Rural property owners are frustrated by the inability to clear a substantial boundary between their property and public land to protect themselves from bushfires, the head of the Victorian Farmers Federation has told the Royal Commission.
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VFF president David Jochinke told commissioners on Thursday that Victorian farmers are restricted to removing no more than four metres of grass and fuel from either side of their fenceline.
"Those are some of the areas we have great difficulty in," he said.
"The areas where the fires generally come from is external to their properties."
Commissioner Mark Binskin acknowledged there was a "frustration" with the issue of clearing boundaries.
Mr Jochinke said there was a paradox between the fuel on farms and public land.
Public roads that were blocked during the summer bushfires took a long time to be cleared, meaning the ability for emergency retreat or access was a "huge concern".
"Even though the farmers have the responsibility to protect their land, they're also the volunteers who go in and fight the fires in those settings," Mr Jochinke said.
The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements is this week looking at the issue of hazard reduction.
Mr Jochinke said farmers often graze down grass in certain areas for refuge points where they can herd animals in an emergency.
"You cannot eat every blade of grass down during that period because you've still got to feed your lot through to that next autumn," he said.
"There will always be an element of fire loading on any property."
Asked how farmers got their information to prepare for fires, he said it was a mix of local knowledge and weather warnings, but this year the fire patterns changed to become more intense and move faster at night.
"One of the biggest issues our members have is the change in how those fires have acted," Mr Jochinke said.
"When you're in an Alpine setting, it does come down to a lot of local knowledge and also combining that with the weather forecasting ... In those extreme examples, your telecommunications is one of the first things to go just after your electricity.
"Your ability to be self-reliant in those scenarios requires a generator and UHF to talk to neighbouring farmers."
