The real reason Australia is ablaze!

I understand that the greens are staunchly defending their policy.

Which Greens? Are they ones in government, the party.

If they are defending their policy does that mean that their policies have been taken up by State Governments?

I know that a lot of people are very very angry and blaming current policies for the current disaster.

It is a combination of factors.

Seems too convenient to blame green policy as opposed to changing behaviour to reduce climate change. I understand that the greens are staunchly defending their policy.

Each State has its own Parliament suzied and I think the responsibility for environmental management lies with the State Parliament not national government.

I could be wrong, but I believe that is right.

There's not a lot you can do about eucalypts- Australia is covered in them.
Well, it was.

Yes, the oil is flammable but then it always has been, and there have been devastating fires in the past.

Fuel Load
The greater the fuel load, the more intense and hot the fire. Fuel load is the accumulated debris of bark, leaf, twigs and branches littering the forest floor.
Eucalypts contain oil which aids combustion.

Grass fires occur too.

Probably half of the fires are caused by lightening but the rest are caused by accidental activity, occasionally deliberare arson.

Hot, dry, windy weather can cause the fires to get out of control and they can leap.

Weather conditions are also dependent on whether it is an El Nino or La Nina year.

Someone said the eucalyptus trees are a problem. That they are protected but are highly flammable.

The aboriginal Australians probably did use backburning on a small scale to protect their own settlements but I very much doubt that large scale burning was used.

In general the green lobby has gone too far, they stop all removal of vegetation close to settlements, they are city dwellers that are safe and sound in their air conditioned apartments, they don’t care what happens in rural areas.

That said, the National forests are millions of acres and there is no way that fire spread is going to be prevented by advanced backburning, you can protect settlements and farms, anything else is impractical.

I didn’t know Australia was run by the greens. I thought 5gey had a right wing climate change denying government.

I think a lot of it is National Forest.

During hot spells in the summer we daren't even light a garden bonfire because we are surrounded by arable fields and a pit fire could spread into standing corn.

There were heartbreaking images of dead animals on the news tonight. Such a tragedy for Australia's wildlife and farm stock.

I can see where he is coming from.if all that scrub wasnt there it wouldnt burn so fast.australia most of it is really dry already..if they allowed cattle etc in the bush to keep the grass etcdown .it would help a lot.

There was that one in Yorkshire last year? which took a long time to get under control.

Before straw burning was banned on the fens we used to have peat fires - called pit fires. If they occur in wooded areas and there's a firebreak you would be able to see where they are and you can also smell them.

There were concerns before this began that the 'undergrowth' has been allowed to accumulate and was tinder dry because there was less rain than usual.
It was reported (not just in that video) that firefighters were not allowed to clear fire tracks through the National Forests. Farmers in some States had been fined for backburning whereas they had traditionally done this for years.

It is always extremely dry at this time of year, lucywinter but the rains haven't arrived properly even in the Tropical North yet.

It has been an El Nino year
La Nina brings wetter weather I think.

No rain, prolonged hot temperatures, winds, some bans on controlled burning have all accumulated to create what someone called 'a perfect storm'.

I wasn't really listening to the news earlier, but it was on in the background and I think I heard it said that some fires are spreading underground, because peat is burning (as was happening on some of our moors last year).

Assuming that I heard correctly, that presumably means that the effectiveness of fire breaks would be limited anyway.

Sparks must fly even when you build fire breaks.

Wonder why some people still feel the need to deny global warming and climate change. Odd really.

I thought it was because the extreme temperatures being in the forties (!) for weeks has caused the vegetation to dry out, and unusually strong winds have fanned the flames causing it to spread. So, unusual weather conditions.

I must admit to being suspicious about the video, especially when the guy stated that climate change is bullsh*t.

I've had a bit of a search and as far as I can see 'controlled burning' (the Australians call it 'prescribed burning') seems to be a routine operation in most parts of Australia. No mention of it having been banned through the machinations of the evil Greens, though it is mentioned as being contentious in some articles.

I haven't looked much further but WRT the 'locked' fire track I should imagine that a) firefighters would have keys to the padlocks, or b) at a pinch the fire trucks could crash straight through the barriers, or c) they'd have metal cutting gear to demolish them with...

I'd say that the video has to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Those of you with relatives in Australia may well put me right, but for the moment I'm sceptical.

Here are some search results if anyone else wants to have a look

duckduckgo.com/?q=controlled+burning+Australia&t=chromentp&ia=web

The Aboriginal peoples knew the solutions centuries ago.

The latest batch of politicians refused to listen, they thought the Greens knew best.

The consequence is tons of C02 released from the burning trees into the atmosphere, so far totalling half of Australia's annual output of emissions.

The link again should anyone need it.

I read about controlled burning by Australian aborigines quite a few years ago. It does seem that if brush wood is burned to keep gaps, fire breaks, fires don't spread so easily. I think there have been similar problems associated with the recent wild fires in California.

There is a solution that has been proved to work, Yennifer. That's why people are arguing.

As I said upthread, A massive own goal for the greens.

The Australians already know the solution!

The trouble with stuff like this becoming political is that people end up o busy arguing they forget to actually find solutions

I've lived with fire across the hill, am in daily contact and that was a topic of conversation - the laws against clearing the undergrowth, 'the fuel' and laws against backburning which prevents fires spreading plus the closure of tracks which firefighters kept clear to access forest fires.

And yes, I hear the Green views too, but the ones I know tend to live in cities.

Aboriginal people and Bushies live with the reality.

Yes of course, I'm not saying my Australians beat anyone else's lol just that I know a few and have chatted about it