Bushfires
While in the Northern Hemisphere people experience an extraordinary summer with record temperatures and many forest fires, there is winter in Australia. Even so, the devastating drought is now paralysing New South Wales and much of Queensland. This creates the conditions for a bad fire season in Australia. There have been huge bushfires in recent weeks, mainly in New South Wales but also in Queensland and Victoria. For Australia bush fires are generally not unusual. Certainly for the winter month of August that’s something special. Bushfires have caused more than 800 deaths in Australia since 1851, and the total cost is estimated at $1.6 billion.
We ourselves had to escape from a bushfire 2 weeks ago. We camped at the Bald Rock National Park in NSW and had already seen the fire in the distance from the Bald Rock. One also saw the fire-fighting helicopters circling. During a telephone consultation with the National Park Authority, we received the information that an initially controlled fire was out of control. However, we were assured that there would be no danger for the time being. They would be in control of the fire again. If something would change, they would let us know and/or the park rangers would come to the camp.
Around midnight, rangers woke us up in our tents and asked us in a friendly but determined manner to leave the camp quickly. The fire had jumped the last firebreaks. The rangers then arranged a free room for us in a motel in Tenterfield.
Driving through the dark night we saw the red firelight not far from the road …
NSW fire authorities this year brought forward their official bushfire danger period by two months for a wide area of the state. Furthermore, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) published its latest climate forecast last week, and the forecast is bleak.
It was already a dry summer for much of Australia, followed by a dry autumn followed by a dry winter. In addition, it looks like the coming spring will follow the trend.
The prolonged drought is putting pressure on the water supply. Some communities having water levels in their dams of only up to 10 percent to cope with.
Australia’s climate has been trending toward more bushfire weather over the last 30 years. The Climate Commission found that “The intensity and seasonality of large bushfires in South-East Australia appears to be changing, with climate change a possible contributing factor”.
There is also evidence from around the world that the fire seasons start earlier and end later. Furthermore, one also sees a possible overlap of the fire season in the northern and Southern Hemisphere.
Then we are facing a hot and fiery summer. Good, we live on the water …