How we keep fires small
A fire kept small is one less likely to impact on communities, infrastructure or the environment. That’s why it is the mantra of FFMVic to do just that, says Chief Fire Officer Chris Hardman.
‘There’s no magic bullet but Victorian firefighters and fire managers are world class and use many tools to keep fires as small as possible.
‘We live in one of the most bushfire prone areas in the world and that means we’ll always have fires. But it’s our [FFMVic’s] job to keep them as small as possible and to keep communities, infrastructure and the environment as safe as possible.’
The 2024-25 bushfire season so far
The bushfire everyone will remember from the summer of 2024-25 include fires in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park. The Yarram Gap Road fire in the Grampians was brought under control on 13 January 2025 – weeks after it began and having burnt more than 76,000ha. Several new fires that started in a different part of the park in January merged into the Wallaby Rocks fires. These burnt 59,000 hectares before they were contained earlier this month. The Little Desert National Park fire is the season's largest to date, burning more than 95,000 hectares – most of that in a single day. But most (4 in 5) fires Forest Fire Management responds to are contained under 5 hectares. More than 9 in 10 this season have been contained ‘at first attack’ – that is, the first attempt to suppress the fire was successful.
Multi-pronged approach
‘We reduce bushfire risk in many ways – from preventing new ignitions through fire bans and campfire controls, early detection of bushfires from our fire towers and reconnaissance flights, aggressive first attack by aircraft, rappel firefighters and ground crews to keep bushfires small,’ Mr Hardman says.
“We also have a forest road network and strategic fuel breaks that give us better access to the fires and places from which we can contain them more safely and effectively, deliver fuel management through planned burning and mechanical fuel treatment, and have advanced approaches to suppression through people, plant and equipment and aviation.”
The Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park fires burnt area makes up more than 97% of the total areas that have burned on public land this season. This illustrates how small the hundreds of other fires were.
“There’s potential for each of these fires to grow out of control and threaten people’s lives and livelihoods, their communities and our incredible wildlife and natural environments,” Mr Hardman said.
“That’s why we all work so hard year round to reduce the risk of fires starting and spreading, detecting them when they do, and putting them out as quickly as possible.”
About 3000 FFMVic staff have been deployed to fires and incident control centres across the state so far this season. This includes firefighters and incident management personnel. They have worked 535,000 hours across 52,000 shifts – more than two-thirds of those in December and January.
Skilled and dedicated firefighters
FFMVic firefighters are recognisable by their bright green protective clothing worn during response and fire management activities.
Throughout the year, they deliver forest management activities in Victoria's state forests. They also reduce bushfire risk and fight fires in Victoria's national parks, state forests and on protected public land.
Specialist skills put to use at home and away
With specialist skills in tree-felling and dry firefighting techniques and experience in arduous terrain, they are sought-after for international deployments, including during last year’s Canadian bushfires.
Not only do such deployments provide much-needed relief for our international counterparts, they also offer invaluable opportunities for FFMVic staff to expand their bushfire knowledge and operational experience in different environments. This allows them to apply what they learn to manage large-scale bushfires at home.
In this video, FFMVic’s Emily Scott explains how skills learnt during Canadian deployments and our year-round planned burning program helped stop the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park fire from reaching Hall’s Gap and surrounding tourist assets. We’re very pleased this helped keep the fire smaller than it could have been, allowing the town and park to reopen – and recovery to begin – sooner.
Project firefighters
Many of our permanent staff started their firefighting careers as one of the 500 Project Firefighters we engage each season.
Want to learn more about joining our team, or register your interest before Project Firefighter applications open in July? Visit:
Firefighting and Employment
Preventing new ignitions
We work closely with CFA, which declares Fire Danger Periods and Total Fire Bans, and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV). Together, we reduce the risk of new fires starting during the highest-risk periods.
We also work with the Conservation Regulator to regularly patrol state forests to make sure people are adhering to campfire safety rules.
Early detection
Lightning is a common cause of bushfires. After periods of lightning, reconnaissance aircraft patrol forested areas to detect fires.
We also have Fire Lookout Observers stationed across the state in dedicated fire towers. Their role is to ensure the early detection and reporting of smoke from unplanned fires. They take regular weather observations and have sharp map reading, navigation and orientation skills.
Both are important tools to detect bushfires as early as possible. This keeps them from impacting communities, wildlife habitat and endangered species.
We’re also exploring how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used to help detect bushfires early to keep Victorian communities safe.
Rappel response to remote fires
For the 40th season, Victoria’s rappel firefighters are responding to some of the state’s most remote areas. This is another way we keep small bushfires from turning into large campaign fires.
Rappel crews have already responded more than 50 times this season to fires in remote areas from Gippsland and North East Victoria to the Grampians and Otways. Many of the fires started from lightning and were discovered by our Fire Lookout Observers or reconnaissance flights.
Rappelling uses specialist equipment to transport firefighters from a hovering helicopter to the ground.
Getting in quickly to stop fires while small
It means fire crews can be deployed quickly to remote and mountainous locations where there may not be road access or space to land a helicopter. This allows them to bring small fires under control quickly. To do this, they primarily use ‘dry firefighting’ techniques to slow fire spread until other resources can reach the fires, or clear areas to allow helicopters to land.
Dry fire techniques include using rakehoes to establish mineral earth breaks and using chainsaws to create fire breaks or improve access to other firefighting resources.
Sometimes, rappel crews have to cut extraction helipads to get picked up from remote areas. However, more often than not they finish their shift by hiking out to the nearest road – often many kilometres and several of hours’ walk away.
Fleet of firefighting aircraft
Aircraft play a key role in supporting our firefighting resources on the ground. This includes thousands of dedicated emergency services workers from FFMVic, CFA, FRV, the Victoria State Emergency Service and other agencies.
DEECA is responsible for procuring the fleet on behalf of the Victorian Government.
This season, more than 80 aircraft have responded to more than 100 fires on public land where DEECA is the control agency. This included fires in Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park.
Aircraft are positioned across the state according to risk and can be moved as the fire risk changes. Victoria also has access to a call-when-needed fleet of more than 100 aircraft. We can also request additional aircraft from the National Fleet.
This year, two Fire Boss planes are stationed in Gippsland for the first time, offering greater capacity for aerial attack on bushfires to keep them small and minimise the impact on communities and the environment.
These amazing planes can refill during flight, using Gippsland’s extensive lake system to access water and even scooping seawater from the ocean if conditions are right. This has already helped contain several smaller fires in remote areas of Gippsland.
Innovative solutions to challenges
We’re always on the lookout for solutions to the challenges we face!
That’s how we came up with a Victorian-first project to install large water tanks in strategically placed remote forest locations for firebombing helicopters to refill their water stores during an emergency.
By improving access to water, we’ve reduced helicopter turnaround times in remote areas with limited access to water.
This came in handy when, on 5 January this year, a bushfire was detected in the state’s far North East after a band of lightning went through the area the day before.
Firebombing helicopters responding to a bushfire at Staceys Bridge in the Nariel Valley in a remote area of the Alpine National Park were able to access water from a large water tank installed in a cleared area (pictured) only 6 kilometres away. It meant helicopter turnaround times were reduced, allowing swift and aggressive first attack.
Planned burning
Forest Fire Management Victoria is responsible for managing fuel-driven bushfire risk on public land such as state forests and national parks. Planned burning is one of the critical tools we use to do that.
The Joint Fuel Management Program (JFMP) sets out the actions for FFMVic and CFA to manage bushfire risk over the next three years.
Over the most recent financial year (2023-24), FFMVic reduced bushfire risk across more than 138,000 hectares of public land. This was on top of the 90,000 hectares treated the year before.
But it’s not just about one burn or one season. It’s the ongoing efforts of what’s been done in the past, what we’re doing now and how we plan future activities that help protect our communities.
We’ve seen this most recently in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park where areas treated with planned burning last autumn and in recent years were less damaged during the 2024 bushfires.
FFMVic’s Glenn Rudolph explains more in this interview with ABC:
Register for the latest planned burning updates if you want to know more about where and when we burn.
Strategic fuel breaks
Maintaining our strategic fuel breaks also means we can respond quicker and more effectively when bushfires break out. This is another way we help keep fires smaller and communities safer.
The breaks help firefighters move more effectively and more safely to carry out backburning operations to contain the spread of fires before they reach communities and assets.
Before Christmas, mulchers and excavators worked on breaks around Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Moggs Creek, Fairhaven and Lorne.
They are part of the 1,447-kilometre network of strategic fuel breaks across the state.
Engage the expertise and equipment of contractors
Having access to a broad variety of machinery for different terrain and tasks – and the skilled people to operate them – helps us respond quickly to bushfires and contain them before they impact communities, infrastructure and the environment.
Our External Plant Panel contractors respond to requests for deployments at all hours and often go to considerable effort to ensure we have the resources we need to protect the community.
So far this season, we’ve deployed contractors to 45 different fires right across the state – 15 in Hume, 16 in Gippsland, 10 in Grampians, three in Barwon South West, and one in Loddon Mallee.
Read about the work of contractors at a recent fire in Bairnsdale
The type of plant required at fires varies based on the size and complexity, terrain, and conditions.
We have deployed 402 individual resources and 323 personnel from across 87 contracting companies this season. This adds up to more than 24,000 plant and vehicle working hours, and 55,000 personnel working hours (excluding 'standby'). Of these, about one-sixth of the resources were from former timber harvesting industry contractors who transferred their agreements to DEECA in 2024.
Resources included dozers (65), excavators (33), feller bunchers (2), floats (93), graders (15), harvesters (2), loaders (5), and passenger vehicles (171).
All contractors are required to ensure their machines meet DEECA’s standards and are maintained ready for fire operations.
How you can help
To protect yourself and your loved ones from the risk of bushfires, make sure you:
- Prepare for bushfires if you live, work, or visit areas at risk of fire. CFA has great resources to help Victorians prepare their properties and make Bushfire Plans for their households. Visit cfa.vic.gov.au
- Download the VicEmergency app and understand how it works and what Fire Danger Ratings might trigger your family’s Bushfire Plan. Learn more at emergency.vic.gov.au
- Take extra care with campfires if you visit our state forests and parks and always know and follow the rules. Find out more at our website Explore Outdoors: www.exploreoutdoors.vic.gov.au/where-to-start/before-you-go
Page last updated: 17/02/25