(1)  In this section, a reference to a firebreak authority is a reference to the Commission or the local council exercising on behalf of the Commission any powers conferred by this section.

(2)  The Commission may, in accordance with this section, cause the formation of such firebreaks as it considers necessary or desirable to arrest the spread of fires that may occur in any part of the State or to facilitate the suppression of any fires.

(3)  A local council may, in accordance with this section, cause the formation in its municipal area of such firebreaks as it considers necessary or desirable to arrest the spread or to facilitate the suppression of fires.

(4)  A firebreak authority may, for the purposes of this section, make arrangements with any other person for the formation of a firebreak, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this subsection, any such arrangements may be made with the holder of an office, or with a body established under an enactment, and the holder of that office for the time being or that body shall be deemed to have power to enter into and carry out those arrangements.

(5)  Where, under this section, a firebreak authority requires the formation of a firebreak on any particular land, the authority may serve notice in writing on the occupier of the land requiring the formation of that firebreak in such manner as is specified in the notice and within such time as is so specified.

(6)  An occupier of land who is aggrieved by a notice served on him or her under subsection (5) may apply to the Magistrates Court (Administrative Appeals Division) for a review of the notice.

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(11)  Where an occupier of land refuses to comply with the requirements of a notice served under subsection (5) with respect to that land or those requirements are not complied with, the firebreak authority by which the notice was served may enter onto the land and do such things as are necessary to form the firebreak.

(12)  Subsection (11) does not authorize a firebreak authority to destroy, injure, or remove any living trees that are required for the purposes of shade or shelter, or as a windbreak, or for the production of food for human beings or animals, or that contain timber of commercial value.

(13)  The expenses reasonably incurred by a firebreak authority in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by subsection (11) are a debt due from the occupier of the land to the firebreak authority and are recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(14)  If, having regard to the circumstances of any particular case, a firebreak authority considers it reasonable to do so, it may waive the whole or any part of a debt otherwise recoverable under subsection (13) .

(15)  A reference in this section to the formation of a firebreak includes a reference to the clearing of the means of access to a firebreak formed or to be formed.