Prescribed Burning - South-West Forests Defence Foundation Inc.

Prescribed burning as it is currently practised in the south-west forest regions does not give effective protection from wildfires, is hazardous to people’s health, is causing irreversible loss of biodiversity and has huge societal costs. The SFDF calls for an independent scientific review of prescribed burning as recommended by the EPA and for the use of rapid detection and suppression of small fires before they become wildfires.

FACT: Smoke from presrcibed burns kills people.

Between 2002 and 2017 smoke from prescribed burns was estimated to have caused the death of 21 people in south-west W.A. (Fact Sheet 4). Health-related costs are more than $30 million annually (Fact Sheet 14).

FACT: Prescribed burns have escaped and destroyed houses. (Fact Sheet 8).

Dwelling destroyed by out-of-control prescribed burn in Margaret River. Source: Report on “Investigation of the house losses in the Margaret River Bushfire 23 November 2011”, Department of Fire & Emergency Services, October 2012.

Under State legislation DBCA is not responsible for any damage caused by out-of-control prescribed burns.

FACT: Prescribed burns kill animals and plants and cause biodiversity loss.

They cause old, valuable habitat trees to collapse. (Fact Sheets 3, 11, 13, 15).

A critically endangered ringtail possum after Warrungup Spring prescribed burn in 2018. Source: Allison Dixon.

Fallen tingle tree following the December 2024 Giants East prescribed burn.

FACT: DBCA’s prescribed burning differs from Noongar use of fire in scale, intensity and frequency.

Noongar people did not burn the karri or tingle forests or other sensitive environments. Deliberately or accidentally, DBCA burns every ecosystem type in the south-west forest region. (Fact Sheet 6).

FACT: Burning stimulates growth, increasing fuel load and ladder fuels. (Fact Sheet 5).

Dense understorey in jarrah forest after burning. Source: Philip Zylstra, http://theconversation.com.

Dense understorey regrowth of karri wattle and karri hazel in tingle forest following prescribed burning. Source: Icons to Ashes.

FACT: In extreme fire weather ground-level fuel loads play no part in fire propagation.

Almost all damaging wildfires occur in extreme fire weather. Fire quickly climbs to the tree crowns and then travels at that level. Only a wind or weather change will stop it. (Fact Sheet 2 and Fact Sheet 5).

FACT: Immediate detection and rapid suppression of ignitions is the safest and most effective way to protect life, property and biodiversity from wildfires (Fact Sheet 8).

FACT: Prescribed burning in our forests is a waste of money (Fact Sheet 10).

FACT: Prescribed burning causes losses in the agricultural and tourism industries, loss of ecosystem services and GHG emissions that contribute to climate change.

Unintended societal costs of prescribed burning in south-west forests amount to hundreds of millions of dollars annually (Fact Sheets 7, 13, 14).

Fact Sheets Volume 1

Fact Sheets Volume 2

Click the front covers above to download complete Fact Sheets volumes (about 5MB each).

You can also purchase hard copy printed versions – $10 including postage HERE.

Please watch this recorded summary presentation by the author of the Fact Sheets:

Here are the topics covered in each Fact Sheet volume:

In Volume 1:
1 FACT VS FICTION
2 PRESCRIBED BURNING DOES NOT REDUCE THE AREA OF WILDFIRE
3 PRESCRIBED BURNING REDUCES BIODIVERSITY
4 PRESCRIBED BURNING IS BAD FOR HUMAN HEALTH
5 BURNING STIMULATES GROWTH AND INCREASES FLAMMABILITY
6 DBCA PRESCRIBED BURNING HAS NO SIMILARITY TO INDIGENOUS BURNING
7 PRESCRIBED BURNING INCREASES GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
8 WILDFIRE CAUSES AND BEHAVIOUR
9 CLIMATE AND FORESTS

In Volume 2:
10 PRESCRIBED BURNING IN FORESTS WASTES MONEY
11 PRESCRIBED BURNING DESTROYS BIODIVERSITY
12 PRESCRIBED BURNS ARE JUST AS SEVERE AS WILDFIRES
13 TREE FALLS
14 THE COLLATERAL COSTS OF DBCA’S PRESCRIBED BURNING
15 WHY DOES DBCA BURN THREATENED SPECIES?
16 CHANGES NEEDED TO BALANCE COMMUNITY PROTECTION & BIODIVERSITY

Learn more about fire in our forests at this page.

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