Two Metre Tall Brewery owner Ashley Huntington said the smoke from a Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) burn near Westerway on Saturday was the worst he had experienced in his 16 years in the area.The brewery and farm bar at Hayes is around is 24km south-east of Westerway.“I had a lawn full of people and they just picked up and left,” Mr Huntington said.Mr Huntington said he was stunned to be advised by Tasmania Fire Service the smoke was not from a bushfire but a permitted burn.“I haven’t seen anything like this since January 2018 when there was a genuine catastrophe on our hands … My call to the TFS was one of fright and genuine concern,” he said.“I can’t believe they are doing a burn when there is an actual bushfire at Molesworth.”Mr Huntington lashed the decision to burn on a long weekend of warm weather, in the middle of tourist season and the wine industry’s grape harvest.“No one is thinking here,” he said.STT had eight regeneration burns listed over the weekend including two north-west of Geeveston, two north-west of Tarraleah, one south of Westerway, two south-east of Derwent Bridge and one north-east of Mole Creek.In response to Mr Huntington’s concerns, a spokesman for STT said planned burns were intended to regenerate harvested forests and improve community safety by reducing fuel loads.“Autumn is the best time to undertake this work because it is the safest time of the year to burn, the fuels are dry which creates less smoke, the extreme conditions of summer have passed, reducing the chance of the fire escaping its boundaries and it is the ideal time for germination of eucalypt seedlings given warm temperatures and the onset of regular rainfall,” the spokesman said.“Our aim is to minimise impact on neighbours and local communities. Every burn is carefully planned for safety, smoke dispersal, protection of assets, infrastructure, special values and threatened and endangered species.”[email protected]



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