It appears that scientific bush fire experts have been warning for several years that a catastrophe would be coming and yet these warnings have not been heeded by governments or their bureaucratic officials. Why is that, and what does it tell us about Australian society? John Adams and Martin North discuss. Is this also true of impending financial disaster?

Theo is 4 years old. He sent the following message to all firefighters via the VFFA web site.

Owners say the property was saved by the traditional Indigenous technique of cultural burning conducted on their land three years ago.

Aboriginal cultural fire practitioner Dennis Barber led a series of cultural burns on six hectares of bushland at Ngurrumpaa in 2015 and 2016 – the first burns in the area since a wildfire swept through in 1994.

Here’s how to prepare a evacuation “go bag” that you can quickly grab in case you ever need to evacuate.

I am a member of the NSW Rural Fire Service because it is a volunteer service. Volunteering makes me feel good about the work we do and the opportunity to give back to my community. We are proud to be volunteers. But there are limits!

This post compares the performance of the Fair Air fire mask (Fair Air) against the requirements of AS/NZS 1716:2013 (the standard) for masks rated as P2. It also provides some detail regarding ISO 9151:1995(E) and ISO 15025:2000 which are international standards for fire resistance for protective clothing. The Fair Air fire mask is the only respirator to have passed,or could pass, these two standards (according to the experts at the CSIRO).

A Coronial Inquiry into the Sir Ivan fire near Dunedoo is investigating its cause and how it was handled. Faith in the management of fire services has been shaken, and reports suggest volunteer numbers are dropping.

The VFFA has been observing a trend in recent years where farmers are increasing their own firefighting capability. In some cases, farmers are pooling resources in a manner that is somewhat like the beginnings of early bush fire services in NSW.

Photo: Grant Johnston in Tenterfield

Like many farmers I have been fighting bushfires for over 40 years doing no more than any farmer in helping neighbours.

But in that time I have watched the Rural Fire Service (RFS) develop into a mega bureaucracy that is probably justified in the hinterland of cities and towns but appears overly bureaucratic and expensive around broadacre farms.