Gallery
Real trails. Real machines.
Recent fire-trail, APZ and bush-clearing work.
Fire trail construction, re-sheeting, APZ clearing and firebreaks in Agnes Banks and across the Hawkesbury. sandy river terrace suburb between Richmond and Penrith. The river towns are mostly urban but have rural-fringe blocks that back onto bush. APZ work and small access clearing is more common than full fire-trail builds.
Owner-operated by Jesse Madden. CAT dozer, 14-tonne Hyundai, rake and mulcher attachments. $20M public liability. We clear to approved footprints — never beyond.
Jesse visits every site. Fixed-price where possible, hourly where the terrain's unknown.
The Hawkesbury’s western ridge — from Kurrajong Heights through to Bilpin and Bowen Mountain — is some of the most bushfire-prone land in Greater Sydney. RFS access, APZ maintenance and pre-season clearing keep us busy every winter. The river towns are mostly urban but have rural-fringe blocks that back onto bush. APZ work and small access clearing is more common than full fire-trail builds.
If your Bushfire Assessment Report says 20m APZ, we clear 20m — not 25. We want you compliant, not in trouble with council or RFS for over-clearing.
A CAT dozer rakes big ground fast. The 14-tonne Hyundai lifts timber. The 8-tonne handles rock-breaking where the trail crosses sandstone shelf. We pick what suits, not what's on the yard.
Book by June for August–October clearing. We keep regulars in a maintenance rotation so the pre-season panic doesn't hit a full calendar.
Trails built to widths that actually accept an RFS Cat 1 or Cat 7 truck. Turnarounds at the back of the block. Gradients the trucks can handle loaded.
Mature trees left where the report allows. Felled timber windrowed, mulched or carted out to your spec. Hollows and habitat trees flagged before work starts.
Fire trails rut, APZs regrow. We schedule annual re-mulching and post-rain re-sheeting so you're not back-to-square-one every second summer.
From a single APZ refresh to a kilometre of new fire trail on a ridgeline block — we scale the machine and the crew to the job.
Fresh trails cut, benched and sheeted with roadbase where needed. Widths to fit RFS trucks. Turnarounds at the tail end.
Re-sheeting rutted trails, fixing washouts, re-grading, drain cleaning. Keeps the access usable season after season.
Asset Protection Zones to the width your Bushfire Assessment Report specifies. Understory raked clear, canopy managed to plan.
Perimeter firebreaks on rural boundaries. Dozer-wide strips kept clear of fuel so a fire front loses footing at the line.
Understory mulching on larger blocks to knock down fuel loads. Mulcher attachment leaves chip in place to suppress regrowth.
Access opened up to dams, tanks and bores for RFS static-water draft. Hardstand next to the water point so a truck can load without getting stuck.
Post-storm and post-fire trail clearing — down timber, slipped batters, washouts. Priority callouts when capacity allows.
Pulling stumps, carting windrowed timber and green waste. Tipped at green-waste stations or mulched on-site, your call.
Recent fire-trail, APZ and bush-clearing work.
Same flow, whether it's a 100m APZ refresh or a kilometre of new ridgeline trail.
Jesse walks the proposed trail or APZ with your Bushfire Assessment Report in hand. Flags habitat trees, rock shelves, drainage lines.
Defined trails quoted per metre. Open scopes priced hourly with a cap. Disposal of timber priced separately so you choose.
10/50 rules, council or RFS sign-off checked before we book. If something's missing we tell you before we quote.
Dozer and excavator work the trail or APZ to the marked footprint. Rock broken where needed. Timber handled to plan.
Roadbase laid on trafficable trails. Cross-drains cut. Water bars installed on steeper sections so the trail doesn't wash out.
Photo record of finished work. Pencilled in for the annual pre-season refresh so you stay on the front foot.
Everything Madden Earthworks offers in Agnes Banks and Hawkesbury.
Agnes Banks (2753) is a sandy river terrace suburb between Richmond and Penrith in the Hawkesbury LGA. The typical ground conditions here are sandy soil, flat river terraces, some low-lying flood-prone pockets.
The river towns are mostly urban but have rural-fringe blocks that back onto bush. APZ work and small access clearing is more common than full fire-trail builds.
We also service nearby Richmond, North Richmond, Windsor for fire trail clearing. Same operator, same rates — call Jesse for a site walk.
The Hawkesbury has plenty of bushfire-prone pockets — ridgelines, acreage, forest edges. This is where we do most of our fire trail and APZ work. Book pre-season so you’re on the front foot.
Also across neighbouring LGAs on case-by-case. For a site walk anywhere in Hawkesbury, call Jesse.
A fire trail is a cleared, trafficable access track that lets RFS trucks, dozers and crews reach the back of your block during a bushfire. On a lot of Kurrajong, Bilpin and Bowen Mountain acreage it's also your own escape route. If your property's bushfire-prone, access maintenance is usually part of your compliance.
Often yes. The NSW 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code allows some clearing near buildings on bushfire-prone land, but fire trails, APZs and broader clearing usually need sign-off. We'll tell you what we think needs checking before we quote — and we won't clear beyond an approved footprint.
Asset Protection Zone — the cleared buffer between a building and the bush. It's the low-fuel zone that slows or stops a fire reaching the structure. APZ widths and specs come from your Bushfire Assessment Report. We build them to the nominated width and leave canopies where the report allows.
Depends on the scope — CAT dozer with rake for bigger trails and scrub, 14-tonne Hyundai with thumb for timber, 8-tonne for selective work and rock-breaking, 5.5-tonne Kobelco for closer-quarters clearing.
A short access-only trail on open ground — a day. A steep trail with rock and timber — several days to a week. We quote by the metre on defined trails or hourly where the terrain's unknown.
Yes — annual pre-season re-mulching and re-sheeting. Regulars go on an August/September rotation so the pre-season window doesn't get missed.
Yes — static water supply access for RFS trucks. Clearing around farm dams, bore heads and tanks, with hardstand so a truck can load without getting stuck.
Windrowed into edges where allowed, mulched in place, or carted to green-waste — your call. Priced as a separate line on the quote.
Fully — $20M public liability, machine insurance, White Card. COIs on request.
Call by June-July to lock in August–October clearing. Later than that and we're usually booked into fire season. Post-fire and post-storm callouts prioritised when capacity allows.
Pre-season bookings fill up fast — August–October is the busiest window. Call Jesse now, lock in a site walk, be done before things get hot.