Wishing our Australian brethren safety from the fires.

Having had up close and personal experience with wildfires in California, I can empathize and also send my best wishes to all who are affected by the Australian fires.
 
It's pretty intense, and apparently the worst it's ever been. I moved to Australia 17 years ago and there's been a few bushfires along the way but nothing as bad as this.

fire_comparisons.jpg
 
I wonder why these wildfires in Australia get so huge? Was there a big drought? Or not enough pre-emptive burnings? Or is it just the perfect shit storm of circumstances at the wrong place and the wrong time? Best wishes to our friends from the land of Oz!
 
Here in Australia, if you want to do a controlled burn (to reduce the incidences of bushfire by reducing fuel), you must put in a permit application. it can take months for the permit to be granted meaning your burn may not be permitted until way past the date when it was safe to do so, or not at all. There’s a terrible example of this when a local government organization (parks) applied for a permit that took months to be granted, and (when it finally was) decided to conduct the burn at a dangerous time because not doing so would take more months of permit application bullshit. Homes were lost.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve been preached to by the green movement to get out of the forests. Cattlemen used to run herd of cattle in the hills, there was regulars back burning, and people used to be able to clear trees off their properties to make them safe. Now, the cattle have been banned, fuel reduction burn permits are a genuine hassle and take months, and more and more areas are being locked away from the public (see the recent ban on rock climbers from our national parks because they damage the environment).
im hoping that the green policies of locking up our forests, and leaving everything to nature (ie; just let the forests grow until nature provides the fires to reduce the fuel in them) are tempered a bit by this latest round of fires, and these inner city twats making the rules are issued some lessons in reality And begin to prioritize safety and common sense over idealism.
Doubt it though... it seems almost all local councils are run by greenies!

thanks
pauly


Muad'zin said:
I wonder why these wildfires in Australia get so huge? Was there a big drought? Or not enough pre-emptive burnings? Or is it just the perfect shit storm of circumstances at the wrong place and the wrong time? Best wishes to our friends from the land of Oz!
Click to expand...
 
pauly said:
it seems almost all local councils are run by greenies!
Click to expand...

Not to get too much into politics but the only council that got voted in by the green party in the last election was the city of Melbourne so this lack of decisiveness is not their fault but politicians in general. In any decision though it's almost always easier to say no and unfortunately over time there's almost always more red tape that creeps in. I think it's a general fear of making the wrong decision that stifles people in general, and politicians more so because they're always in the public eye and they're always thinking of the next election. Hard to fault someone for taking extra time to get it right but it's easy to fault someone that makes a hasty and what turned out to be a wrong decision in hindsight. Seems to be a worldwide phenomena as well unfortunately. But absolutely agree that common sense has got lost in the process.
 
pauly said:
Here in Australia, if you want to do a controlled burn (to reduce the incidences of bushfire by reducing fuel), you must put in a permit application. it can take months for the permit to be granted meaning your burn may not be permitted until way past the date when it was safe to do so, or not at all. There’s a terrible example of this when a local government organization (parks) applied for a permit that took months to be granted, and (when it finally was) decided to conduct the burn at a dangerous time because not doing so would take more months of permit application bullshit. Homes were lost.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve been preached to by the green movement to get out of the forests. Cattlemen used to run herd of cattle in the hills, there was regulars back burning, and people used to be able to clear trees off their properties to make them safe. Now, the cattle have been banned, fuel reduction burn permits are a genuine hassle and take months, and more and more areas are being locked away from the public (see the recent ban on rock climbers from our national parks because they damage the environment).
im hoping that the green policies of locking up our forests, and leaving everything to nature (ie; just let the forests grow until nature provides the fires to reduce the fuel in them) are tempered a bit by this latest round of fires, and these inner city twats making the rules are issued some lessons in reality And begin to prioritize safety and common sense over idealism.
Doubt it though... it seems almost all local councils are run by greenies!

thanks
pauly
Click to expand...

I would whole heartedly disagree with some of this, but this isn’t the place for a political discussion.

Cheers
Anthony
 
Prayers and support are with you all down under!

You all (you, wife, cat, and band mates) holding up well down there @2112?
 
Horrendous stuff. I'm very fortunate to be on the west coast away from the really bad stuff, but even we had some fires that were visible from our place.

IMG-20191213-WA0019.jpg
 
2112 said:
Horrendous stuff. I'm very fortunate to be on the west coast away from the really bad stuff, but even we had some fires that were visible from our place.
Click to expand...

Sending prayers your way brother. Be safe!
 
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