When the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires tore through Victoria's Upper Murray, Steve Wilkinson saw the destruction first hand.
"Unfortunately, with these fires, there was no way of stopping them," the 64-year-old former logging contractor said.
He lives on the outskirts of Corryong. A blackened hill behind his house.
Mr Wilkinson is worried the Victorian government's decision to end native timber logging this year will leave communities like Corryong more vulnerable to future bushfires.
"The consequences are going to be far reaching, more than any politician has thought about," he said.
During the bushfires Mr Wilkinson was employed by VicForests as a logging contractor.
He was one of a panel of contractors called on to do work with Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) in the event of a fire.
Mr Wilkinson said specialised equipment used by logging contractors was often needed to make firebreaks and backburn on tracks among other work during these emergencies.
FFMVic works on public land while the Country Fire Association (CFA) battles blazes on private land.
Former logging contractor Darryl Brooks said he stopped working in 2021, when the contract work for Vic Forests and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DECCA), formally known as DELWP, started drying up.
He has also seen the damage caused by the recent fires through the region.
"It burnt my brother's [property] completely out … he lost everything," Mr Brooks said.
He said contractors had a familiarity with the landscape they worked in, which became vital during bushfires.
"The loggers know where the tracks are, where they end, where they start," he said.
Mr Brooks said he doubted that DECCA and FFMVic had the machines and equipment required to carry out the same work.
He fears the outcome will be "catastrophic".
FFMVic said contractors would remain part of its work.
"Forest contractors will be engaged for DECCA land and fire management works beyond the end of native timber harvesting," chief fire officer Chris Hardman said.
"[We use] their valuable skills and equipment as we manage our forests and prepare for and respond to fires," he said.
Forest roads
Andrew Whitehead is mayor of Towong Shire, which encompasses communities like Corryong, Cudgewa and Walwa.
He said the maintenance of logging tracks was "one of the biggest concerns".
DECCA owns the road network through the state's forests.
VicForests pays tolls to DECCA for the roads used for haulage – which is calculated to ensure the maintenance program is covered, according to VicForests' 2022 annual report.
There are concerns that once that network of roads goes unused, parts of state forest won't be accessible anymore.
Mr Whitehead questioned if they'd still be open and available for access for fighting fires.
"Fires are very difficult to put out if you can't get to them," he said.
Mr Wilkinson said he didn't understand how the maintenance of those roads would be funded without the toll charges, and he's worried about the consequences.
"If another fire starts, how the hell are we going to get machinery in there?" he said.
Work still to be done
Mr Hardman acknowledged the "hard-working and specialised contribution of timber industry contractors to bushfire management works" in helping to reduce bushfire risk and keep communities safe.
But, in the Upper Murray, there's concern the work won't be enough to justify workers staying in the area, without VicForests contracts as well.
"If we can only give them some work over summer to clear tracks and that sort of thing, they won't be able to stay," Mr Whitehead said.
Logging industry workers will need some work year-round, he said.
Mr Wilkinson said contractors who weren't logging wouldn't be able to afford to keep equipment — which needed to be annually accredited by FFMVic — to use occasionally for fire work.
Mr Brooks agrees.
"Nobody can afford to have a million dollars' worth of machinery sitting around," he said.
"Without native logging, there will be no industry, so there will be no machines."
Next fire season
Mr Wilkinson and Mr Brooks both raised concerns about which contractors would be left to call on during the next bad fire season.
They said it raised questions around whether their communities would be less protected.
Mr Whitehead is also looking ahead.
"It could be a real challenge, bushfires this year, and probably into the future as well," he said.