Veteran councillor and firefighter Ian Earl wants anti-burn protesters to ‘pull their heads in’

Veteran firefighter and Shire of Augusta-Margaret River councillor Ian Earl has opened fire on protesters who gathered last month demanding changes to WA’s prescribed burning regime.

At last week’s council meeting in Augusta, the former Shire president urged anyone who was friends with protesters opposed to prescribed burns and who demanded improved response times to bushfires to “tell them to pull their heads in”.

While debating the minutes from one of the local government’s emergency committees, Cr Earl took five minutes to hose down what he said were completely inaccurate arguments made by supporters of a WA Forest Alliance push against the State’s prescribed fuel-control practices.

“We already have a rapid response,” he said.

The Cowaramup Volunteer Bushfire Brigade member said agencies always had eyes in the sky the moment smoke was reported, then listed the large-air tankers, fixed-wing craft and helicopters at the ready across the South West to pounce on bushfires.

Cr Earl said it was “condescending crap” to argue protesters knew how to handle bushfires more effectively.

“It does and it is upsetting our firefighters,” he said.

“They work like hell to keep (fires) under control.”

More than 100 people gathered in Margaret River last month demanding rapid suppression technology to end the need for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ annual 200,000ha burn target.

WA Forest Alliance senior campaigner Jason Fowler said it was vital people understood the fight was not against the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which he said did a good job protecting homes and towns.

“The real problem lies in how we manage the fires out there in the wilderness,” he said last month.

“We at the Forest Alliance have been saying louder, louder and louder that the DBCA’s prescribed burning program is failing.”

Mr Fowler said as climate change continued to reduce the safe window for DBCA burns, few were performed around town sites.

“Prescribed burning is failing and it’s not protecting our homes anymore, it’s just doing enormous damage to our forests,” he said.

A DBCA spokesperson said its approach was informed by the best available science and operational evidence.

“From a biodiversity perspective, prescribed burning is undertaken to maintain a range of wildlife habitats by creating low-fuel areas in a mosaic of burnt and unburnt patches across the landscape,” they said.

“Prescribed burns occur in more favourable conditions than intense summer bushfires which gives animals more opportunities to safely move into areas of unburnt vegetation, and various plant species opportunities to regenerate.”