Climate Change and Fires

Yet again state of California has been ravaged by massive wild fires. Not a day goes past when there has been news about another outbreak of a new fire. Reading an article from USA Today there are now over 1000 fires raging in the c. 160K acre area - and unfortunately 38 homes have been distroyed - with many, many more under threat. And the weather doesn't seem to help as there is no rain in the radar.

Australia is one of the dryest continents, and our risk for bushfires is increasing "in line" with the changes related to our weather patterns. Rainfall has decreased, drought periods have extended and amount of extremely hot days have increased - all which contribute towards drier soil and 'fuel' in bush. CSIRO in Australia has released an interesting study which seems to imply that there is an increased risk of bushfires in Australia. Apart from fires' impact on our forests & bushland, and people & property, the fires also impact our water yiels. After the initial decreased water requirement from the burned trees, the new growing forests actually require more water than the original forest, causing reductions in water yield from that catchment area. So when planning our water policies, we must not only look at the rainfall figures, but also to phenomenas like bushfires and their impact on our water supplies.

For an ordinary citizen like you and me, the water aspect may not mean much. However the increased bushfire risk should remind us of the importance of our actions. If we can do something to decrease the climate's warming, we should be able to decrease the bush fire risk as well.

Even if we are still in the lower fire-risk season (here in Australia = winter), we should stop for a moment to think about if our homes and houses could be in risk. Specially if you live or have property near or in the bushland. Check out the NSW Rural Fire Service site for some helpful advice. There is lot you can do now during the cooler months to prepare your property to be 'FireWise'!