Underpinnings of fire management for biodiversity conservation in ...

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A track-free or minimal-track reserve
General
In this section, we take as the starting point a premise diametrically opposite to that which opened
the chapter. Instead of assuming that a track network with access to all points is needed, why not
use aircraft or all-terrain ground tankers for fire suppression and have no formal track at all, other
than the perimeter track? Given the growing media prominence of aircraft use in fire fighting, and
the number actually used, could it be that tracks are unnecessary for fire fighting? This is not a facile
conjecture, as it has been informally advanced, or implied, even in professional fire-suppression circles.
If practicable, this would minimise environmental problems associated with the normal, obvious tracks
– wouldn’t it? This section is designed to provide a framework for informed discussion, rather than
present a point of view.
There are a number of ways that fires in a relatively track-free zone could be fought:
• By air – if the fire could be reached quickly by air, couldn’t any fire be put out without the need for
tracks? Or, by using hand trails put in by specialist firefighters dropped into the area by helicopter,
could the formal formed track network be redundant? ‘Throw everything at the fire at the start no
matter what the expense and save on costs in the longer term’ is a way in which this proposition
has been put.
• By burning out the fuel ahead of any fire from natural fuel breaks, so the fire is deprived of fuel.
• By ground tankers, using only water and travelling cross-country.
Aircraft and fires
Aircraft come in many forms and sizes, with fixed wings or rotary wings (helicopters). They have
various efficiencies in carrying out their various tasks in various circumstances. Roles they play are to
(see Wareing and Flinn 2003, p. 216):
• Aid fire detection during or preceding known events
• Ferry firefighters to and from the fire ground
• Insert specialist firefighters via rappelling or winch into fire areas
• Facilitate infra-red and multi-spectral scanning of the fire area
• Rescue people
• Suppress fire (firebombing)
• Supervise air attack operations
• Carry out aerial ignition operations
• Fire reconnaissance and detection
In this section we are only concerned with the role of aircraft in fire suppression.
Aircraft can drop water with or without chemical additives in the form of ‘retardants’ or
‘suppressants’. Retardants are able to act when dry, whereas suppressants can only be effective
when wet. This has important implications to aerial application, because maintaining a suppressant
line is more difficult than maintaining a retardant line in hot–dry conditions – suppressant lines may
last less than 30 minutes (I Dicker, pers. comm., 2004; Victorian Department of Sustainability and
Environment, DSE, pers. comm., 2009).
For aerial suppression to be effective on a fire, the aircraft delivery of suppressant or retardant would
have to be sufficient so as to stop or reduce the rate of perimeter growth until other resources arrive.
This may be achieved by either directly ‘knocking down’ the fire using water or suppressants or by
indirectly extinguishing the fire through effective placement of retardants.
Fire and adaptive management Underpinnings of fire management for biodiversity conservation in reserves