Video transcript: Mirboo North storm debris clean-up June 2025

[On screen: Daniel Ball, Mirboo North Storm Debris Project, FFMVic Gippsland]

Speaker: Daniel Ball

In February 2024, a large storm cell crossed Gippsland leaving a trail of destruction through Mirboo North and the surrounding communities, whilst also having a devastating impact on the area's forests.

Forest Fire Management Victoria was involved in the initial emergency response with firefighters and heavy equipment mobilized to open up roadways and remove debris in the aftermath of the emergency.

We opened up some land for domestic firewood collection.

Since then, allowing community access to the firewood has been a key strategy in the relocation of debris from storm affected areas.

We've removed some debris from sites we've been working on that aren't firewood collection areas, and put that wood in places like Hoods Hill and Bark Town Road, where the community can collect firewood until the 30th of June this year.

A big part of this project was using machines to rearrange the forest debris to reduce the bushfire risk and enable safe and effective access to the forest in the event of bushfires.

Using these machines has also enabled us to give the local community safer access to firewood in the collection areas.

We've used science-based modelling to determine the areas which needed intervention to allow us to safely and effectively undertake fuel reduction, burning, and to fight future bush fires.

This work was informed by experienced fire personnel, local land managers, ecologists, and the local community.

Protecting significant plant and animal species has been at the forefront of every decision we've made.

To protect this flora and fauna, we've implemented buffer zones that prevented machinery from entering areas of high environmental importance.

We also conducted a significant number of surveys to identify potential environmental issues within the work zones.

It's been a long journey since February, 2024, but after all the planning, community engagement and works delivery, this project is now complete. For more information, go to our webpage by searching FFMVic Storm Debris.