Outback cattle producers battle ‘mammoth’ bushfires that have burnt 4.6 million hectares this month
Bushfires in the Northern Territory have already burnt about 4.6 million hectares this month — the equivalent of about 20 times the size of the Australian Capital Territory.
Several cattle stations are battling dangerous blazes this afternoon as conditions worsen.
Amber Driver from Elkedra Station, 270 kilometres south-east of Tennant Creek, said they were dealing with a fire front that was 50 kilometres wide.
“We’ve lost a lot of country and feed [for our cattle] … and of course the fire is still burning,” she said.
“We’ve lost a lot of fences and there’s been a lot of damage, but at the moment you’d only be speculating on animal [deaths]. That will come out later when we have time.”
A number of fires started last week following a spate of dry lightning strikes.
For the second year in a row Elkedra Station’s Amber Driver is battling huge bushfires. (Supplied: Amber Driver)
Kurundi Station manager Ben Saint said his station was facing its biggest fire in eight to 10 years.
“It’s been pretty intense,” he told the NT Country Hour.
“It started off as a couple of dry lightning strikes and has slowly grown into a mammoth fire.”
Chief executive of the NT Cattlemen’s Association, Will Evans, said the Barkly region was now facing a “confluence of really serious weather conditions”.
“There’s a significant amount of lightning and significant amounts of fires starting and then there’s really unpredictable winds during the day that’s changing the directions of the fires, making it very difficult for pastoralists to put them out,” he said.
The Bureau of Meterology has issued an extreme fire danger warning for the Barkly and there is also a severe heatwave warning in place for the Daly, Tiwi, Arnhem, and Gregory Districts.
What’s been learnt from last year?
In just a few weeks of September and October last year more than 18 million hectares burned across the Barkly, Tanami, and Great Sandy Deserts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Bushfires NT commissioned a review through the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council (AFAC) to identify lessons learned from the fires that tore through the Barkly.
Twelve months on and the review has not been completed.
“We’re hoping to see that review soon,” Mr Evans said.
“Obviously it’s disappointing that a review into last year’s fire season hasn’t been completed by this year’s fire season and [we haven’t got] the recommendations of that implemented.”
In a statement to ABC Rural, Bushfires NT said the independent review would “provide observations, lessons learned, and recommendations based on insights found when examining the control objectives and outcomes of the incident”.
“At this time the review is not complete,” it said.