The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning has issued an advice notice warning that smoke may be visible in Lester Street, Sailors Gully Road, Brewery Road, Lethebys Road and the Loddon Valley Highway as well as surrounding areas.

The advice comes soon after Victoria’s Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommended the government move away from its aim of burning 5 per cent of public land every year and move instead to a more sophisticated risk-based target. 

“Currently our remote areas are being burnt at a rate that is putting many native plants and animals at risk, for little benefit to public safety,” the Victorian National Parks Association’s fire spokesperson Phil Ingamells said.

“Land managers have been forced to burn remote areas such as the Mallee in attempts to reach the 5 per cent target. Birds like the rare Mallee Emu Wren and the remarkable Mallee Fowl are now in trouble.

“The Victorian Government should accept this recommendation as a sensible and strategic approach. We can then move on to a risk-based approach for fire management that is more transparent, more efficient and more equitable than the current system.

“A change in policy will give Victorian land managers the opportunity to practice a more effective risk-based approach, allowing increased emphasis on public safety measures such as boosting our capability for rapid attack to extinguish bushfires, and encouraging more bushfire shelters."

The recommendation was published in the Inspector-General for Emergency Management report Review of Performance Targets for Bushfire Fuel Management on Public Land.

Most submissions to the report were against a hectare-based burn target, and submissions from academics and experts in environment and land management also raised issues with the Victorian Government’s environmental protection practices under the current 5 per cent planned burning program.

The report also raised concerns about levels of smoke caused by current burn levels, and the resulting public health impacts.