We know these fires are horrendous BUT they are nothing new. While I do not wish to play down the impact they are having and will have on people, communities, animals etc as well as the country as a whole there have been serious fires happening in Australia forever. In 2009 173 people died in the Black Friday fires in Victoria. IMO the difference with these fires is that they are burning simultaneously in several different States at the same time and it is very early in the summer to see fires of this intensity. The media, both traditional and social is busy trying and succeeding in politicising the situation.
Everyone has an opinion on why the fires are happening and who should have done what and when but most expressing those opinions are not in a position to know.
Having said that I'll add an opinion of my own! Climate Change is NOT THE reason these fires exist,it is however, one of the causes that in conjunction with many others has contributed to them.
I do live in Australia not too far from the East Gippsland fires.
As a matter of interest:
Black Friday 1939
The bushfires of 13 January 1939, known as the Black Friday fires, followed a long drought and a severe, hot, dry summer.Fanned by extremely strong winds, these fires swept rapidly across large areas of Victoria, causing widespread destruction. An area of almost two million hectares was burned across the state, with 71 people losing their lives. Whole townships were destroyed, many sawmills burned to the ground and thousands of sheep, cattle and horses were killed by the intense heat and flames.Three weeks after the bushfires, a Royal Commission was convened with Judge Leonard E B Stretton selected to lead inquiry. The Judge was instructed to inquire into the causes of the January 1939 fires, the measures taken to prevent the fires and to protect life and property.Judge Stretton also investigated what procedures had been put in place to protect life and property in the event of future bushfires.'When millions of acres of the forest were invaded by bushfires which were almost statewide, there happened, because of great loss of life and property, the most disastrous forest calamity the State of Victoria has known. These fires were lit by the hand of man.' - Judge Leonard Stretton, 1939THE LEAD UP TO BLACK FRIDAYBlack Friday was the culmination of a long, dry and hot summer following a drought period that had lasted several years. Many creeks and rivers had dried up and people living in Melbourne were on water restrictions.Dry heat and hot winds sapped much of the moisture from the ground, leaving forest floors and the open plains tinder dry.Prior to January 13, many fires were already burning. Some had started as early as December 1938, but the majority had started in the first week of January 1939. Some of the fires could not be extinguished while others were left unattended, or as Judge Stretton wrote, the fires were allowed to burn '"under control", as it is falsely and dangerously called'.High temperatures and strong northerly winds fanned these separate fires on the day. The fires eventually combined and created a massive fire front that swept mainly over the mountain country in the north east of Victoria, and along the coast in the south west.THE BLACK FRIDAY DISASTERThe fires of January 1939 were to be etched in the memories of those involved for the rest of their lives.Flames leapt large distances, giant trees were blown out of the ground by fierce winds and large pieces of burning bark (embers) were carried for kilometres ahead of the main fire front, starting new fires in places that had not previously been affected by flames.A total of 69 sawmills were burned and 71 lives lost. At one sawmill settlement near Matlock, east of Melbourne, 15 people died while trying to escape from the fires.Over 1,000 homes were burned, and the townships of Narbethong, Noojee, Woods Point, Nayook West and Hill End were destroyed. The townships of Warrandyte, Yarra Glen, Omeo and Pomonal were badly damaged. Intense fires burned on the urban fringe of Melbourne in the Yarra Ranges east of Melbourne, affecting towns including Toolangi, Warburton and Thomson Valley. The alpine towns of Bright, Cudgewa and Corryong were also affected, as were vast areas in the west of the state, in particular Portland, the Otway Ranges and the Grampians. The bushfires also affected the Black Range, Rubicon, Acheron, Noojee, Tanjil Bren, Hill End, Woods Point, Matlock, Erica, Omeo, Toombullup and the Black Forest.Large areas of state forest, containing giant stands of Mountain Ash and other valuable timbers, were killed. Approximately 575,000 hectares of reserved forest, and 780,000 hectares of forested Crown land were burned.The intensity of the fire produced huge amounts of smoke and ash, with reports of ash falling as far away as New Zealand.The devastation ended late on Sunday January 15 after rain fell across the state.
DELWP www.ffm.vic.gov.au/history-and-incidents/black-friday-1939 for more information.
