Australia facing worst Wildfire season ever!
Pastor Dale Morgan
Australia facing worst Wildfire season ever!*
September 25, 2006 09:41am
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIA is on the brink of a horror bushfire season, a bushfire expert
has warned.
With the Bureau of Meteorology reporting the hottest, driest August on
record, these extreme conditions, teamed with a severe drought across
most of the country, is posing a major threat to people living in bush
areas, Kevin O'Loughlin from the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre,
in Melbourne, said today.
Mr O'Loughlin said the massive fires, which blazed across New South
Wales at the weekend – combined with bad fires in Victoria last week and
the 200 fires already reported in Tasmania this month – could be a taste
of things to come.
"Just looking at what we've seen already, this is a major concern," Mr
O'Loughlin said on ABC Radio. "It's a major concern that fire seasons
seem to be starting earlier and lasting longer.
"We've got to get a greater understanding on this, on the frequency of
fires, the earlier start to the season and if there's any connection to
climate change."
Mr O'Loughlin said the dangers were heightened by the increasing number
of people living in areas at risk of bushfire.
"If you're talking about the driest August on record and the warmest
August on record and you set that against a period of drought, then you
would have to be concerned that this could be a bad fire season," Mr
O'Loughlin said.
"The agencies, no doubt, will be taking precautions and would be
stressing that people who lived in properties at risk of bushfires make
very, very serious preparations for potentially a very bad season."
Meanwhile, Victorian Environment Minister John Thwaites said 200
seasonal firefighters – more than the usual number – were being hired
and were starting work one month earlier this year to help prepare for
the fire season.
"We have been doing fuel reduction burning and seeking to do it earlier,
but the conditions are so dry and so adverse that we're already having
to wind down fuel reduction burning," Mr Thwaites said.
Firefighters were now in the process of building trails and fire breaks
in key areas.
"We are very concerned that this summer will be one of our worst
bushfire risks ever.
"The state is extremely dry. We've had 10 years of below-average
rainfall. Areas like the Otways and the Dandenongs, which weren't burnt
in the 2003 fires, are particularly at risk."