Yes I know its been done, but nothing else has.
I spent half a lifetime fighting bush fires.
I do know how we once kept them down.
But wet as it has been not even an effort has been made to burn forests now while it is safe.
Fire fighters have thrown in the towel, new rules and regulations create more paper work, make it harder to burn than anything ever seen.
We are headed for tragic, needless deaths.
Royal commissions have long ago told us what this one will, but out in the field people are not turning up at fire stations, let us face it the wrong untrained unskilled are.
It is not true that only a few days exist to burn of, a return to real efforts less red tape can see Forrest's not burn in fire storms, but this season?
Wait, see my forecast come true, neglect failures and wrong people running the fire sheds is about to kill again.
Smoke will rise next month, too little to late by Christmas into February we will know some may be dead unable to ask why.
I ask that question for them now why.

Belly,
I too have spent 45 years in Bush Fire Brigades and have learnt a little bit. I think you should aim your guns a bit higher than at the basic fire fighter.

The modern concept of centralised control is Ok for small fires, but under extreme conditions it fails because it does not allow local brigades the ability to act on the local conditions. The local brigades need more independence to take local action. Having said that, I also think that we have lost a lot of local practical people and most brigades are made up of young inexperienced people that have little bush skills. It irratates me that an appliance cannot leave the station until the whole crew gets there. We used to have many small units located on rural properties that went immediately the first smoke was seen.

State planning authorities and local councils also contribute to the problem by stopping fuel reduction programes and not allowing clearing around homes, etc.

All southern Aus is subject to fires and we have to build homes and clear with that in mind.

My rural home has a timber verandah and deck but there is sprinklers around underneath the verandah and some on roof. The yard has some trees but not many and is kept green with a perimiter sprinkler system. Gravity fed.

Outside the yard, my pony does an excellant job of fuel reduction and the area is cleared for 50metres or more.

Fire protection was up front when constructed and my home is my refuge and we will stay and protect. I advocate stay and fight but one must make the place safe as possible beforehand.

Onya belly, I owned a cattle station in FNQ for 25 years. If precautionary burns were not undertaken in May-June, the smoky joe in November December was horrific.

If Nathan Rees wants to save his fellow Australians from disaster he has to immediately accept that the Supreme Court is not working, and has stopped working since the Liberals screwed it in 1970, so that stupid regulations are allowed to continue, and fuel builds up so that when it burns, it will burn disastrously.

We have a stupid Brumby in Victoria, who could lead the herd away from a future disaster too, by getting Joe Saltalamacchia or whoever the Chief Registrar is to come into the Parliament and telling him that the Supreme Court in Victoria must not sit without juries, in any damages case involving fires. The law will ensure that precautions are taken, because the fifty thousand dollars compensation offered by the Brumb, is pathetic, and if the real cost was imposed by a Supreme Court properly constituted, for the mental shock of having your family murdered by bureaucratic neglect, then it would not happen.

These two most populous States are most at risk from fires. The real culprit is that sworn enemy of Labor called the Greens. Their only saving grace is they hate the Liberals more. Danny Nalliah the mad fundamentalist Christian from Melbourne called the fires God’s judgment. To some extent he is right. But it is really a judgment on the system that replaces grass roots political meetings, with communist central planning.

Kevin Rudd can fix it too. All he has to do is make the Federal Court of Australia a real competitor with the State Courts in the delivery of justice services. He has to accept that S 39 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 and Order 46 Rule 7A Federal Court Rules are illegal and unconstitutional, and let the Federal Court be real competition for State Courts. If he enforced the Criminal Code Act 1995 ( Cth) against the Federal Court of Australia they would quick smart start to perform

Peter,
We cannot wait for our fools of politicians to act. The fire season will be upon us soon.

People have to start making their homes safer now, all it takes is a bit of common sense. Fires require fuel, oxygen and heat. Remove the fuel and little fire.

I realised long ago that in the event of a large fire I would be on my own. So I have taken action to secure the place. I have worked bloody hard for my assets and no ammount of insurance will cover them properly.

The best thing State governments can do now is overide local ordinances regarding clearing around homes and start a fire protection information programe. Get Nat Parks and Forestry on fuel reduction burning, which is good training for brigade members also.

Otherwise Belly's predictions will be correct.

Don't ya rekon its about time the people living in these remote areas should put some extra in themselves, instead of critsizing what the authorities haven't done.
If you choose to live in these places, do not blame any one but yourself when things go wrong.
Fires will happen, whether it be natural or man made.
If you live in places of one road in and one road out, its all on you.
Use some common sense and have a look around

Unfortunately the Greens who holds 'nature' above mankind have to much influence for any sensible decisions to be made.