If we can close the roads for a bike race – why can’t we do it to torch the fire fuel?
More cool-burning won’t make us all safe in summer. But it will help, writes Andrew Faulkner.
Adelaide Hills
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First they came for the firebugs, because the firebugs are easy to hate.
When the firebugs turned to smoke and vanished in the wind, they came for they who oppose fire breaks.
But when they saw Kangaroo Island’s rivers of embers laughing at firebreaks of any size, they came for the inner-city latte-sipping kale munching anti-burn-off lobby.
Or, in their own words, “the greenies who won’t let the farmers backburn (sic)”.
And when the Greens said they supported hazard reduction, they still came for the Greens. Even the usually sober Dean Jaensch wrote last week that the Greens opposed “activities such as hazard reduction”.
It’s this summer’s zombie myth, harder to kill than cockroaches.
In times of crisis, we need someone or something to blame. It’s only natural. As natural as fire.
And this is part of the problem. We don’t understand fire. We’re afraid of fire. Of course we’re afraid of the fire that’s killed 28 (and counting) people and millions of animals. But fire can be our friend.
Broadcaster Steve Price was right when he said we needed more cool burns.
The problem was his refusal to acknowledge that global warming is supercharging the fires, while also wrongly blaming the greenies for stopping preventive burning.
But he was right about the need for more cool burns.
Fire authorities have repeatedly said climate change has made it hard to burn because the fuel is too dry. But they also say that the fuel’s often too wet to burn.
The Environment Department has ramped up an extensive burning-off program over the past decade, but it likes to burn big lumps of land at once.
And it’s hard to burn big lumps of ground from late autumn to early spring.
Miles Kemp reported recently the department’s firefighters don’t work in winter. They should. Small burns are small beer, the authorities say.
The authorities need to open their minds to winter burns. (Please, dear Environment Department executives, don’t bother writing in saying it can’t be done. I’ve lit more winter burns than you’ve had long lunches.) Winter fuel takes longer to burn, meaning the firefighters need to be on the fireground for longer. Which costs money. The money can only be unlocked by leadership.
More cool-burning won’t make us all safe in summer. There are no magic bullets or silver-plated solutions to beat the fires. But it will help. Witness all the Hills roads lined with layers of bark and leaves. We can close the roads for bike races – why can’t we do it to torch the fire fuel?
Adopting a mosaic burn program in the Hills in the cooler months will clean up the fuel and give the animals time to escape the flames.
We won’t make any progress fighting culture wars on the fire grounds. We won’t get anywhere until our leaders acknowledge that global warming exists. A royal commission raking over the same cold ashes won’t change anything.
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We don’t need another inquiry. We need action. We know what to do. Get on with it. Act. LEAD. We can achieve change. What’s needed is a triumph of the will.
Footnote: Burnside CFS fortuitously had its Christmas party the night before the Cudlee Creek fire started. It’s been flat out ever since. On Christmas Day, its captain paged his firefighters: “The fire isn’t taking any time off so I’m looking for crews.” Our magnificent CFS volunteers are beyond all praise. Thank you.
Andrew Faulkner is a journalist and author. His family has conducted cool burns on their Adelaide Hills properties since the 1840s.