*nod* In the here and now, it's not the horrific weather we can expect later, once summer bites into the air and dust. Cupie, the whole thing makes one want to scream with frustration. There is a horror coming, and most of us can foresee it... but still a craziness is in place with POLICIES that hamstring all the people who could do something practically - right now - to try and prevent what will be coming. (Or at least to minimise it.)
The thing is though, that Bushfire isn't new for us or Da-Ewok's neck of the woods either..it is however, getting more severe each year because fuel management is almost non existent.......officialdom KNOW what is going to happen, because it's happened before.
After the 2001/02/03 fires down here, officialdom promised to implement fuel management strategies, and from that point on, the communities and firies had to push brown stuff up hill just to get approval...It took me five years to have one piece of bushland next to houses mitigated....5 years !!! It's now over 8 years and two dangerous areas of bushland in our village are STILL being debated?. They know it's heavily fuel laden...they know it's a risk to residents....but the environmental policies appear to outweigh proactive risk management. And the firies can't argue it.....but they're expected to fight it?...
Our Regional Fire Chief, assured me that if a fire were approaching, he'd personally light up the bushland in the village to reduce the risk to residents and the National Parks surrounding the village. If they go up, all hell WILL break loose....
Thankfully, when the fires are raging, RFS can override any environmental law and burnback whatever they consider strategically necessary....... so that's when they take advantage and put in all necessary fire breaks...they don't need permission when fires are active..thank God for that eh?
Where the fires are presently burning, you can bet you boots that RFS will be putting in all the Summer fire breaks around Burrill Lake and surrounding settlements, that no doubt, they couldn't get approved via the official process with any ease.
The problem is that RFS (and no doubt CFA) are otherwise given a very narrow window during say a few weeks only in Autumn and Winter to burn back dangerous bushland, and if they miss that window, too bad....they can't burn it back till the following year, placing everyone at risk for the summer.
Unfortunately, Winter/Autumn is when it rains the most here, so you put it together...lol...seems to me RFS are actively thwarted till the shite hits the fan and then and only then, Officialdom allows them to decide what they need to burn back...ridiculous isn't it?
