The Gladstone Monto Road is a State-controlled road that is managed by Department of Transport and Mains Road. The Department has a process for how to obtain approval from Transport and Mains road to conduct a hazard reduction burn within the State road corridor. There are various scenarios depending on who has requested and how is responsible for the burn and they have a fact sheet on how a person can apply for a road corridor permit on their website.

https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/busind/techstdp...

We are also looking to create our own processes to give consent to landholders to apply for a permit to light within the local government road reserve adjacent to their properties, however these documents are in draft, and we hope that the community can remain patient whilst we outwork the processes and legalities involved. As most people can appreciate undertaking planned burns within a road reserve can represent a risk to both road users and the people doing the burn so we need to ensure that we get the approval processes correct.

Council obtained a permit to light for Racecourse Road earlier in 2024, however we will only proceed when the conditions are suitable. The approach to cultural burning is different to the contemporary style burning that many are used to, as we only burn when there is enough soil moisture and the grasses are green so as to protect the overstory trees and the native animals. Our burns are low and slow. We light up when the conditions suit and this is often during the cooler time of day (eg. early morning) or even in the evening and we avoid lighting up in the middle of the day. We take our responsibility for fire management seriously and remain on-site and conduct follow up patrols. We work outside of normal business hours when undertaking planned burns as this is the nature of doing burns according to the right conditions for Country.

To establish some context, Council has been appointed manager either as trustees or as freehold owners of approximately 10000 ha of land comprising of over 1000 lots throughout the Gladstone region. Fire mitigation activities need to be prioritised according to an assessment of the bushfire hazards and if the reserve adjoins an interface zone (izone). Reserves that adjoin essential services, schools and residential buildings will have a higher priority compared to a reserve such as Racecourse Road reserve that is contained within pastoral land. We had burns in the region, particularly around the Agnes Water area that we had to prioritise over the Racecourse Road burn, keeping in mind that the Racecourse Road reserve was last burnt by the Many Peaks Rural Fires Service on Council’s behalf in October 2020.

In regard to concerns about looking to get a permit across different tenures is difficult, Gladstone Area Queensland Fire Service officers were working on coordinating the different stakeholders for a planned burn at Many Peaks as there is a mixture of private, State and some Council managed land. Council has provided information to QFS to assist with this coordination, but we are not the agency that issues Permits to Light and can only apply for a Permit to Light for land that we are responsible for. However, I will pass on a message to the Gladstone Area Office to see if they are able to provide an update to the community about the progress for this cross-tenure burn.

The Bloomfield Gap section of the road reserve traverses through Protected Estate and Council has no jurisdiction to undertake works within Protected Estate. In addition to this there are no road reserves that connect the end of Bloomfield Gap Road or Downie Road reserves back to the Boyne Valley or the Gladstone Monto Road. The road reserves terminate within the Protected Estate. The various tracks and trails that might be used to connect Downie Road or Bloomfield Gap Road traverse through private land and there are no road reserve corridors. Any tracks or trails that connect to the road reserves traverse through private property and Council is not able to undertake works on the private property. The concerns of the community about fire management in this area will be raised at the next QFS Area Fire Management group meeting to discuss and will pass on a message to both Gladstone Area Water Board and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.