Antinuclear

Global heating: Australians must rethink planning for bushfires

Whatever the successes and failures in this crisis, it is likely that we will have to rethink the way we plan and prepare for wildfires in a hotter, drier and more flammable world.

Drought and climate change were the kindling, and now the east coast is ablaze, The Conversation, Ross Bradstock, Professor, Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, University of Wollongong, Rachael Helene Nolan, Postdoctoral research fellow, Western Sydney University, November 11, 2019     

Last week saw an unprecedented outbreak of large, intense fires stretching from the mid-north coast of New South Wales into central Queensland.
The most tragic losses are concentrated in northern NSW, where 970,000 hectares have been burned, three people have died, and at least 150 homes have been destroyed…….

What is unprecedented is the size and number of fires rather than the seasonal timing.

forests and shrublands can rapidly accumulate bushfire fuels such as leaf litter, twigs and grasses. The unprecedented drought across much of Australia has created exceptional dryness, including high-altitude areas and places like gullies, water courses, swamps and steep south-facing slopes that are normally too wet to burn.

Thus, the North Coast and northern ranges of NSW as well as much of southern and central Queensland have been primed for major fires. A continuous swathe of critically dry fuels across these diverse landscapes existed well before last week, as shown by damaging fires in September and October.

More people in harm’s way

Many parts of the NSW north coast, southern Queensland and adjacent hinterlands have seen population growth around major towns and cities, as people look for pleasant coastal and rural homes away from the capital cities.

November 12, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming