Victorian bushfires
The news about the Victorian bushfires just keeps getting worse. A warning in 2002. The same experienced bushfire scientist being very angry in his “I told you so”: It is hard for me to see this perversion of public policy and to accept that the folk of the bush have lost their battle to live a safe life in a cared-for rural and forest environment, all because of the environmental fantasies of outraged extremists and latte conservationists.. What changes to strategies need to be made: But contrary to current hyperbole, Black Saturday was not the worst fire day ever. Ash Wednesday's wind speeds ranged from 70 to 120 km/h. A savage south-west front led to most of the deaths and property loss, whereas Saturday had a modest wind change.
Nor was the area burned in the latest fires exceptional. About 300,000 hectares is the likely total, compared with 1.5 million on Black Friday 1939, several million on Black Thursday 1851, 260,000 on Red Tuesday 1898 and 230,000 on Ash Wednesday. Note that the days of the week have mostly been used up already. Every 10 or 20 years there is a bushfire disaster. This isn't going to change.
South-eastern Australia is perhaps the worst fire vortex in the world and we have to improve bushfire policy.
Was at a discussion meeting tonight where several members reported hearing ABC talkback announcers repeatedly cut off any attempt by callers to raise the failure to engage in back burning and similar problems. But any link to global warming, no problem.
One Gippsland resident at the meeting mentioned that their local council kindly voted to get rid of planning overlays so it was legal for residents to remove dead trees threatening their properties. At another rural council, green councillors had previously attempted to get planning rules to strongly encourage people to have trees as close to their houses as possible. Apparently, we can "manage" the atmosphere but not bushlands (by backburning), trees are sacred and nature is benign. Letting Green Believers run environmental policy and resource management (let's talk about no new dams despite a big increase in population) is about as sensible as letting Christian Fundamentalists run social policy: yes they care about it a real lot, that's precisely why they need to be kept away from decision-making.
Nor was the area burned in the latest fires exceptional. About 300,000 hectares is the likely total, compared with 1.5 million on Black Friday 1939, several million on Black Thursday 1851, 260,000 on Red Tuesday 1898 and 230,000 on Ash Wednesday. Note that the days of the week have mostly been used up already. Every 10 or 20 years there is a bushfire disaster. This isn't going to change.
South-eastern Australia is perhaps the worst fire vortex in the world and we have to improve bushfire policy.
Was at a discussion meeting tonight where several members reported hearing ABC talkback announcers repeatedly cut off any attempt by callers to raise the failure to engage in back burning and similar problems. But any link to global warming, no problem.
One Gippsland resident at the meeting mentioned that their local council kindly voted to get rid of planning overlays so it was legal for residents to remove dead trees threatening their properties. At another rural council, green councillors had previously attempted to get planning rules to strongly encourage people to have trees as close to their houses as possible. Apparently, we can "manage" the atmosphere but not bushlands (by backburning), trees are sacred and nature is benign. Letting Green Believers run environmental policy and resource management (let's talk about no new dams despite a big increase in population) is about as sensible as letting Christian Fundamentalists run social policy: yes they care about it a real lot, that's precisely why they need to be kept away from decision-making.