Lessons in the aftermath
The Port Stephens Examiner of Thursday, January 18, 2018, headlined the story of the recent Williamtown bushfire as “Fire ground déjà vu”.
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The affected residents could not agree more but would probably use stronger language.
The recent fire was almost an identical replica of the October 2013 catastrophic fire, except for the point of ignition.
Whereas the October 2013 fire was started by two juveniles behind the Heatherbrae Industrial Estate, this fire was started by a lightning strike in the Tilligerry State Conservation Reserve adjacent to Masonite Road.
In both cases the initial fire was ignited days before the major fires occurred. Again in both cases, the fire authorities spent days supposedly containing the fires which initially covered a few hectares. Then follows an extremely hot day with strong winds, and all hell breaks loose.
Why weren’t the initial minor fires extinguished within those first several days?
Seemingly, nothing was learned from the October 2013 fire.
Hopefully the investigations into the recent fire will determine the reasons, and corrective actions put into place.
Stephen Kuehn, Williamtown
Sand loss a threat
Les Muras' letter (Examiner, February 1), responding to my own (Examiner, January 25), makes very worrying reading.
The commonly held view of resource developers ("thank you, Mother nature, it keeps on coming", to quote from Mr Muras’ letter) is precisely why we and our elected representatives should be concerned about blatant environmental destruction.
Has Mr Muras not read the 2014 report of the Newcastle Coastal Zone Hazards Study?
It paints a bleak picture of continuing sand loss from Stockton Beach, threatening recreational and other beneficial non-extractive activities.
Mother Nature is clearly having trouble continuing to give, except to those concrete mixers in Sydney.
John Lee, Salamander Bay
Solve parking problem
I agree with Margaret Wilkinson (Examiner, Letters, January 30), Nelson Bay is hardly a ghost town.
In the 11 years I have owned a unit in the Bay, many of the businesses from around then are still trading. There will always be the odd empty shop for whatever reason - this is not restricted to Nelson Bay.
The opening of the new Woolworths supermarket has given the CBD a great boost.
A state of the art store with hundreds of undercover parking spots and all well within the current height limits.
To raise height limits, destroying our country town ambiance, in the vain hope permanent residents will move in is, in my opinion, fantasy.
How can you market a block of high-rise units to permanent residents only? Good luck with that. We don’t need high rise in Nelson Bay. Rebuild the Donald Street East carpark now with public money and solve the parking problem. If a business has what consumers want they will come, but they have to park somewhere – Margaret Wilkinson’s letter says it all.
John Green, Nelson Bay
Rectify Mambo ‘regret’
At a public meeting at the proposed development site of the Mambo Wetlands on February 1, Councillor John Nell stated that he regrets he and other councillors made the mistake of not moving years ago to acquire the site.
It’s about time council rectified its oversight and bought the land to add to the Mambo Reserve rather than continuing with the DA evaluation process. Fix your mistake now, Port Stephens Council, and get the money back from the State Government some time in the future.