inregards to a prior post a question was asked "who siad they didnt need to come down" the trees im talking about are in the middle of a paddock its burnt for miles around and they are just surface burnt not right through no risk of candle sticking and when you see the pics of them on the ground they are still solid.
Thankyou for that. What was their condition when the felling crews came to them ?
Were they still burning higher up ? We saw a lot of crowns & higher branches burning
from embers dropping into them at Willunga. Despite the minimal risk location, there
must have been something about them that the crew leader thought a problem. Rightly
or wrongly.
It still doesn't change the stupidity of a blanket ban on an essential part of
restoring normality after fire or storm. Or even of direct fire-fighting.
To the person who suggested isolating the burning tree/s...
Would have been nice to have done so. However the trees we dropped were standing
on the unburnt side of the road, and were spotting 30-50M further into the scrub.
Two crews could barely keep up with the spotting, & running out of water fast. We
were about to lose that flank. As the head fire was still uncontained & running,
I decided to drop them immediately so we could secure that flank & move on.
I both did, and taught the EMA chainsaw course, which includes (or included) basic
felling. It was a bit disappointing to discover that the course offered to CFS & SES
now presumes all trees are already down. In my view, it is another example of desk
warriors adjusting reality to suit their fears & budget/s.
cheers