In flooding rains, it’s time to tackle bushfire hazards

Amid a changing climate that leaves the nation at greater risk of deadly bushfires, governments, local authorities and landholders should heed the advice of the independent NSW inquiry investigating the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires. Over a scorching spring and summer Australians will never forget, fires killed 34 people, destroyed more than 3000 homes and burnt out 12 million hectares of land across the continent from October 2019 to February this year. One of the most important recommendations of the report, Yoni Bashan revealed on Saturday’s front page, was that hazard reduction burns should be greatly increased, better targeted and take place closer to vulnerable towns and communities, not kilometres away. The 450-page report, by former NSW Police deputy commissioner Dave Owens and former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane, has been handed to the Berejiklian government but is yet to be discussed by cabinet. It is expected to be released, along with the government’s response, by the end of this month.

One of a number of the 76 recommendations obtained by The Weekend Australian was that NSW invest in long-term modelling and forecasts of climate extremes, as well as studies to track the effects of droughts on the intensity and frequency of bushfires. That research would consider the links between fires, drought and “hydrological” changes (the amount of freshwater on and in the ground, determined by geology, land use, climate and management of water resources). Because of changing climate conditions, water conservation efforts might need to be enacted further south than previously considered necessary.

At a time when families in southern NSW who lost their homes in the fires are battling floodwaters and attention is centred on COVID-19, it would be easy to overlook investing in bushfire hazard reduction. That would be a grave error. When inquiry reports into natural disasters appear, governments often promise to implement them in full. Long-term, however, action can fall far short of the promises. For example, in January we reported that hazard reduction burns in Victoria over the past three years combined had fallen short of the level recommended for a single year by the Black Saturday royal commission in 2010. Controlled burns had returned to pre-Black Saturday levels of just 130,000ha a year — only a third of the 385,000ha recommended by the royal commission in 2010.

No state can afford such risks. The coming spring and summer may be benign in terms of bushfires. But abundant rains will bring vast undergrowth to cover the scorched earth ravaged last summer. At some time, possibly within a couple of years, tinderbox conditions will again prevail. The NSW Rural Fire Service, wisely, has already urged residents in six areas — Armidale, Walcha, Uralla, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell and Tenterfield — to begin fire safety preparations.

The recommendation to ­increase land clearing and step up hazard reduction burns will be controversial. The Greens, many in the Labor opposition and some in the Coalition will want to focus on the heightened bushfire risk wrought by climate change. In a time of climate change, land clearing, while not a panacea, is an essential and readily achievable aspect of bushfire hazard reduction. Over the longer term, The Australian has long believed that if a sustainable transition to lower and ultimately zero emissions is to be achieved, market efficiencies will get us there for the least cost.

For the sake of the communities whose lives and livelihoods are at stake, debates about mitigating bushfire risks need to be based on facts, not prejudice and hype. Last summer showed how grave a danger excessive fuel loads can be. The NSW report, implemented well, should help lessen the dangers.