NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — The timber industry has stepped up its fight against the phase-out of wooden power poles across NSW, demanding proof that the manufactured ones won’t melt in bushfires. The NSW branch of the Australian Forest Products Association has launched a new website urging people to sign a petition against Essential Energy’s shift to UV-coated fibreglass and resin poles. The government-owned power infrastructure company, which services 95 per cent of NSW, says the change is necessary to boost its network’s resilience to events like the Black Summer fires. …But the shift has upset some in the timber industry, which supplies the wooden poles that have long been used. James Jooste has called on the government to direct Essential Energy to continue using hardwood poles. He says there’s an absence of evidence to show composite poles are more fire resistant than wooden ones. “Show us the proof.”