Faustino, Friday, 13 February 2009 9:24:00 AM ::: Army to be trained...

Item 3 , Better idea use the Army for back burning , remember that many areas can be slashed , heavy branches/trees etc can be collected. Burrawongs bulldozed then crushed with the B-Dozer tracks .

Burrawongs burn with extreme heat , but hey.......don't they look nice so the Green element will win there .

Another important point , if the bush is burned regularly , shrubbery is kept small and spindly in stature and native grasses prevail reducing the strike rate of the shrubs these grasses burn quietly but easily and make it easy to ignite branches and forrest litter .

Back burning can be dangerous and requires experienced people with bush know how .
Windows of opportunity will be difficult to find in places like Kinglake , just dry enough to burn well before really hot days .

Saw David Packham on TV and now listened to Dr Attiwell.

I am reminded of the forestry conference in 2007 where the keynote speaker said that the foresters were using such small samples that their findings were absolutely spurious and failed to take account of the clearing of the forest on climate change. Victoria had its hottest day on record, after a heat wave, and 12 years of drought where are the bush has dried out.

This old farmer wants to collect firewood & clear the bush - pity about the small mammals that won't have anywhere to nest. So humans and their cats and dogs are really far more worthy than the native animals.

In another debate, I have said that the destructive bushfires are the work of atheists. The separation of church and state, that was a feature of Australian Law, and led to great government, was abolished in South Australia in 1927, New South Wales in 1970, and the Commonwealth in 1976 and 1979. Victoria abolished it in 1986. In 1983 we had Ash Wednesday. Twenty six years later an even bigger disaster; Are we slow learners or what?

The atheist movement centered in the legal profession, has been destroying the ability of individuals to manage and mitigate personal risks, and at the same time, protecting the irresponsible governments of all States, and the Commonwealth. The Parliament of the Commonwealth has become totally irrelevant because its Federal Court of Australia is not prepared to compete with State Supreme Courts for business. The commodity they should be selling is justice. Chairman Mao said that justice grew out of the barrel of a gun. Christians believe that justice is a Royal Prerogative, vested in Almighty God and should be freely available in every court.

The Commonwealth has started to reform the courts, by changing the spelling in the Trade Practices Act 1974. They have taken the capital letter, C off the word Court, and put court in its stead. This would be enough to ensure that we never have another fire like last week, if the Federal Court of Australia would file everything presented to it, and offer a choice of mode of trial. The Commonwealth has provided funding for jury trials in that court. Poor people do not have to pay a filing fee. It should be a marvelous place, but it is a horrible place instead.

If victims of the bushfire, were given free access to the Federal Court of Australia and a jury trial, the taxpayers of Victoria, will be liable to rebuild every house destroyed free of a mortgage. S64 Judiciary Act 1903 makes the State of Victoria the same as an individual. It has been grossly negligent in its management of State land, and interference with private land

Roger

It is great to hear a rational voice emerging from the emotional noise and nonsense surrounding bush living. I started my working life in the then Forest Dept in WA and learnt very early on that it was all about fuel loads and the physics of these determined the intensity of resultant fires.
How this has been lost in the ensuing environmental debate over the years is a frightening reminder of how we never seem to let facts get in the way of a good story.
Hopefully, at least for a little while, something will be learnt from the overwhelming tragedy in Victoria, but I'm not sure. Even this morning in your on air debate, you were accused of "old fashioned thinking" and the disaster is only a week old! I wonder what will have changed in say 12 months from now?

Roger,
I have lived in a fire-prone area in the midst of incredibly beautiful wet and dry sclerophyll forest for 20+ years now. If I sold my house & property and moved to the city or its suburbs with mains water and sewage, wheelie bins, public transport, shops, and a swimming pool, I could not possibly get equal value for what I already have.
But, all that aside, my question is: To what extent have gas bottles, of various size, contributed to the fires? Many homes where I live have gas rather than electric or solid fuel cooking and heating appliances. I will not have gas as I used to work for BOC (the UK equivalent of CIG - Australia's compressed gas industry) and I was well trained in the dangers of fire and explosion when working with gas bottles in the factory.
Dee

All my experience, of over 60 years has shown me that houses in the bush can be made fairly fire safe. There is no such thing as a completely fireproof house. The eucalyptus tree is probably the most combustible of trees.

A house needs to have cleared land around it. Not absolute bare ground, a nice garden and selected shrubs can be very attractive. Beyond that plant quick-growing deciduous trees.

A bush fire will ‘crown’ in the native bush and travel at speed the ground fire follows it. Flying embers are filtered by the deciduous trees, so limiting spot fires beyond. Their leaves resist burning until most of their water has evaporated. The deciduous trees act as a barrier and so minimise the radiant heat beyond them.

Less radiant heat allows the householder to fight the small spot fires that will occur in grass and shrubs or the garden. The house absorbs little heat, therefore reducing the chance of it catching spontaneously.

Every home owner under those circumstances should have a refuge of last resort.They need somewhere to shelter. On a farm, a dam is a good spot or a dugout made like an earth cave , but if all else fails, then get into a clear area and cover yourself/selves with wet blankets.

Drive around some of our beautiful bushland and see how so many people build their houses- gum trees to the door. Partof the reason for this is the fact that they are not allowed to cut the trees. See the festoons of dried bark hanging from those trees, just waiting for the fire! Live in some of those areas and try to plant a ‘European Tree’ and the members of the ‘green’ element will destroy it.

I hope that current events make government and councils re-think the whole situation and that they realise that the ‘vocal green’ is certainly not a real conservationist. It is so sad, that it will have taken the death of so many people to make them see some sense.