REALITYCHECK
n ouroverheatingplanet,wildfireisnow
oneofthemostterrifyingandcostlyofall
naturaldisasters.FromCaliforniato Russia,
AustraliatotheUKandGreenlandtothe
Amazon,recordtemperaturesandtinderbox
conditionshave,inrecentyears,drivenconflagrations
thathavetakenhundredsoflivesandimmolated
manythousandsofproperties– insomecasesentire
communities.BURNINGISSUE
Tw oy e a r sa g o,m a j o rb u r n si nC a l i f o r n i a r e s u lt e di n
thedeadliestandmostdestructivewildfireseason
everrecorded,withmorethan 80 deathsand750,000
hectaresscorchedata costof$12bn(£9bn).In2019,
it wastheBrazilianAmazonthatburned,helpedby
firesstarteddeliberatelybyfarmersandloggers.This
year,it is Australia’sturn,withthemostwidespread
bushfiresonrecordcontinuingto spreaddevastation.
Asofmid-January,a staggeringandunprecedented
8,500,000hectaresofbushandforestinAustralia
hasbeenturnedtoash– anareaequaltothesize
ofAustria– andthecostis settoriseaboveAU$5bn
(£2.6bn),withmonthsofthefireseasonstilltogo.
Thereareothercoststoo.Whilethecountry’sbush
andeucalyptusforestis particularlyresilienttofire
andwillsoonrecover,itsfaunaisnot.Theblazes
mayalreadyhavetakenthelivesofmorethanone
billionanimals,whichcouldhavea long-termimpactAUSTRALIANWILDFIRES:ISTHERE
ANY THINGTHATCANBE DONE TOSTOP
THEWORLDBURNING?
Australiahas
beenonfire
sinceSeptember.
Habitatshave
beendestroyed
andhomeshave
beenburntto
theground.But
thereareways
wecanreduce
theimpactof
wildfire,says
disasterexpert
ProfBillMcGuireCOMMENT
COMMENTon populations of at-risk koalas and other
vulnerable species.
Look ing at images a nd f ilm of t he
Australian fires, it is easy to believe that
they are unstoppable; that nothing can be
done to limit their scale and the destruction
they bring, but this is not the case. While
battling great conflagrations once they
are in full spate is almost a lost cause,
measures can be taken in advance to try
and manage the occurrence of fires and to
limit their potential to grow into colossal
blazes that are nearly impossible to control.
And such measures are nothing new. In
fact, Australia’s indigenous population has
a long history of successfully managing
f ire. For t housa nds of yea rs, nomadic
aboriginals played a key role in preventing
conflagrations by burning surface vegetation
to create firebreaks that constrained the
scale of fires started naturally by lightning.
The fires were set during the cooler months,
so as to limit their reach, leaving behind
stretches of land cleared of the dry plant
debris that fuels much larger conflagrations.
As the aboriginal populations dwindled
and their lifestyle was destroyed, so too
was this invaluable service.
Now, however, using traditional practices
to start so-called controlled or hazard
reduction burns are being taken seriously
by stakeholders in the fire management
business. There have already been some
small-scale successes in managing bushfire
activity, most notably where traditional
methods have been combined with modern
technologies like satellite mapping and
controlled aerial ignition using helicopters
or drones. And the ideas are catching on
elsewhere too. In Venezuela, indigenous
knowledge and modern techniques areO
“For thousands of years, nomadic
aboriginals played a key role in
preventing conflagrations by burning
surface vegetation to create firebreaks”
ALAMY