Reserve, Ridgeway Park and Kunanyi / Mt Wellington.
Fuel reduction burns are typically undertaken in autumn and spring, when conditions are more stable. However, strong winds and unseasonal rainfall linked to climate change have reduced safe burn windows in recent years.
To complement our burn program, we've expanded mechanical thinning, cutting back dangerous fuels across 100 hectares of reserves over the last five years.
Please stay alert to official warnings, follow Tasmania Fire Service advice, and make sure your household bushfire plan is up to date.
And in the chance that you see a fire, always call 000.
Members of our fire crew at our bushland depot.
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