Northern Sydney will be even better prepared to face bush fires after receiving a share of $6 million in funding as part of the NSW Government’s Bush Fire Mitigation Funding Program.
The program, administered by the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), supports important bush fire mitigation work such as hazard reduction and building and maintaining fire trails.
Member for Davidson, Jonathan O’Dea said, “The Davidson electorate has received $268,312 in funding to help ensure fire fighting vehicles can access fire trails during emergencies and to reduce the intensity of fires through hazard reduction.
“I welcome this funding and the additional protection it will provide to the local area,” Mr O’Dea said.
Minister for Emergency Services Troy Grant said the NSW Government is committed to ensuring land management agencies across the state are provided with the funds required to reduce the threat posed by bush fire.
“Volunteers firefighters selflessly answer calls for help every time their pagers go off and we want to play our part by making sure we have done everything possible to mitigate the risk they face before trucks roll out of their stations,” Mr Grant said.
“These grants also support our goal to protect 600,000 properties and treat almost 750,000 hectares of bush fire prone land through hazard reduction by 2019.”
NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said bush fire preparations are a cooperative effort between emergency services, land agencies, state and local governments and the community.
“Local brigades, government agencies and land managers are undertaking as much hazard reduction as possible ahead of the bush fire season and it is never too early for residents to start preparing their property and updating their Bush Fire Survival Plan,” Commissioner Fitzsimmons said.
