🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:16:01 +1100, David Clayton wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:55:37 +0000, terryc wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:16:20 +1100, David Clayton wrote:
> 
>>> Allowing the once regular
>> 
>> Err, that is the fallacy. They were irregular and not widespread. there
>> was much of Australia that was not "regularly" burnt by aborigines.
>> 
> I never mentioned any human-triggered fires, forest fires are a natural
> occurrence (usually triggered by lightening, I believe)

It is acknowledged that Darwin is the world's lightning strike capital or
something. Meanwhle down south, evidence has been uncovered on a few
mega-fires in the past.

> and would have been happening on a regular basis for 
> millennia before any humans settled in Australia. Now we knock 
> those small fires off as soon as we can where before they must 
> have ran their course.

The problem is time frame. with humans, fires are happening a magnitude
more often. We have a fairly good idea of how long ago a fire occurred in
a particular area from the species within an area and in some areas 100+
years to the last fire, others 40+, etc.


>> We can do burn-offs to try and the reduce the eventual fire intensity,
>> 
>> and you change the species mix and end up with species that burn hotter
>> and faster.
>> 
> Yep, but that is the "solution" to our current situation that is being
> proposed by so many - if only those pesky "greenies" were all dead then
> we could do this and all our problems would be over - apparently.....

The problem of CFA, RFS, etc volunteers is that burn offs are their hammer
to the nail of fuel load. They basically want unfettered aility to burn
off everything "they" decide is a danger. 

The other problem is that the chances for proper cool burn offs are so
limted, that it really is a tool of little use. Like firebreaks, any wind
can carry burning material over a firebreak. When you eventually get to do
burnoffs/back burn, you spend as much time watching your back as the stuff
you are trying to burn.
>