ONE of Tasmania's greatest assets - its magnificent wilderness - can also be its Achilles' heel during the hot summer months when even the smallest scrub fire can quickly become a raging inferno, putting people's lives at risk and their homes under threat.
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As we already know, Tasmanians are a lucky bunch. We can enjoy the benefits of living an urban lifestyle in the middle of a bustling city like Hobart. Or we can take the more peaceful, relaxed route and choose to live in a more serene, rural area like many of the towns scattered along the East Coast.
But any time you have homes surrounded by large tracts of bush, there comes with it an inherent risk of falling victim to a bushfire.
That risk comes in many forms. It comes from the deliberately lit fire by reckless firebugs. It also comes from the accidental fires caused by mother nature. And then there are the fires, like many of those that affected parts of the state on Tuesday, caused by out-of-control burnoffs.
It is only then do we realise our reliance on the hundreds of brave men and women of our fire services and the incredible service they perform on a daily basis.
Fuel reduction burnoffs are a valuable tool in the fight against deadly bushfires. In the lead-up to the last state election, the Liberal Party pledged to significantly increase its fuel reduction program - and invested almost $30 million to achieve that.
But burnoffs can only do so much. Despite all the money and planning thrown into those programs around the state, there is a feeling that we are still at the mercy of what mother nature throws our way as the hot summer months approach.
The last thing anyone wants to see is a repeat of the Dunalley fires of 2013 that razed more than 20,000 hectares and destroyed at least 170 properties.
As Greens leader Cassie O'Connor rightfully said on Wednesday, our bushfire season has arrived almost two months earlier than normal. All of our emergency services will face a daunting summer if homeowners in those more risky areas aren't fully prepared for the potentially deadly bushfire season ahead.