Tingle forests have received a temporary reprieve from prescribed burning, but how did we get here, and what is still needed?

For decades, south coast locals have been raising the alarm about the destruction of fire-sensitive tingle forests by prescribed burning, an ancient forest ecosystem with less than 6,000 hectares (60 km²) remaining in the world.

In response, a trial prescribed burn was conducted at Giants East block in summer 1997, resulting in 30 veteran trees collapsing. The Government was not swayed by the result, and subsequent destructive burns were conducted throughout the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. 

28 years later, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) ignited the very same forest block, Giants East, on 18 December 2024 in hot, dry conditions. 

What resulted was a devastating burn that caused the collapse of more than 100 giant tingle and karri trees. The canopy was severely scorched, with flames reaching up to 50 metres, and large trees and branches have continued to fall over the past year.

It is one of the worst outcomes seen in WA’s prescribed burning program.

Hot, dry, summer conditions were a main contributing factor in the severity of the burn. These conditions allowed the fire to burn hot and fast, igniting the shallow roots of the tingles and hollowing out their trunks from the inside, leading to their collapse. 

Despite this devastating outcome, the 2025/26 burn plan included more tingle blocks: Mt Clare, Coalmine, Nornalup and Vermeulen Road.

These blocks were potentially facing the same fate as Giants East, but nature lovers across the Southwest refused to stand by.

Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn and DBCA were called on to immediately remove the tingles from the current burn plan and ensure their long-term protection from burning. Thousands sent emails and letters and made phone calls, and attended rallies. 

As summer approached, the forests dried and the tingles remained on the burn plan. 

In October 2025, DBCA hand lit the Vermeulen Road block starting along the roadside. The fire raced through low-lying heath and jarrah but slowed when it reached the wetter tingle forest areas within the block. Several Tingle trees caught fire and DBCA proceeded to extinguish the burn with fire trucks, however some large trees collapsed, one containing an active possum drey. Preparations for burning also started at Mt Clare.

Time was running out to protect the tingles. 

On 29 November 2025, more than 100 people gathered at Mt Clare, surrounded by lush old growth forest and the tallest known living tingles.

With the burn imminent, the Tingle Action Group (TAG) was formed, quickly taking up residence at Mt Clare. A tree sit was built 25 m in the air, attached to an ancient tingle, making it the first blockade by a campaign on prescribed burning in WA. Local Paul Jack, 70 years of age, moved in on December 14.

On 16 December DBCA wrote to WAFA and other groups notifying us that Mt Clare and two other tingle burns, Nornalup and Coalmine, would not proceed in 2025.

Paul Jack was able to come down from the tree sit, but until there was written confirmation the tingles were safe for the whole summer, not just the remaining two weeks of 2025, the Tingle Action Group was keen to continue the blockade. 

Local resident, ANU environmental science student and author of the tree fall assessment report on Giants East Uralla Luscombe-Pedro took over the tree sit until written confirmation was provided by DBCA on 19 December, and the blockade was packed up that weekend.

The reprieve for the tingles achieved at the end of the year is the result of community pressure that has built over many years. We are powerful when we work together. 

The Vermeulen road forest block is located directly west of the Giants East block. It is 1.5 km from the Tree Top Walk, Walpole’s most popular tourist attraction. 

Three months after the initial burn in October, on January 3 2026, part of the remaining 20 ha of unburnt jarrah-marri forest reignited by itself, but was quickly extinguished by DBCA. 

Alarmed that this remaining unburnt forest would be burnt, TAG proceeded to document the largest tingles in the area, finding a giant that measured 5.73 m in diameter. It had been hollowed out in previous burns, and another fire would surely cause it to collapse. TAG alerted DBCA to the presence of the giant.

DBCA was preparing to burn the remaining area, scrub rolling around the biggest tingles in an attempt to protect the trees, but in reality, causing considerable damage to their shallow roots. On 6 January 2026, during hot and windy conditions that caused major bushfires to roar east of Albany, DBCA attempted to ignite the remaining area. While the burn did not proceed that day, Vermulen road remains on this year’s burn plan. 

Igniting tingle forest in the height of summer, with hundreds of tourists at the nearby Tree Top Walk is needlessly risky. The reignition event on 3 January could have been totally avoided had the jarrah and heath areas of this burn been ignited in autumn, after the first significant rainfall. Burning in spring always carries the risk of reignition as we get closer to the summer bushfire season. 

We call on DBCA and the Minister to remove the remainder of Vermeulen Road, as well as Mt Clare, Nornalup and Coalmine, and all other tingle blocks from the burn plan permanently so that the tingles do not face the same fate each summer.

• Fire sensitive ecosystems, like tingle forest, to be excluded from burning
• More funding and priority for First Nations-led cultural burning
• Greater investment in rapid detection and suppression to assist firefighters
• An end to large-scale aerial ignition

• Email decision makers asking for long-term protection of the tingles here
• Follow Tingle Action Group on Facebook for tingle updates
• Sign up to WAFA’s newsletter and follow us on socials for updates on the wider burning campaign

It is of the highest priority that the tingles are protected from fire not just in this burn plan, but for good.

Please contact the Premier and relevant Ministers using our template to urge them to permanently protect tingle forests from prescribed burning. Enter your details to start writing your email.

Read more about the Giants East burn or about rapid suppression technology.