TheBanyanTree: Victoria is burning

[Red Pepper]

My home state of Victoria is burning. The bushfire season has started 
with a vengeance, due to the very dry year we have had so far, and there 
are twelve fires going. Some would also blame the banning of selective 
logging in some of our state and national parks, but that's a discussion 
for which I have no experience or expertise. (map here 
<http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfoe.nsf/LinkView/90FCAC74BB9A4F2ECA257090001E6F22E2ACC26BB87D6BFC4A2567CB000DB12D>)  
Most of these fires have been started by lightning and some have now 
joined up in the remote bushland areas to form a huge single fire.

At the moment, the two largest fires cover an area of about 500,000 
hectares, and yesterday I heard the fire front was about 100km long. The 
fires are racing through our alpine region and heading toward the coast, 
reminiscent of the "Black Friday" fires of 1939. There are many small, 
isolated towns and properties in its path, many relics of logging and 
mining days. Most residents are staying to fight the ember attacks that 
spray the towns ahead of the fire front.  Nine houses have been burnt, 
which seems to me amazing that it's only nine.  One man has died already 
- not burnt, but he fell from his trailer while fighting the embers, and 
was hit by another vehicle. People in those towns are tired; tired of 
waiting, tired of doing the round-the-clock preparation for the fires, 
tired of the stress. People will start to make mistakes. The worst thing 
about this tragic death is that the fires in that area were started 
DELIBERATELY, by a fire-bug. Personally, I think fire-bugs should have 
both their hands cut off when caught.

I can understand why people stay and fight the fires, instead of 
fleeing. Making a stand in the face of an immense, implacable foe - it's 
hard not to anthropomorphise. The truth is the fire has no mind, no 
desire, no will. It simply exists, and exists for as long as there is 
fuel to burn and the right conditions for burning.  But fighting it must 
give a sense of achievement, or at least help dispel the sense of 
helplessness in the face of something so powerful. In some cases, I 
think it's fair to say it's heroic; the firefighters are careful but the 
unpredictability of fire behaviour can have tragic results. I can also 
appreciate the organisational abilities of the volunteers in the Country 
Fire Authority, who are working hard to help the locals. It's situations 
like this that bring out the sometimes mythical "mateship" of our rural 
residents.

My partner and I recently bought a small piece of land in one of the 
Alpine towns that has not yet burnt, but is likely to come under ember 
attack within the next week or so. It's happened before, during the 
summer of 2002/03, but the small town got off unscathed.  The scars on 
other parts of the landscape are still there. Swathes of bush blackened. 
The slow-growing Alpine snow gums have only just regenerated, and it 
looks like they will be hit again. Yet last time there were whole 
sections untouched. You'd see where the fire raced up a spur, but the 
gullies either side were still green.  This time we might not be so 
lucky, given we're not even into the hottest part of summer yet. This 
year has been the hottest spring on record.

This has been a reality check for me, as we are planning to build on our 
little piece of paradise in a couple of years. There are things I'd 
never really thought about when listening to bushfire coverage on other 
occasions. For example, power. Powerlines all over the place are being 
threatened, so residents are advised to have a generator, for light and 
cooking and so they can pump water out of their tanks. Then water itself 
- having sufficient storage for it, being able to boil what comes out of 
the taps because the water authorities are bypassing the treatment 
plants, as the water is being used for fire-fighting.  And water 
supplies are not guaranteed either - the fire is racing towards the 
Thomson Dam in Gippsland, which supplies 60% of Melbourne's water 
supply. If the catchment area burns, sending ash streaming into the 
water, the supply from the dam could stop for three months while the ash 
settles.

I feel like dropping everything and going up to our land to help out, 
but really I feel I would be totally useless. We just wait, and watch, 
and hope it rains soon.

Anita