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Recreating the Country blog

Bushfires 2020 – making families safe in their country homes

3/1/2020

22 Comments

 
PictureDangerous fires were rare in Australia before the First Fleet
It’s the 2020 summer fire season - Australia shouldn't be burning like this

You might be expecting this blog to be about climate change, it could be, but it's not.

Its  about how we need to work with nature and manage our native bush differently to get ready for the annual fire season.

We need to change the way we prepare for the summer because its clear that our current strategies are tragically failing us.

Partly the solution lies in fire safe design of rural houses and gardens, but the ultimate solution will be found through adopting Traditional Owner cool burning methods of managing the bush.

Here is a link to an 11 minute video of a Traditional Owner burn near Tathra, NSW. You can watch the indigenous team conduct a burn as they explain the philosophy and science behind what they're doing. Its definitely worth watching to the end.



My radio transmits the troubled voices of the people who are living through the fires. They are shocked but still remarkably resilient and upbeat. Lives lost, houses lost, treasured animals and possessions lost, the bush is blackened and lifeless, yet they’re going to carry on.

This annual bushfire tragedy and how we respond is part of our national identity. We’re a tough and irrepressible people and we’re proud of that

The fire season started very early this year and by New Year’s Day there have been major bushfires in every state. Starting in Queensland and New South Wales in late October and slowly spreading south. By the start of 2020 Victoria and Tasmania were in the fires deadly grip. In November there were also catastrophic fires near Perth, WA and in the Adelaide hills. They continue to burn.

Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are blanketed with smoke. The ABC news reported on New Year’s Day that Canberra had the worst air quality of any city in the world. That’s worse than New Delhi, India or Lahore, Pakistan.
PictureVictorian Ministers and fire chiefs launching the annual fire readiness week.
We saw it coming but we were powerless

What is particularly alarming is that we seem to be powerless to avoid this annual national fire disaster, even though months before it started, a bad fire season had been predicted. What does this say about our ability to plan ahead?

By planning ahead I don’t mean having the fire trucks serviced and thousands of brave firefighter’s skilled-up. I don’t mean advising country people how to get their properties ready for the hot summer.

These are all important aspects of preparing for a fire season but they are still only short term plans, piecemeal and reactionary. It’s like training an army and preparing citizens just in case there is a war to fight. But we know it’s better to avoid war at all costs and not suffer the human tragedy.

It seems that as a nation we are prepared to accept that every year somewhere ‘shit will happen’ - forests will burn, homes will burn and lives will be lost?

That’s tragically not good enough! This piecemeal approach is clearly failing us. We can do better
.

PictureBlack Thursday, February 6th 1851. Painting by William Strutt
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Albert Einstein.

It’s not startling news that summer bushfires have been a feature of Australia since settlement. A devastating bushfire burnt nearly half of Victoria on ‘Black Thursday’ 6th February 1851. The loss of property and life was tragic and crippling then.

Since 1851 we have become much more sophisticated in how we fight fires but the end result is still the same, loss of forests, loss of homes and loss of life.

Why do we continue to make the same mistakes year after year, decade after decade and be surprised (horrified) when it’s always the same terrible outcome?

We have failed to make country people safe in their homes and safe in their communities
.

PictureVictorian Government approved fire bunker
 Making country communities safe needs;

Fire-safe rating building codes.

We know how to design and build fire-safe homes. Fire proof structures have been well tested under extreme fire conditions by the CSIRO.
See this article on CSIRO testing and proposed new building standards 

More and more country people are installing fire safe bunkers to survive an extreme fire event. These are commercially available. I have a friend at Meredith who has had two bunkers installed. She is an avid reader, so the second bunker is for her collection of books. Read this recent blog (Feb 2020) on bunkers from the CSIRO with some useful links if you are thinking of installing one on your property

Fire proofing modifications will add to building costs but they should be seen as essential to country living. Just as house design now has minimum permissible energy efficiency star ratings, buildings in the country should have minimal permissible fire ratings.  All existing homes should have fire proofing retrofitted to make them safe.

To avoid a mass exodus from country areas we have to make homes fire-safe

These new costs should not have to be carried by people living in the country. They should be funded through government grants and interest free loans.

It is the government’s responsibility to prevent a disaster stimulated exodus from country areas. People who have a choice will see county living as too risky for themselves and their families, unless they know they will be safe if the unthinkable happens.

We need to encourage people to live in rural areas to take the pressure of our swelling cities. The extent and severity of bushfires can only become worse as global temperatures continue to rise, so its important that the choice of living in the country is a safe and viable one.

See this article on innovative designs for bushfire safe housing.


PictureBeing part of a Community Fireguard network saves lives
Building on past successes - social support systems

Community Fireguard in Victoria saves lives, as does the Community Fire Units in NSW and the Community Fire Safe program in SA. These programs are voluntary but the people who participate are far better prepared.

A Fire Authority trained guest speaker helps set up the framework and explains how it works. Members have property inspections and advice on how to improve fire safety. They set up phone support networks and have regular social meetings. They help each other prepare for a fire event both physically and emotionally.

Country communities are known for their willingness to help neighbours in times of need. Wouldn’t formalising social support systems like these fit our country ethos? These social support programs should be broadened to include every family living in the country. It should be seen as an essential (dare I say compulsory) part of life in the bush.

This link will take you to Victoria's Community Fireguard program


Radical change to landscape and garden design around country homes

Landscaping around homes can reduce fire risk. This means planting gardens and fire barriers with deciduous trees and watered gardens to create cool air in hot weather and enhance fire safety.

Australian native trees are designed to burn. The myrtle family (E.g. eucalypts, melaleucas, bottlebrush and tea-tree) all have flammable oils in their leaves. Most native species have evolved with fire and need fire for their reproduction. Having flammable native plants close to homes is dangerous.

Picture
Native windbreaks can lessen fire risk by significantly reducing wind speeds but they have to be sited at sensible distance from homes and be well maintained.

See this blog on 'Farm plantations can reduce bushfire risk'


Picture
Native gardens are a delight near a home but they can add to the fire risk if they become overgrown and woody.

See this blog on 'Managing native gardens for fire safety in southern rural Australia'


Picture
In contrast non-native deciduous trees and vines have a cooling effect on air and are difficult to burn. Deciduous trees will also trap and cool embers. Why aren’t deciduous trees used to protect homes? They could be strategically planted in the north and west fire danger sectors.

See this blog on - Deciduous trees can provide crucial bushfire protection in rural Australia


PictureTraditional Owner burning at Bakers Lane Reserve, Teesdale Photo Tracey McRae
Radical change to fuel reduction burning.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence from the first settler diaries that devastating fires were rare when they arrived.

‘No newcomer reported the big killer fires typifying Sydney’s margins today’.

(Gammage B. 2011, The Biggest Estate on Earth. How Aborigines made Australia. P242)


The Australian bush that they found looked different to the bush that we know today. The plants were the same but the landscape was more open. It was like a ‘nobleman’s park’ because it was managed in a different way by Australia’s Traditional Owners.

Traditional Owner (TO) burning is cool and sensitive to the vegetation and the wildlife that live there. It’s described by indigenous people as ‘healing the landscape’ because it nurtures life in all its diversity. It may seem simple, but it was a sophisticated and powerful tool that they used to keep the bush open and safer.

With TO fuel reduction burns Air quality isn’t affected because cool burning gives off white smoke (mostly steam) and keeps most of the carbon on the ground. Hot fires produce black smoke which is full of carbon and unsafe to breath.

Click here to read about a house and sheds that were saved by Traditional Owner burning in the Hunter Valley on January 6th 2020 


Picture

A Traditional Owner burn at Cape York where burning has been practiced for over 60,000 years. Photo Dale Smithyman

Read more on the Traditional Owner burning method here

Picture

 This blog describes a Traditional Owner cool burn

Ancient Australian culture - the traditional skill of cool burning

PictureR. Buckminster Fuller was an American engineer/architect/creative thinker. He is famous for using nature as his teacher, designing the geodesic dome, promoting doing more with less and the concept of 'spaceship earth' having limeted resources
After the fires we will be ready to talk about change?

There is a lot of denial, anger and compassion being expressed by Australians about this current bushfire tragedy and we know it’s not over yet. When the nation has worked through its grief it will be appropriate to do some ‘rational analyses’ of the extreme disaster we have witnessed.

We have to move beyond the national attitude that the fire season has to be endured. It’s time to see the practical benefits of Traditional Owner vegetation management practices and begin to adopt them. Home and property designs should be upgraded to provide a safe refuge. We have to start preparing for a warming climate with its predicted weather extremes.

While we will always need trained volunteers to fight fires, we should also be transitioning to a large trained workforce, lead by indigenous men and women, to conduct TO cool burns. This TO method of burning would be part of a new philosophy of working with nature rather than 'fighting' against her.

Nature can be a devastating enemy as we know. Wouldn’t we prefer nature to become our powerful ally?


22 Comments
Andy Marshall
4/1/2020 09:35:24 pm

Hello Steve.
A timely blog. I just sat down tonight to start notes on our garden design, bearing in mind that right now is the best time to do it with the horrific fire stories focusing my mind.
I was refreshing my memory on the advice you previously offered, when the new one popped up, even before I had been alerted.
Thank you for all your research and hard work you have done to help make my task easier.
Happy New Year.
Cheers, Andy

Reply
Steve
5/1/2020 12:17:19 pm

G'day Andy,
Keeping your beautiful property safe from fires would on your mind with this terrible season we're having.

A grove of deciduous trees like the chestnuts you were talking about would be a beautiful and practical addition. Chestnuts would need some irrigation in the hotter months so you could plant your pumpkins underneath the shady canopy. Some taller deciduous trees further north like poplar or plane would catch embers coming from that bushland to the north. Maybe you could densely plant some deciduous timber trees like Black Walnut to give you an initial screen and thin them for poles as they grew. Though the walnut is likely to need a lot of water. An Oak woodland inoculated with truffles could be another option to the north and west. They would be a lot more drought tolerant

We should 'chew the fat' on suitable trees when we've both got time

Reply
Dale Smithyman
7/1/2020 08:47:52 am

Great blog Steve.Planning another TO burn at Bakers Lane for autumn this year.

Reply
Steve
7/1/2020 09:23:23 am

Thanks Dale,
I'd like to be part of the Traditional Owner burn at Bakers Lane in Autumn if you can let me know. T.O. burning is clearly part of the solution to this horrifying pattern of annual bushfires that has developed since the First Fleet arrived.

Reply
Gib Wettenhall
7/1/2020 11:45:26 am

Timely blog, Steve, especially as we left Mallacoota under a massive pyroclastic pillar of smoke in the nick of time before the bushfire engulfed the town.
All of us in the country living near forest require training in traditional cultural burning by TOs – like a fire version of MasterTreeGrowers. Once trained, we would be able to implement mosaic patch burning around 'assets.' Fire expert Phil Zylstra made the point on RN radio this morning that targeted cool burns around houses would prove far more effective than widespread 'hazard' reduction burning. The latter can have negative feedback in making the forest even more likely to burn in the future.

Reply
Steve
7/1/2020 08:40:33 pm

Wow Gib you did have a close escape and that Pyroclastic pillar of smoke sounds very threatening.

I like your suggestion of a course to train property owners in the method of TO burning. They could use what they learn to protect their own properties. I think this could be extended to CFA groups in Victoria so that towns could be protected with a safe cool burn.

Watching indigenous elders do a TO burn is like watching a celebration. Its a relaxed and very social event that's completely safe. It's a healing process for the landscape and the people involved.

Reply
Terry Laybourne
11/1/2020 03:14:34 am

G'day all, after just experiencing the bushfires that almost wiped out our small community of Sarsfield, Victoria and about 80% of our 5 Ha property (luckily our house and garden shed have survived) now is the time to reassess our setup. Thanks for the thought provoking ideas in this article - now off to contemplate!!!

Reply
Steve
11/1/2020 11:59:38 am

Thanks for your positive feedback Terry, but what a distressing tragedy your small community at Sarsfield has experienced. It must be shocking for you to look out at your own blackened landscape.

Give some consideration to planting deciduous trees to the north and west of your house and shed. A walk around your nearest botanical gardens (Bairnsdale?) will give you some ideas about what trees would be suitable for the space, aspect and soil that you have to work with. I hope you're getting some of this rain and good luck with the challenging days ahead.

If you want to run some ideas past me don't hesitate to send an email - see the contact page on my website

Reply
Bruce
13/1/2020 12:37:39 pm

Steve,
Your ideas and methods make so much sense and you back it up with real practical application as well.
I am astounded how we keep having these catastrophes every few years but even more astounded at the lack of governments and media to promote these approaches to mitigating these disasters.
I am a city dweller so probably can't help other than donate money and agitate on Facebook ect but I think we really need to promote your approach.
How can the narrative be shifted to "prevention" and your approach?
How can we help?

Reply
Steve
13/1/2020 01:02:02 pm

Hi Bruce,
Ultimately it will be a groundswell that will change attitudes toward the benefits of adopting Traditional Owner cool burning. People with an open mind and enthusiasm like yourself will change the hearts and minds of others. So keep talking and keep sharing.

Reply
Anna
14/1/2020 01:14:20 pm

Thanks for this: timely & comprehensive summary of the necessaries. Please see also David Bowman’s work on bigger city / urban fringe reshaping & protection - establishment of green firebreaks (limited role/capacity of hazard reduction burns in future), changing timing of summer/school holidays to feb/March not dec/Jan for safety in national parks etc etc etc. He has the ear of Hobart City Council and is probably the pre-eminent aust fire geographer. Just did amazing panel discussion with palawa (tas aboriginal) folk :) @ballawinne festival.

Reply
Steve
14/1/2020 06:11:30 pm

Thanks Anna,

Dr David Bowman has been talking about redesigning our housing and landscapes in fire prone areas for a long time - and he has the training and experience of indigenous burning practices to back up his ideas. I have included a quote from Prof Bowman below;

"Structures (for homes) are going to need leading edge design (to survive fires). But we also need to think about urban green space, and about how green space can be fire safe and create cordons between our suburbs and bush land. That’s going to be the green halo.

The fire breaks will be golf courses, bike tracks, community gardens, and other green space amenity. But even those green firebreaks are still going to be vulnerable in a catastrophe. They’re going to require an enormous amount of good husbandry and design".

Reply
terryfinley
17/1/2020 01:29:05 pm

great article, great to see no politics

Reply
Steve
17/1/2020 03:09:09 pm

Thanks Terry,
If the politicians just moved aside I think we would find good workable solutions to this crisis. The science and practical knowledge is all well established.

Reply
Gina
17/1/2020 06:28:12 pm

Hi Steve
stumbled over your log having googled "fire retardant tree species australia".

Although in WA, and not in line with any current fires, we are in an area that experienced horrific burns a few years ago.

We have building codes here in WA (BAL 12 to BAL 40) ie Bushfire Attack Level, which goes from ember attack only, to indefensible. In the General Rural designated area we live, houses are required to have more fire-rated building materials once the BAL is past 29 (from memory!), and of course, the vegetation requires and fire break zones also apply.

However this is all relatively new, and a lot of the houses in the same or similar areas (whether General Rural, or Rural Residential, or so) have not been adapted to the current temperatures being experienced, and cool burns near these dwellings would simply just result in conflagration. I'm not sure what the answer is, other than absolute removal of fuel, which is what most sensible people do (with a little prompting from the local councils), as well as small backyard burns during the window of time available where these can be quickly controlled (because ground is already wet, water is on hand etc).

A lot of fire preparedness material is available for people, so perhaps it's about encouraging people to read.

The concept of cool burns is increasingly difficult given changing climate patterns. Australia is moving northwards and drying as it does so (irrespective of whatever humans do) at the rate of 7cm per year because of tectonic plate shift. So areas which prior to white invasion (yes, deliberate choice of word) were "cool burned" are perhaps no longer in a latitude which allows such a tactic. While the north of Australia is tropical, cool burns are possible, and along coastal fringes of the east coast, and southern west, and southern coasts. But our interior is arid and expanding. Indigenous people may have the knowledge for how to cool burn arid areas which as already suggested in comments, would be areas for research.

Which points perhaps to less using fire to fight fire, but rather changing the species being planted, and looking at ways to green areas that are drying because of plate movement and will become hotter (and thus also drier) because of warming temperatures. The Bureau of Meteorology has some interesting maps showing this information. And the Wollemi Pine Foundation also has some great information related to these topics.

Related but somehow different is how people will find water to establish trees. In WA, we have decreasing rainfall (from the reasons cited above) and increasing salination, and groundwater is available but also in many instances not suitable for irrigation of plants. So when rain does fall, catchment options (swales, tanks, sand pits) are a significant resource, but the main focus in non-urban areas is still dams which can lose as much water as retained, through evaporation. Again, solutions which require careful thought. As you point out, we require multi-faceted approaches, and not a "one size fits all", which also respect for the varying latitudes and longitudes and multiple climates in the country. Still a lot to learn!

Reply
Steve
25/1/2020 11:17:30 am

Thanks Gina for your well thought through comments.

I think all states have the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating system or similar. As you say, system ensures that new houses are more fire resistant if they are built in a more dangerous zone.

My concern is that it implies that any house design can be made safe by suitable modifications and I doubt this is the case in extreme fire situations.

I think we have to move to radical new designs for homes in high BAL zones. Fore example the safest houses we can build will be underground. They will also be cool in summer and warm in winter. High BAL communities could look like Hobbiton in 50 years time. People in underground homes would feel very safe and comfortable in any fire situation.

I agree with your suggestion that continental drift has influenced Australia's climate over millennia. Though in the 250 years since Cook the climate effect would be minimal. I calculate that we have only drifted 17.5 meters further north (250x.07). That would be equivalent to moving to a house across the road.

I hope when this fire season ends and we start looking for the safest way forward, we begin to listen to Australia's Traditional Owners. The seasonal window of suitability for they're cool burning practices is much wider than for the CFA's fuel reduction burns

Reply
David Sinclair
26/1/2020 09:30:36 pm

Hi Steve,
I live in the semi-rural outskirts of Geelong on 2 acres. We have removed most of our eucalypts and replaced them with deciduous trees. The reasons for this were principally:
1. Reduce the fire risk
2. Change to trees which provide much better shade, and help to moderate our hot summer climate
The "litter" from deciduous trees also decomposes much more readily, and in the longer term improves the soil quality.
I was so pleased to read your blog; I've been reading a bit lately on how we can reduce the cost and suffering of bush-fires, and you seem to summarise well what we should be doing.
It is really important that we develop on your approaches and try and persuade governments to implement changes which will improve the situation for the long term.
Thank you very much.
David

Reply
Steve
29/1/2020 12:03:10 pm

Hi David,
Your good planning and forward thinking may well save lives one day, though I hope you never have to face a dangerous fire.
We all have to think differently about the fire seasons that we now face. Its time to be creative not be afraid to challenge the old ways.

There is a general consensus that hot fuel reduction burns don't protect communities and actually make the vegetation more prone to hot burns in the future. Whereas Traditional Owner cool burning is a safe process that produces safer more biodiverse living environments. That's the way forward I would choose

Reply
Peter Van Haeff
29/1/2020 11:11:25 am

Hi Steve, thanks for your concise and informative conversation relating to bushfires, it's a conversation we definitely need to have in order to minimise the impact of these increasingly frequent and more intense events.
The concept of planting deciduous trees to retard the effects of fire I think is sound and has proven to be effective. I live in the sub-tropics so the choice of species is somewhat limited, as many deciduous species are more suited to cool climates. Last year the unprecedented hot and dry conditions caused my pecans, tupelo and crepe myrtles, which normally leaf up in September , didn't sprout until we received 70mm of rain towards the end of December . Their lack of foliage meant that they would not have been much use as a fire retardant when the fires came through here in early November and again in early December . Mulberry and persimmon leafed up earlier but their foliage was stripped by marauding possums limited for food due to the drought. Liquidambars, red maple and white cedars , leafed up early, so could have served the purpose. Golden rain tree and Chinese tallow tree do particularly well here, so much so that they are included on the council weed list.
I bro a lot of Australian rainforest trees, many of them shed their leaves during a dry time. Species such as the Lilli pillies normally retain their leaves throughout the year, but last year the leaves browned off and fell. I was concerned that some would die, but recent rain has brought them back to life. Remarkable how trees adapt to survive.
Fire is a major influence on Australian ecosystems. Biodiversity loss is associated with both high fire frequency and fire exclusion ,

Reply
Peter Van Haeff
29/1/2020 11:23:29 am

Yes, it's me again, I didn't quite finish my previous comment but it is rather lengthy so will leave it at that.
Except to say that if we are getting serious about the fires we need a proper climate change policy. We are witnessing the early warning signs of ecological collapse .

Reply
Steve
29/1/2020 12:44:19 pm

Hi Peter,
Oh the best laid plans of mice and men... What a shame about your mulberry and persimmon, and how adaptive of your pecan, tupelo and crepe myrtle. Though as you say it is remarkable how trees adapt in order to survive.

I'd say the take home message from your experience is that it is sensible to plant a diversity of deciduous trees to ensure there is good leaf cover in all climate extremes. Also to be aware of the tree species that can become weedy and avoid planting them - check Council weedy tree lists. More drought tolerant species are a sensible option in a drying unpredictable climate.

This is also true when growing Australian native trees. 'Composite provenancing' is the process of adding up to 20% of seed from dryer areas of Australia to build more drought resistance into our own native species. Australian plant species used to do this naturally through a series of interconnected corridors linking all the eastern states. These no longer exist.

This may be worth considering with deciduous trees. For instance selecting Pecans from northern Mexico instead of southern US is likely give more drought resistance.

Ecological collapse is a frightening prospect, and it certainly has felt like that this summer. I hope we still have enough time to turn the Titanic around.

Reply
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11/8/2022 01:29:17 pm

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