Aerial firefighting concerns are the latest issue facing communities living next to wind farms, according to Wind Industry Reform Victoria.
The president of the new rural community organisation, John McMahon, last week called on Premier Daniel Andrews to delay implementation of a reduced one-kilometre turbine buffer zone and to consider the implications for aerial firefighting.
“A combination of reduced setbacks and the recent removal of turbine size limitations would make aerial firefighting impossible near houses close to turbines, putting the firefighters gravely at risk,” Mr McMahon said.
And he said the CFA needed to be consulted on such implications as they could potentially put thousand of properties across rural Victoria at risk.
He said the tips of the turbine blades rotated at more than 200km/h and caused a lot of turbulence.
“Birds have difficulty avoiding them, so how would helicopters perform near them?” he said.
“Add a smoke screen and high winds into this mix and it’s hard to see how aerial firefighting could safely occur within hundreds of metres of turbines, thus making it very difficult to defend homes within one kilometre of them.
“To add fuel to this fire, on many occasions turbines have actually caught fire themselves, meaning that not only would they hinder firefighting but they could start fires.”
But Melton MP Don Nardella is not convinced by Mr McMahon’s argument and says the group would be better named “I’m against the wind industry”.
“He’s just trying to find another angle because he doesn’t like wind farms,” he said.
Mr Nardella said everything Mr McMahon said against the wind farms was rubbish.
“It’s irrational, illogical and quite pathetic,” he said.
“Where did he get this rubbish from? Next he’ll be complaining about mountains because mountains sometimes get in the way.”
Mr Nardella said windfarms were in open areas, with few or no trees around them.
He said there was a small amount of grass in the area, which was not combustible.
“If there’s no fuel, or very little fuel on the floor, that’s not where helicopters and other firefighting aircraft will be,” he said.
“And if they are there, [pilots] will see them, just like they see trees and mountains and firefighters and trucks on the ground.”
Mr Nardella said wind farms were the best way to replace “dirty, coal power stations” with clean, renewable energy.
