Fuel Reduction Burns - are they any use?

The extent of fires in Victoria seems to have demonstrated conclusively that fuel reduction burns have little if any impact on the damage caused by wildfires in bushland areas.
Much of the vegetation which was deliberately burned two years ago as the required 'knee-jerk' reaction to fire safety has again been burned - so what was gained by the time and effort involved in the prescribed burns (apart from the inner glow it gave those who love setting fires)
Now one of the ludicrous actions of bureaucracy is the fire bombing of areas which survived the wildfire. They are making sure they get the lot!
There is a fixation with showing the 'assets' which which have been destroyed - houses, fences, plantation timber, pasture etc. But what about the native fauna and habitat values which have been lost.