Both Liberal and Labor have promised the isolated communities of Mt Wilson and Mt Irvine $100,000 to plan to make Bowens Creek fire trail usable in an emergency.
It has deteriorated dramatically in recent years but after extensive lobbying by residents fearful of only having one exit road – Mt Wilson Road - in a fire emergency, Macquarie MP Louise Markus announced the grant last Wedneseday, June 22, to be given to Hawkesbury City Council, to make plans to reconstruct it.
“This project is about saving lives,” Mrs Markus said. “If by putting this money on the table it saves even one life, then it is definitely worth the investment.”
Labor candidate for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, later matched the promised sum at a community meeting at Mt Irvine on Saturday. “This $100,000 grant to the Hawkesbury City Council will allow the Bowens Creek Fire Trail to be opened for emergency access, making our community safer,” Ms Templeman said.
President of the Mt Wilson and Mt Irvine Rural Fire Brigade David Howell said the news was very welcome. “We’re very heartened,” he said.
The money is expected to fund a study on what exactly has to be done and how much it will cost.
Mr Howell said Blue Mountains Council had continued to maintain the trail on the Mountains side of Bowen Creek but the other side was very degraded.
“The road on the Hawkesbury side is much more precarious – it goes through some cliff lines and in parts it’s been washed out,” he said. But he said it was vital the trail was restored.
“It’s to get fire trucks and ambulances from Bilpin into Mt Irvine,” he said. “We’ve had a series of incidents in the last couple of years where, due to high winds, we couldn’t have helicopters coming in. And you can’t use helicopters at night, of course.”
President of Mt Wilson Progress Association Richard Beattie has been lobbying for years to get the trail back into action. They recognise the high cost Hawkesbury Council faced and hoped for state or federal government input.
"It was used as the routine thoroughfare for people to get down to Bilpin then to Sydney from the time it was first built as a Depression make-work project until the 1980s," Mr Beattie told the Blue Mountains Gazette in an earlier interview.
"If it was good enough to be used for all those years we would say it's good enough to be returned to a usable road."
The fire trail has a long and chequered history since it was opened in 1935. In 1990 Hawkesbury Council decided to close the section within its boundary - approximately 6.5km from the last property at Bilpin to Bowens Creek bridge - erecting gates to allow emergency access only.
Later, when the bridge began to deteriorate, traffic was limited to five tonne gross vehicles only, meaning larger emergency trucks could no longer use it.
Three years ago, Hawkesbury Council asked the State Government to formally close the road.
The Mt Wilson and Mt Irvine tourism website says the Bowens Creek fire trail road was opened in 1935 after campaigning by the Mt Irvine residents for a second access road to their mountain. It goes from Mount Irvine to Bowens Creek, then is called Mount Irvine Road again all the way to Bells Line of Road at Bilpin, just west of the small BP garage and ugg boot store.
