This year has been and still is a very bad one. Many dead, thousands homeless, emergency services stretched thinly.
The curiosity is in the annual response to an annual occurance.
Every fire season, the same actions are taken by the Government and respondant agencies. The approach is reactive; putting out the fires with water from fire engines and aeroplanes.
Some prevention is undertaken every year; burning back to reduce the fuel load, meteorological analysis for planning, evacuation planning, respondant planning.
A few curiosities:
1. Nothing New is Being Done:
What is not done well and not well discussed in open is what is popularly called Continuous Improvement: can we do X better; more effective, more efficient etc.
What is missing from all the media and government discussions is the matter of whether we should be trying something else? Can we evacuate better, can we extinguish fire better, can we predict better, etc etc.
Can innovation and science and research play a role?
If it can, you couldn't tell. Nothing new has been evident.
In 2015, a private company joined the CSIRO agency to develop a new Mist Bomb to extinguish fire. Five years later.... not a peep.
In the US, homes at risk of annual tornado seasons usually have bunkers installed. The point is, there was a time before bunkers. So someone at some stage came up with an innovation. Someone asked, what can we do differently?
Aeroplane water-bombing was an innovation. Perhaps innovation is a good approach?
2. Bush fires are being responded to and managed by volunteers: e.g. the Rural Fire Service.
Why are there not professional seasonal full-time responders?
Volunteers have day jobs. They are compelled to take time off work and are not paid. Stop press: Days ago the Federal Government proposed to employers they should provide paid-leave to volunteers. Better late than never.
Not paying for emergency services is a keystone of Australian policy. Ambulance services are all private in Australia: user pays.
Should we rely on an eternal goodwill from the community? We have thus far, but for how long? The pros are being outweighed by the cons, for the average volunteer. Why would you volunteer to face death every year for nothing? Even less than nothing, because you are going to be out of pocket for training, time away from work and family and other costs.
Volunteering emergency services is a cheap save for the government.
Is not the Government's primary role in any society to protect its citizens? This is the first line printed in Australia's Constitution. We have a Defence Force, but no Ambulance or Bush fire services.
3. Rural Planning has omitted fire season management.
The homes mostly destroyed by fire are remote from services and community centres, such as emergency services and shelters. They are usually surrounded by hectares of forests.
Perhaps some changes in rural planning can be made to address the factors that cause a fire to reach a property. Compulsory bunkers might be an idea. Separation between property and tree line? Ease of access to supporting community centres? Fire-retardant measures, external building sprinkler systems, breathing apparata compulsory. Fireproofing vehicles, compulsory.
Every year, homes are destroyed, people are injured or worse, businesses destroyed, resources exhausted. Every year, a formal inquiry into the disaster.
Climate change proponents and meteorologists predict more frequent and intense bush fires.
Are we to plan for the next one like we did the last one?
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