Bushfires

Update: 2002-03 Bushfire Devastation

2002-03 has become the biggest fire season on record, according to a tally of figures on fire damage from State authorities.

Over three million hectares of land have now been destroyed.

The tally of devastation includes:

State or Territory	Damage in hectares
ACT and NSW	1,595,000
Victoria	1,324,000
Queensland	115,000
Tasmania	41,000
Western Australia	31,000
Total	3,106,000

Included in the destruction of National Parks are much of the Koscuisko National Park in NSW, the Alpine National Parks in Victoria and the ACT’s Namadgi National Park.

NSW and the ACT have had their worst bushfire seasons ever.

For NSW, the area burnt is almost three times what was burnt in 2001-02 (595,000 hectares).

Over half of the land area of the ACT, and around 90% of Namadgi National Park, has been devastated.

The fires in Victoria are still burning, but the 1.3 million hectares destroyed so far this season is exceeded only by the 1.5 million hectares burnt in 1939.

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FURTHER UPDATES:

Developing news on this season's fires can be found in the NEWS section of this website.
(*The NSW Rural Fire Service has a bushfire map at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au)

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Fire is part of Australia's natural environment. In fact, it has played a major role in creating the unique Australian bush we know today.

In a continent as hot and dry as Australia, it is inevitable that fire will continue to be an environmental force, but there are ways we can manage its impact for the protection of lives, property and native flora and fauna.

According to historical accounts, many of the forests at around the time Australia was discovered by Europeans were more open than they are today.

Captain James Cook's surgeon, John White, noted in his journal: 'After we had passed this swamp we go into an immense wood [French's Forest, New South Wales], the trees of which were very high and large, and a considerable distance apart, with little under or brush wood' (quoted by Ryan 1994).

The ability of eucalypts to obtain the maximum benefit from poor soils and irregular rainfall and to cope with fire and other forms of disturbance is legendary, noted leading US author Peter Attiwill (1994).

Initially, European settlement brought on a dramatic increase in the frequency of fires as farmers cleared the land and encouraged the seasonal regeneration of grasses. The combination of burned out forest canopies and the demise of traditional Aboriginal firestick practices to keep undergrowth in check, transformed most original 'open parkland' forests into 'dense tangles... which presently support large and devastating fires' (Flannery 1989).

As recent disasters have confirmed (in Victoria in 1983 and in New South Wales in 1994), fire is a rampant destroyer. Fanned by wind and fuelled by dry undergrowth, it is virtually unstoppable.

Early this century, forest management agencies recognised the legacy of Aboriginal practices and began using 'low temperature' fires in the cooler months to reduce forest floor fuel loads, and in turn reduce the potentially disastrous impact of 'hot', uncontrollable bushfires.

The practice of 'hazard reduction' or 'prescribed' burning continues today, and is an important tool in reducing fire damage in managed forests.

Since 1900, 470 lives have been lost to bushfires. In the past 20 years, property estimated at more than $1.2 billion has been destroyed (Australian Forestry Council 1990, and damage estimates from the 1993-94 bushfires in New South Wales).

Bushfires are an ever present threat. Management techniques such as prescribed burning, conducted on a sound ecological basis, can regulate fuel levels in drier forest types and flammable non-forest vegetation, to reduce damage from bushfires (Australian Forestry Council 1990, p. 6).

The critical role that the forest industries play in suppressing forest fires is not widely appreciated.

Logging roads form an important part of fire fighting infrastructure, and industry logging equipment and trained, experienced personnel play a crucial role in controlling major forest fires.

References

Attiwill, P.M. 1994, 'Ecological disturbance and the conservative management of eucalypt forests in Australia', Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 63, pp. 301-46.

Australian Forestry Council 1990, Public Land Fire Management, Commonwealth Department of Primary Industries and Energy, AGPS, Canberra.

Ryan, D. 1994, 'The original forest', Special wildfire section in Australian Forest Grower, vol. 16, no. 4.

Flannery, T. 1989, 'Australian wilderness: an impossible dream?' Australian Natural History, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 180.

Florence, R.G. 1994, The Ecological Basis of Forest Fire Management in New South Wales. Submission to NSW Cabinet Bushfire Review, Sydney.

Pyne, S.J. 1992, Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia, Allen & Unwin, North Sydney.