- Dozens of local governments receive latest bushfire
mitigation funding
- Grants to help reduce fuel loads and bushfire risks
- More than $48 million awarded since grants program started in
2017
A share in $5.7 million of Mitigation Activity Fund (MAF)
grants will help 28 local governments build bushfire resilience and boost their
preparedness ahead of the high-threat period.
Communities between Manjimup and Port Hedland will benefit
from the latest funding that will deliver almost 550 mitigation activities on State-owned land managed by local
governments.
They will undertake works to minimise the risks and impact of bushfire including building firebreaks, reducing fuel loads and
carrying out hazard reduction burns.
Since the MAF grant
program began in 2017, more than $48 million has been disbursed to local
governments across Western Australia to undertake more than 6,200 mitigation
activities.
First-time
recipients of funding include the shires of Corrigin, Dumbleyung, Kellerberrin,
Moora and Morawa, the Town of Port Hedland and the cities of Melville and
Stirling.
This
is the first round of grants allocated for 2023-24. Local governments can apply
as early as next week for the next round.
MAF grants are
available to local governments that have a Bushfire Risk Management Plan
endorsed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
Local governments
can visit https://www.dfes.wa.gov.au for more information on the process.
Comments attributed to Emergency Services
Minister Stephen Dawson:
"With
90 per cent of our State prone to bushfires, the Cook Government's Mitigation
Activity Fund is empowering WA communities to be better prepared.
"The
knowledge and understanding local governments have of their area puts them in a
unique position to build resilience within their communities.
"With
warmer weather just months away, now is the time to prepare high-risk areas in
order to protect what is most important to us all - life and property.
"The
Mitigation Activity Fund has already given 70 local governments financial
support to undertake crucial hazard reduction burns and I encourage others to
take advantage of this program."
