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The future of fire in Australia

By Valerie Yule - posted Tuesday, 28 February 2012


What seems best in the short-term may be making a problem worse in the long-term. Protecting Australia from wildfires by regular burning-back is the most shortsighted method. Dr Mary E. White, paleobotanist, traces the gradual drying and desertification of our country over 400 million years, in her gorgeously illustrated series of books on Australia, the Greening of Gondwana, After the Greeningand Listen, our Land is Crying(Kangaroo Press). Environment problems & solutions are set in context. These books should be in every library in the country.

She shows how what we are doing in our mere two hundred years of occupation is contributing to this drying and desertification - using up the soil and water, salination, introducing feral creatures and plants, and in the way we are fighting the natural fires, which increases the likelihood of them recurring, particularly with the increasing intensity of winds with climate change.


The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) says,"Fire is an essential part of every ecosystem in Australia. QPWS now has an up to date fire management plan for all of the forests it maintains."
What this means, QPWS will at some stage burn all of the forests it controls. ‘Abcian’ writes: “This is by far the most incompetent and dangerous statement I have ever read by a department completely out of control, QPWS deliberatly destroys large areas of rain forest every year. They call this "Invasive rainforest"
. This means it is growing in an area where QPWS say it must not grow. Dangerous stuff this rainforest’.

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What burn-offs do - Burn-offs kill the plants that are not fire-friendly and promote only some species,that reproduce after fires. They kill the wild-life, and prevent them escaping to safer areas. The wonderful range of biodiversity is limited,and then limited again.They add to the pollution and emissions. They raise the temperature and dryness of the country, which increases the likelihood of more fire. The bare blackened soil is likely to erode, which decreases its fertility and makes for dust-storms. Water and oil (including petrol for helicopters) are spent plentifully in making the burn-backs, as well as for fighting the number of wild-fires. Neither will be plentiful in the future, available for this purpose.

What action can be taken instead of controlled burns?

Ask: What happens in countries with similar climates and soils to our own?

A history of wildfires throughout the world would teach us much.

What are the alternatives to burn-offs? What research is exploring them?

Ideas that have been put forward, that need more investigation.

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Should we be reducing eucalypts and developing more greenery that is not flammable? At present the burn-offs lead to the survival only of the plants that seed through fire. We may need to reduce the preponderance of eucalypts. Fire resistant rain forest species could be used to plant buffers. There are plenty of such species growing naturally in south east Queensland and northern New South Wales, as well as in other countries. The time and money spent on control burns could be spent planting buffer zones. It may be that eucalypts in the wrong place are dangerous, making fires more likely.

One recommendation isto leave the forests alone. These forests survived for so long prior to human interventions which started 46k years ago.
 Did the Aboriginals arrive, look at the forest and say, these forests really need a good burn every few years and they will be in much better condition? The aboriginal use of fire was for many other purposes beside deliberate conservation - for cooking, easier hunting, celebrations, and diverting enemies, for example.

Increased burning promotes the fast growing, fire promoting species such as grasses and some Eucalypts types that increase the risk of catastrophic events. .

‘The intact canopy of an unburned forest keeps the understorey cool and damp. 
By contrast destroying the canopy which all fires do, heats up the air in the forest, dries out the understorey, promotes the growth of weed grasses and native grasses and opens up the forest. 
The wind which normally does not penetrate below the canopy now exposes the whole forest to hot dry winds, and as most know the best way to get a really good fire going is to blow on it.
In the Kimberley for instance the almost complete destruction of the forest that used to cover the entire area has resulted in much greater extremes of temperatures. 
In the summer all of the ground is now exposed, most of this is rocky. These rocks heat up in the full sun and don't cool down until abut 3am.
This raises summer temperatures to very high levels. 
If you look around the world, forests in similar latitudes have average daytime temps of around 32 degrees C. In the Kimberley its not uncommon for summer temps to be well into the 40s and conversely in winter, without the blanketing and insulating effects of the forests, nighttime temperaturess are far lower than they would normally be.’ (‘Abcian’)

Experiments in small locations are needed for alternatives to burnoffs.

We need ways to catch and utilise all the valuable ingredients of smoke that currently contribute to pollution and greenhouse gases, and spread problems among human populations and crops.

‘Wendy’ writes: ‘Slashing, mulching, community fire guard where the whole community watches out for suspicious activity or gives early warning, are all excellent ways of protecting from wildfire. I also applaud all the efforts to get people to leave early on extreme fire days as this is the only way to protect human life in the bush in those exceptional conditions.’

Such preparations would add to our GDP in more constructive ways than car accidents and legal suits. Our inventions could be exportable.

The building industry could go for better and safer housing for everyone, rather than continually lobbying for a greater population than can be soon supported by our desertifying lands, varying climate and water supplies (unless and until there are breakthrough inventions), All housing within a possible fire risk area should have the basic design and features that are known to reduce flammability. Cellars in at least one house in a street could be designed as shelters that could resist the oxygen-deprivation of fireballs.

Fire-proof containers could be marketed for safe keeping of treasured family memorabilia and records.

Reserves, parks and other bush areas need consideration for ways that can provide refuge for wild-life and not destroy the wide-range they need in order to preserve the biodiversity of their genes.

People who love the bush should be discouraged from building in it or near it. If they do, more of it must be cleared and control-burned so that houses and people may be safe.

Children and teenagers must learn to love the bush, and discouraged from the excitement of fires through TV and video-games. Turning the culture and its entertainment away from pleasure in destruction to pleasure in construction. Children in schools can do projects on bushfires which emphasise the wild-life, the problems of re-building afterwards, and ways to prevent disasters - but downplaying the temptation of dramatic pictures and stories of fires themselves. They can learn to appreciate and love nature outside computer rooms. They can be given opportunities for adventure and excitement and enterprise that are constructive. Their schools can be made places of happy co-operation, with no child a miserable loner.

More public prominence and admiration should be given to scientists, inventors and naturalists. The Australian Woman's Weekly asked 50 eminent Australian men to nominate the year's ten eminent Australian women. As I recollect, all the '50 eminent men' except one scientist and one environmentalist were entertainers, sportsmen, writers or politicians, and all the 'eminent women' were likewise. No other reasons for eminence in Australia, to help build our country!

The media can ask the public for suggestions and ideas in all these topics, and documentary programs made which show examples, which are also available as video in libraries.

We must recognise that fire and flood are always possibilities in our country, and be prepared for them. 

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About the Author

Valerie Yule is a writer and researcher on imagination, literacy and social issues.

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