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| Image: Green Cross Australia |
ABC
News, 1
December 2018:
Both the bushfires and
the heatwave ravaging parts of Queensland have been described as extraordinary
and abnormal.
Bureau of Meteorology
Queensland manager Bruce Gunn said records had tumbled in a week of widespread
and protracted heatwave conditions, combined with catastrophic fire danger.
"On Wednesday,
Rockhampton Airport recorded catastrophic [fire] conditions for approximately
three-and-a-half hours," Mr Gunn said.
"This was the first
time this district has recorded catastrophic conditions and the most prolonged
event in Queensland since the implementation of the current Fire Danger Rating
System in 2010."
Fire ecologist Philip
Stewart said Queensland's fires of the past few days were historically unusual.
"When one looks at
the charcoal records with Aboriginal burning, we haven't seen any indicators
that show that there had been mass fires or large intense fires like we are
seeing today, or 'mega-fires', as I would call them," Dr Stewart said.
"They're not something
one would expect at this time, but then again, fires of this nature can occur
anywhere, provided that there's the right climatic conditions and the right
fuels and so on."
Dr Stewart said the
intensity and the extent of the fires was abnormal, as was the time of year
that they were occurring.
He said they were
"absolutely" a result of climate change.
"Climate is a
driver of wildfire and of fire full stop," Dr Stewart said.
"So when we start
to see an increase in temperature, we start see an increase in energy
availability in that atmosphere, and that obviously will increase the potential
for high-intensity fires and fast fires as well."…..
"We have definitely
seen over the past 10 to 15 years an earlier onset of burning and a later fire
season as well," Dr Stewart said.
He said the fire seasons
were starting to overlap, within Australia and globally, so sharing resources
would become harder.
And the tropics burning
this week demonstrated that even areas traditionally considered safe were at
risk.
"I would say that
wherever you are you should have a fire plan … even [in] urban areas as we've
seen in Greece recently, right down to the coast, and in the Californian fires
… there's always a possibility that a fire can get in unless it's a concrete
jungle," he said……
Bushfire and Natural
Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) CEO Richard Thornton said past fires
were not necessarily predictive of future bushfires, so people needed to
consider the worst-case scenario for them.
"It's about forward
planning and getting people to recognise the changing nature of risk," Dr
Thornton said.
"I think what we
can say more generally and this doesn't apply just to Queensland … is in the
Australian context, if we have days that are in the 40s with very high winds
and very low humidity, the chances of fire starting and becoming uncontrollable
very quickly, is highly likely.
"On those days,
communities need to be very vigilant and aware of the environment and what
their plans are for those days, and whether it's going to be to leave
early," he said.
Dr Stewart said he would
like to see an increase in funding for fire management and crews.
"There is very
little funding available for any proactive fire management and fire mitigation
research.
"We need a lot
more, especially in Queensland," Dr Stewart said.
