PEOPLE still traumatised by 2009's catastrophic Bendigo bushfire will support fuel reduction works as long as consultation starts early and continues.
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The findings from a Bracewell Street fuel reduction project are vital to bushfire safety works proposed around Bendigo for years to come, a new public consultation paper suggests.
It focuses on key findings from the 2018/19 project, which took place on public land the Black Saturday bushfire tore through nearly a decade earlier.
The fire killed one Bendigo resident and destroyed 57 homes as it tore through Maiden Gully and into the city itself.
A royal commission launched in the fire's aftermath found that planned burns in the years "substantially reduced" the damage Bendigo's bushfire inflicted in 2009.
It recommended detailed plans to deal with bushfire risks well into the future, especially around Bracewell Street and Jackass Flat, which were exposed to northwesterly summer winds by bushland.
But it emphasised the need for community involvement in prevention works.
The group that led 2018/19's bushfire mitigation works found Black Saturday had cast a long shadow.
"The project team found the community in the area continued to live with the psychological effects of the 2009 fire and did not support planned burning," the report into Bendigo bushfire mitigation stated.
"This was for a range of reasons, including the impact of burning on vegetation and biodiversity that was already drought stressed, the potential health impacts of smoke on the densely populated community, and potential damage to cultural values."
However, the community gave the project team's fuel modification treatments "their full support", the paper stated.
"The project team subsequently planned and implemented works that were sensitive to community," it continued.
"The works created a defendable space, where the effect of flame and radiant heat on neighbouring properties during a fire would be reduced."
The paper has been released as part of a push for community input on a new plan to give clear guidance to agencies managing crown land as well as to private landowners.
It sets the scene for a "detailed implementation plan" that will allow landowners and managers to carry out works regardless of tenure.
The government wants to know if its vision for the plan aligns with the public's areas of concerns.
Consultations will continue to the end of May.
To find out more or have your say visit www.engage.vic.gov.au/bendigos-bushfire-mitigation-plan
If this story has raised issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. Both services also provide options to chat online and Lifeline has a text service.
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