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This is where you stick random tidbits of information about yourself.
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Seeing the Forest for the Trees
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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Three vision impaired rodents,
Three vision impaired rodents,
See their non-competitive sporting prowess,
See their non-competitive sporting prowess,
They all harassed the domestic carer of an agricultural household,
Who in defending herself thought she had no choice but to render them tail challenged,
Have you ever witnessed such a text-book example of a situation requiring mediation,
As three vision impaired rodents?
Three vision impaired rodents.
Well, its not mine, but at least it's a start. I'm sure I don't even have any real permission to use it, but I reckon that no one will see it, read it or care about it. So, what do I have to say? Hmmm.
Well, lets start. I'm a forester. I work in the native forests of south eastern Australia. Automatically, that puts me into a highly controversial and stressful job. There's always some politically aligned group willing to have their 2 cents worth. So what's pissing me off this week....well, there's been quite a bit of fire action around here recently. So lets have a look at that.
I have the greatest sympathy for those who lose loved-ones and/or houses in bushfires, but....Fires in the Australian bush are a natural occurence. There is no way of realistically stopping bushfires in Australia. None. No chance. Never. So recent calls for different management methods to reduce fire risks by fuel reduction burns and the like are a bit void, and research over the years has conclusively shown that fuel reduction burning in many Australian forests has an effectiveness of about 3 years before fuel loads are similar or greater to those prior to the prescribed burn.
So what can be done? Have a look at many of thre razed areas, and urban fire protection can't have been a high priority. Houses and gardens poorly designed in close proximity to native forests and pine plantations. Aerial photos of some of these suburbs show gardens singed (not burnt) and swimming pools still full. Petrol water pumps connected to roof mounted sprinklers might have saved many houses. Water reserve tanks, roof design, all these things might have reduced the tragedy and minimised the political point scoring that seems to be happening. Good personal fire prevention plans are a must. Living in large regional centres and capital cities, we can all too easily become complacent about fire risk and planning. Its no wonder the firefighting agencies become disheartened at the lack of preparation, and then further disappointment follows when money becomes tight and recent experiences are forgotten. I think a letter published in one of Victoria's major papers said it best (again without permission etc etc etc:
Wildfire code: be prepared and accept responsibility
Having lived through Ash Wednesday and its aftermath, we are all too familiar with the well-understood roller-coaster of grieving, blaming, scapegoating, bonding and finally empowering phases through which a disaster-affected community will progress. We have no doubt that the majority of affected Canberrans - including our son and his family, who live barely a suburb away from one of the more affected areas - will cope with that process satisfactorily over time.
Let me be honest, though: we went into our 1983 fires with no better appreciation than the citizens of 2003 Canberra had of the penalties one has to be prepared to pay for the privilege of living so close to one of the most wildfire-prone areas in the world. We were lucky once. But we learned some hard lessons, such as:
- Fires develop so rapidly on extreme fire-risk days that even the most sophisticated communications systems can't guarantee that everyone will be warned. On such days, the responsibility for listening out to public radio/TV warnings is ours and ours alone.
- There can never be enough fire-suppression vehicles available to provide one for every house. So if we live in a wildfire-prone area, the responsibility for taking reasonable efforts to protect our family and our property from the impact of wildfire is ours and ours alone.
- "But nobody told me to evacuate!" See the above - there can be no guarantee that this would be possible. And even that clouds the real evacuation issue: experience and research indicate that the safest place in a wildfire is in your own home, if you have taken reasonable precautions to make it safe. Attempting to evacuate in the face of wildfire impact is far more dangerous than staying with your home. If you have doubts about your capability to defend your home, leave well before the fire front could arrive. So, again, the responsibility for making the decision to evacuate is ours and ours alone.
The lessons are there for every member of a wildfire-prone community to learn - and with them the recognition of where responsibility for appropriate action lies. With us.
Let the scapegoating begin!
3:30 PM
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