BY BELLA MIDDLETON
There are calls for the Minister for Environment and Climate Change and the Minister for Regional NSW to undertake an urgent audit of public land management at Scone following a recent grass fire in the area.
State Member for Upper Hunter, Dave Layzell, is joining the calls, saying the public needs to have faith in the State Government's work with grass and bush fire threats ahead of summer.
"The Barton Street Scone fire from Sunday 22 October must serve as a serious warning to all landowners and land managers, public and private, that preparedness for the current bushfire danger period has to be a priority," said Mr Layzell.
The fire burned over 1,000 hectares east of Scone and required waterbombing aircraft to finally rein in the blaze and extinguish it.
Mr Layzell says the amount of dry vegetation on the ground can contribute heavily to a thriving bushfire.
"There was rural firefighters there, trying to protect properties, they were trying to protect equipment, but most importantly that fire was right down in one of our prime agricultural areas where we had some of our best horse studs at risk because of the lack of maintenances on the soil conservation.
I am concerned about a lack of on-ground preparation that potentially put lives, property, equipment, and high-value livestock at risk.
The NSW Government can call for the community to be prepared for the bushfire danger period but the taxpayers also expect that their public land manager is doing its share of the work," said Mr Layzell.
