Squealing over who will be heard by the fire Royal Commission
20 Apr 2009
Heaps of people are coming out of the woodwork squealing that that won't have an opportunity to address the Royal Commission. Many of them apparently want to squawk about not being warned of the fire danger.
Counsel assisting the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, Jack Rush QC, says while people knew February 7 would be a day of risk, they were not aware they would be facing a fire of "phenomenal" speed.
The Black Saturday bushfires ripped across the state in February, claiming 173 lives, devastating 78 communities and destroying 2,029 homes.
Mr Rush told the directions hearing in the Victorian County Court that the commission will hear evidence in the coming weeks that for many people, the warnings were not a trigger to leave their homes early.
"Whilst people knew that the 7th of February would be a day of extreme risk, they did not have the understanding that the risk, as the McArthur Forest Fire Index demonstrated, carried with it the potential of a fire that could not be fought," he said.
Well, the warnings that were put out prior to that weekend were pretty graphic and anyone who didn't understand that they could be facing an extreme event must have...
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Tags:
bushfire, royal commission, wildfire
Posted at: 05:11 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Royal Commission Bushfire submission has now been completed and sent
30 Mar 2009
The Friends group submission to the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission (that really should be called wildfire because it wasn't just bush that burned) has been completed and sent off.
We don't intend to appear before the Commission to make personal presentations but hope there are plenty of views expressed - not just from the vocal lobby who say that more fuel reduction burns will solve the problem.
The final submission has only minor changes from the version on this blog.
Tags:
bushfire, royal commission, wildfire
Posted at: 03:33 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
A few more thoughts on the Victorian Wildfires
2 Mar 2009
At least it's not just me! Here's a short version of comments by Andrew Campbell a well known former bureaucrat and consultant who has been involved in forestry, farm and catchment issues for years.
I was asked by a friend in America what I thought of some of the media and webstuff circulating about the Victorian fires.
As a Victorian forester with professional training in fire behaviour, fire suppressionand fire management, and with experience as a sector boss in fires leading up to and including Ash Wednesday (Feb 1983), I have maintained an on-going interest in fire management in Australia. The way we handle fires for me is one of the keyindicators for how well we are learning to live in this ancient continent. The Victorian fires, and in particular some of the media since the fires, suggest that we have a long way to go in improving the ecological literacy of Australians and the body politic.
There has been lots of rabid stuff coming out since 7 February, pushing long-held anti-green agendas. Suggestions that ‘it’s all the greenies’ fault’ and headlines like “will the real arsonists please stand up” claiming that conservationists, tree protection policies and green groups’ opposition...
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Tags:
back burns, bushfire, controlled burns, fuel reduction burns, wildfire
Posted at: 04:24 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
A few thoughts on Victoria's devastating fires
28 Feb 2009
Satellite images show that many of the fires burned most intensively through dry forest with eucalyptus species, whereas in the wetter forests the wildfires were patchy.
The towns of Marysville, Kinglake and St Andrews are surrounded by the drier forest types, so it's not surprising that they suffered high levels of devastation.
The fires also burnt very aggressively in plantations. The Churchill fire mostly burned through plantation areas managed by Hancock Victorian Plantations. These plantations are obviously intensively managed with wood production as their primary purpose, so weed control and the suppression of understorey is the mantra, yet these burned just as intensively as dry eucalypt forest.
Around Whittlesea, Wallan and East Kilmore, many of the fires burned through grass on farms. The argument of forest protection around these areas is completely irrelevant, given that these areas are cleared farmland and there were few forest areas upwind on the Saturday the fires were ignited.
The fire on Mt Riddle is worth looking at in some detail. This fire was ignited by a lightning strike and burned through the northern slope. At the beginning of last year, the DSE/Parks Victoria lit a large control burn on this slope. The 'fuel reduction' burn was declared a success. But this control burn did not prevent...
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Tags:
bushfire, victorian fires native vegetation, wildifire
Posted at: 06:02 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Get ready for Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires
18 Feb 2009
The Royal Commission into Victoria's current bushfires to be conducted by retired Supreme Court judge Bernard Teague provides an opportunity for some rational discussion about the issues of native vegetation, wildfire risks and planning regulations.
We hope there will be a wide presentation of views - but as with other enquiries after wildfires - there will be a clamour for more 'fuel reduction burns' and the destruction of native forests even though there is no science demonstrating that those burns actually reduce fire risks.
A major part of the problem is that so often when these fire events occur a decision is made to 'let it burn' because it's not a direct threat to what is regarded as an 'asset'. That's when things get out of hand. Throw everything at a fire when it starts and you have a hope of stopping it. By letting it burn there is always the risk of a wind change which creates mayhem.
Every fire event pulls people out of the woodwork to have their say about how dangerous trees are and how we must get rid of all undergrowth.
They choose not to understand that in the weather circumstances experienced when these...
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Tags:
bushfire, royal commission, wildfire
Posted at: 07:27 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
The evil of the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
11 Feb 2009
Craig Isherwood, the vocal leader of the Citizens Electoral Council has accused Labor (and previous Liberal) Governments of deliberately causing the deaths of Victorian citizens in the current wildfires sweeping the State.
I strongly disagree with his offensive sentiments. There is no scientific evidence to establish that 'fuel reduction' burns actually reduce fire risks in Victoria (or anywhere else). Indeed there is strong evidence to show that regular burning can increase fire danger by modifying vegetation types. Regular burns can change forest type from damp to dry and make it more prone to wildfire.
Many of the areas burnt (and still burning) in this latest inferno have been burned in recent years but there seems to be little difference in the behaviour or intensity of the fires.
In the current Victronian fires it seems that managed plantations played a significant role in the spread of the fires (particularly in the Strzeleckis). Don't forget that pine plantations were the major issue in the ACT fire a few years ago - and those pines have since been replanted!!
The push for more prescribed burns is simply a knee-jerk reaction designed to grab publicity for Mr Isherwood. It's a predictable response after every serious fire but there is...
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Tags:
bushfire, craig isherwood, pine plantations, stupidity, wildfire
Posted at: 06:57 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink