Candling - it's probably not what you think. A planned burning technique is shared between agencies at the candling workshop at Silvan Reservoir.
Recently, staff and volunteers from CFA, DELWP Forest Fire Management Victoria, Melbourne Water and University of Melbourne headed out to Silvan Reservoir Park as part of a ‘candling’ workshop.
Candling involves burning the extreme bark hazard off trees in the cooler wetter months of the year to reduce ember hazard during planned burns and bushfires.
The visit to Silvan marked the second component of an inter-agency candling workshop and provided an opportunity for participants to put theory into practice by carrying out candling techniques and monitoring fire behaviour.
Terry Ouroumis, CFA Planned Burning Project Manager said “it was opportune that six CFA Suppress Wildfire course students were able to visit and observe candling in practice and then have a go and gain hands on experience”.
One of the students, Jacqui Kitchen said “I’m very much a practical learner and the candling workshop perfectly complemented the Suppress Wildfire course. When the trees were ignited I noticed big chunks of burning bark randomly falling from stringybark trees. Then it clicked. I envisaged what they could do in bushfires. They were live embers and on a windy day and they could fly across the land and potentially cause spot fires ahead of the flank/head fire.”
Phil Hawkey, CFA Vegetation Management Officer for North East Region said,“the successful workshop was a wonderful opportunity to share and gain knowledge from a wide range of participants including CFA, DELWP, Melbourne Water and University of Melbourne Fire behaviour researchers”.
Author: Jacqui Kitchen