NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.Credit:AAP
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said the smoke generated by the hazard reduction burns before the bushfire crisis began had made the RFS and other agencies"public enemy number one"at the time.
Illustration:Matt GoldingCredit:
"There is a very significant health issue with smoke,but you can't have prescribed burning,hazard reduction burning without the by-product being smoke. Whilst we try to forecast,predict and hope it doesn't impact populated areas,you can't have it both ways,"he said.
As Commissioner Fitzsimmons spoke to the ABC,Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce was onSunriseand urged more hazard reduction burns.
"Have you seen a footpath on fire? No,because there is nothing there to burn. Have you seen a massive fire that kills people on grounds[where] there is no fuel load? People get terribly hurt but you can control it,"he said.
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"Once a fire breaks out onto an area... with minimal fuel load[you] can control it. In a national park,there are always fires but it is the intensity of the fire because of the fuel load catching on fire. I believe,and this is my view,there are too many caveats,green caveats,that impedes people's efforts."
The Prime Ministerearlier this week also called for more prescribed burns.
"You've got to deal with hazard management in national parks ... this,of course,will be one of the things that we will consider when premiers come together after they've been dealing with the fires,"the Prime Minister said.
On Tuesday,Victoria's Country Fire Authority's chief officer Steve Warrington said there was a"fair amount of emotion"around hazard reduction.
"The emotive argument is not supported that fuel reduction burning will fix all our problems,"he said.
"Some of the hysteria that this will be the solution to all our problems is really just quite an emotional load of rubbish,to be honest."