The Mackay Whitsunday best practice fire guidelines provide advice on the time of year to burn, years between fires and intensity and patchiness fires should achieve, to be rated as a good fire in the region. Bad fires are easily identified as fires that cannot be contained, and they generally occur late in the dry season when they threaten lives and property, native flora and fauna, as well as crops and cattle feed.

Friendly fire may seem an unlikely way to look at bushfires but it actually is the solution to a lot of wildfire problems. Whenever there is a major wildfire event, many people and a lot of equipment are gathered together and work tirelessly as a team to contain the fire before it does any more damage. A wildfire is bad for people, property and the environment.

Fire can also be good for people, property and the environment when it is used to reduce the dead grass and leaves that fuel a wildfire or create fresh green shoots for grazing, or to control an invasive weed like lantana or regenerate a forest and maintain a range of habitats for biodiversity.

The challenge is how to increase the use of good fires whilst reducing the likelihood of bad fires. So the aim of friendly fire is to actually get more people involved in helping use good fire across the landscape which will increase, promote and protect biodiversity while reducing damage from bad fires.

Andrew Houley, Reef Catchments Biodiversity Manager said, “The endangered Northern Quoll is an example of a species that will benefit from a good fire. It has a very short life span, from 1 - 3 years, and with the young being in dens during the dry season around September and October. A bad fire will have a negative effect on the quolls and their habitat, while a good fire will protect it”.

A few weeks ago, Reef Catchments held a State wide Fire Summit in Mackay involving State level representation from the major private and public land management agencies. The collective knowledge and experience now used to fight wildfires is focused on using good fires more widely, that result in reduced hazards and improving conservation out comes across the State.

The Clarke-Connors Range Bush Fire Consortium project is a partnership between Reef Catchments Mackay Whitsunday and the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) Rural Operations. The Consortium is supported and funded by the Australian and Queensland governments.