Such A Burning Question

What a summer – hot, dusty, humid in places and torrid heat with hellish flames in other’s.

Homes  and businesses have been lost – that is a great sadness for those afflicted. No lives lost is a wonderful blessing. We have the State and Local fire brigades to thank for all their work in protecting us as far as they can, and the many prayers of the family of believers.

But why did it get to this situation in Tasmania? Why is there so much tinder dry undergrowth where fires can take hold and roar? Yes we have had a couple of wetter years and scrub has blossomed, but don’t we usually burn this out during the ‘safe’ season?

Has there been something to prevent this occurring? Some agency perhaps who dislikes doing so? Some Government body or a particular political party anti back burning – I mean it might cause pollution or destroy wildlife  or some such thing.   Has there been interference in normal practices by certain political parties with disastrous results?

Yes the population has grown, and there is a lot more concrete, brick, tar and steel in the neighbourhood – I suspect that would contribute to a small degree of local warming. Society in general is encroaching on natural landscapes, farmland, forests, mountains etc. Why is it do you think we all complain bitterly when seasonal fires get out of control and ravish our properties?

If we choose to live down a bush track on a mountainside in Southern Tasmania for instance, and the brush has not been cleared before the fire season commences – who is at fault when fire roars through, property is lost and worse – lives are taken?

Home owners have responsibilities, as do the local councils who grant home owners permits to build on mountainsides, where historically there have previously been raging fires. I certainly hope the government WILL discover just why it is that farmers have been prevented from regularly burning off their properties, which surely would have done much to reduce the devastation currently happening.

I must admit I get a tad peeved when a particular red/green political party attempts to slow down or stop progress which could prevent these happenings from occurring. Forest floors need to be kept clean of dead brush, and even some new growth that will cause or fuel seasonal flare ups.

2013 is an election year in Australia, maybe this time around it will be less of (vote for) Labour or Liberal, and more VOTE OUT the Green’s who have shown they are more trouble than they are worth.

Postscript:  It is with deep regret I advise my readers of the Death of a Fireman, here in Tasmania (since I posted this blog). My heartfelt sympathy goes out to his family and his coworkers.

Worth reading: A Western Australian farmer is jailed for putting a firebreak around his property – those idots sitting in their airconditioned offices in the city, have no idea what it is like to manage or maintain a rural property in times of emergency!