Wildfire management in Australia — fighting a war of survival in a leadership vacuum

In my previous posting on Tuesday, 12 November 2019, I expressed my views on "the meaning of life" in the context of wildfire management.

In support of my opposition to the once-size-fits-all penchant of governments and their emergency management agencies for evacuation and the consequent adverse affects it can have on people either urged of forced to evacuate there needs to be a serious refocus on the importance of the home in managing wildfire. From John O'Donohue, Irish Poet and Philosopher:

WHERE LOVE HAS LIVED

A home is not simply a building; it is the shelter around the intimacy of a life. Coming in from the outside world and its rasp of force and usage, you relax and allow yourself to be who you are. The inner walls of a home are threaded with the textures of one's soul, a subtle weave of presences. If you could see your home through the lens of the soul, you would be surprised at the beauty concealed in the memory your home holds. When you enter some homes, you sense how the memories have seeped to the surface, infusing the aura of the place and deepening the tone of its presence. Where love has lived, a house still holds the warmth. Even the poorest home feels like a nest if love and tenderness dwell there.

When I posted the previous blog this was the fire situation in north-eastern New South Wales on Friday, 8 November 2019:

Plate 1 Friday 8 November 2019

Plate 2 1500 hrs Sunday 8 December 2019 And below, enormous fires north and southwest of Sydney:

Plate 3 1500 hrs Sunday 8 December 2019

And since 8 December its become dramatically worse around Sydney, culminating in NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian last Thursday declaring a "state of emergency".

Plate 4 0750 hrs Sunday 22 December 2019 Seems there's potential for these monsters to join in the Katoomba area

Concerning my previous discourse on the "meaning of life", not only is loss of life and property climbing, the toll now includes firefighters killed in the line duty. Then there's the threat to health on a much broader scale due to heavy smoke, particularly in the Sydney region.

How worse can it get, the smoke interfered with Big Bash cricket in Canberra last evening!!!!

To quote Professor Julius Sumner Miller, "Why is it so?" The answer is largely in the fire triangle.

And of course I'm referring to the only component that humans can control: Fuel.

If you've been following the two main themes of discussion, one view is that "climate change" is responsible for the fires, a very tenuous argument in my opinion because it does not assist with dealing with "the here and now". The other theme concerns ineffective land management i.e. lack of hazard reduction or more particularly fuel reduction burning in forests and National Parks.

From one who is in a well-informed position to comment, listen to what President of the (NSW) Volunteer Fire Fighters Association Mick Holton has to say about wildfires rampaging across NSW, particularly about land management or maybe I should say mismanagement.

Ultimately on your head Premier Berejiklian, and your head Premier Andrews for the second catastrophe in East Gippsland this year.

Plate 5 1505 hrs Sunday 22 December 2019 East Gippsland fires — how long before two or more join?

MANAGING A CRISIS

While thinking about a headline I was tempted to refer to the Prime Minister's much-derided "thoughts and prayers", but what else does he have to offer that will deal effectively with the "here and now"? What advice has the PM been offered by the so-called experts e.g. AFAC, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC or at an emergency meeting of COAG?

Then for a few minutes the headline “adapt or die” — death in the broader context of the harmful effect of the fires on community physiological and psychological health, the economy and environmental values.

Concerning the call by many to declare a "national emergency", what would that entail and how does the PM do that when the States are responsible for wildfire prevention and suppression and can't even agree on how to manage water in the Murray-Darling system.

'The monster': a short history of Australia's biggest forest fire

THE WAY FORWARD

With the approval of the renowned International Association of Wildland Fire, a September 2019 statement on wildfire and the future:

Under current climate change scenarios, fire regimes will change in terms of increases in burned area, severity, fire season length, frequency, and ignitions from lightning. Many parts of the world have already experienced an increase in record breaking temperatures and recurring droughts that have led to shifts in wildland fire. There is already evidence of climate-driven fire regime change in the Northern Hemisphere upper latitudes with fire risk increasing in non-traditional fire-prone countries. The consequences of human actions are here today, not in some distant future, and these are alarming and, most important, escalating.

Prime Minister Morrison, it is a national emergency due to war declared on us by wildfire, with climate change adherents predicting that it will only get worse. Time for strategic leadership from the adults that provides immediate and ongoing wildfire mitigating solutions — carpe diem Prime Minister, time to kick arse and deal with a homeland security threat and not abandon us to recalcitrant State governments or an unelected activist.

Stay tuned.

As always, I would welcome your feedback.

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