Of all the factors that contribute to the intensity of a fire (temperature, wind speed, humidity, topography, fuel moisture and fuel load), only fuel load can be readily modified by human effort, but bearing in mind that since the industrial revolution it is now clear that humans have also modified the world’s temperature, and action on emissions may eventually assist to bring this down.
Citation: Emergency Leaders for Climate Action
As bushfires peaked in the Australian summer of 2019-20, we heard a lot of the myth of climate change as the prime cause of the flames’ spread and severity. In this article, Christine Finlay addresses climate change and a second myth, mostly promoted by politicians and leaders of bushfire management organisations: that an appropriate response is to promise a thorough review of bushfire management (via royal commissions or otherwise) while pre-emptively pouring yet more taxpayer dollars into fire-fighting organisations and aerial firefighting, in particular. This is the latest instance of a repeated pattern, more likely to worsen rather than improve the situation.
I am writing to support the NSW Farmers proposal for grazing to be re-introduced into Crown Lands including National Parks.
I believe this need only be applied in marginal areas around National Parks which cannot be protected from fire by graded fire breaks. Many National Parks boundaries are on very steep and inaccessible areas thereby making fire and stock control very difficult.
Our first News Roundup for the year features some defence force photos of the fire their helicopter started un the Orroral Valley. One of many stories from around the state.
The people who lived through the fires are confronted with their changed landscape every day – but they would also like the rest of Australia to remember those traumatic events.
People are still recovering and rebuilding, people who haven’t even started rebuilding yet.
People are still living in tents.
Two stories on Victor Steffensen feature in our News Roundup this week. Really hope you have enjoyed this series this year. We’ll be back again in 2021.
Roger Underwood’s outstanding article on the Bushfire Royal Commission’s complete failure to address the root cause of the problem … prpoer fuel management.
Defence’s record of starting major fires was again highlighted by the ABC this week in a report that the fire that destroyed 80% of the Namadgi National Park was started by a Defence helicopter. Its failure to report the fire for 45 minutes ensured that the RFS lost the opportunity to contain the fire. This is one of a number of news stories from around the state in this weeks News Roundup.
President of The Volunteer Fire Fighters Association Mick Holton says Australians “haven’t learnt” from last summer’s devastating bushfires as people are quick to blame climate change when really fuel has built up from decades of land neglect. See the full interview on the Paul Murray Show on Sly News.
The bush fire on Fraser Island continues to make the headlines after burning for 6 weeks. A new report into the impact of ‘chewing smoke’ makes interesting reading and shows how dangerous the smoke is to the community. These are some of this weeks stories in the News Roundup.