Bushfires which ravaged the East Coast community of Fingal earlier this year contributed to Sustainable Timber Tasmania receiving an additional $3 million in grant funding.
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The fires started in December last year and burnt out of control until mid January, with 33,200 hectares of land in the Fingal Valley burnt by fires on Mount Malcolm, Tower Hill and surrounding areas.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania manages 812,000 hectares of public production forests. Its role also includes the responsibility to help detect, suppress and fight bushfires.
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At the start of the 2019-20 financial year STT was expected to received $12 million in grants, but by the end that figure had blown out to $15 million.
When asked about the $3 million increase a government spokesperson said that the extra costs were associated with fire prevention and firefighting.
A STT spokesperson said the extra costs were associated with fires started by suspected arsonists at Fingal.
The spokesperson said the $15 million in grant money was split between $10 million for managing Permanent Productions Zones, $2 million for bushfire management and $2 million fuel reduction burning.
"An unbudgeted $1.3 million was received to reimburse some of the fire fighting costs associated with controlling the bushfire near Fingal that was started by arsonists on 30 December 2019," the spokesperson said.
"175 Sustainable Timber Tasmania staff and contractors contributed over 19,000 hours to control the Fingal bushfire.
"Bushfire fighting costs increased to $3.1 million before payment of any additional costs by the Tasmanian government."
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