Zealously planting natives don't help fight bushfire, commission told; Melbourne, Australia

Zealously planting natives don't help fight bushfire, commission told The Australian:
THE Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission has heard fears that bushfire could roar through the heavily populated Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne, where the tree canopy in one township is three times as dense as the devastated town of Marysville before Black Saturday. Olinda resident and nurseryman Jeremy Francis said mountain residents had believed they could be protected by the Country Fire Authority, but 'at some point on the night of Black Saturday, the penny dropped right around the mountain that we had been living in something of a fool's paradise'.
Saying there had been 'no recognition whatsoever' about the effect of changed land practices and native-revegetation polices, Mr Francis said planning authorities needed to plant fire-retarding deciduous trees as bushfire buffer zones rather than zealously planting Australian natives.