- Dozens of local governments receive latest bushfire mitigation funding
- Grants to help reduce fuel loads and bushfire risks
- More than $48 million awarded since grants program started in 2017
A share in $5.7 million of Mitigation Activity Fund (MAF) grants will help 28 local governments build bushfire resilience and boost their preparedness ahead of the high-threat period.
Communities between Manjimup and Port Hedland will benefit from the latest funding that will deliver almost 550 mitigation activities on State-owned land managed by local governments.
They will undertake works to minimise the risks and impact of bushfire including building firebreaks, reducing fuel loads and carrying out hazard reduction burns.
Since the MAF grant program began in 2017, more than $48 million has been disbursed to local governments across Western Australia to undertake more than 6,200 mitigation activities.
First-time recipients of funding include the shires of Corrigin, Dumbleyung, Kellerberrin, Moora and Morawa, the Town of Port Hedland and the cities of Melville and Stirling.
This is the first round of grants allocated for 2023-24. Local governments can apply as early as next week for the next round.
MAF grants are available to local governments that have a Bushfire Risk Management Plan endorsed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
Local governments can visit https://www.dfes.wa.gov.au for more information on the process.
As stated by Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson:
"With 90 per cent of our State prone to bushfires, the Cook Government's Mitigation Activity Fund is empowering WA communities to be better prepared.
"The knowledge and understanding local governments have of their area puts them in a unique position to build resilience within their communities.
"With warmer weather just months away, now is the time to prepare high-risk areas in order to protect what is most important to us all - life and property.
"The Mitigation Activity Fund has already given 70 local governments financial support to undertake crucial hazard reduction burns and I encourage others to take advantage of this program."
