Sorry to say you are right examinator, the types you describe exist.
BUT they are used to stop preventive burning far to often.
And SOME fire stations have FIRE BUGS in them, few, very few.
Who burns of, fire fighters in my state can be asked to should be involved if you are not sure, always.
We see bush fires fought by bush fire teams, not paid fireys, as it should be in my state.
We should never ever let a few bad events blind us to Victoria's agony.
Such outcomes are about to happen again and again if we blindly look for reasons not to protect bush, animals, humans from fire storms.
We will revisit this theme often before a summer is over, you betcha Banjo, but we always do.

Belly,
I agree that CFA, CFS et at do have sprinklings of psychological unbalanced individuals and they are extremely small in number.

I guess my point is that.

- Not enough money is spent on APPROPRIATE training by governments/authorities. which is due to the lack of concern by the willfully ignorant masses who would rather save 'levy' for a 2 mtr TV....Priorities are wrong.

- Not enough effort and money on research

- not enough spent on informing the public and enforcing it.
You live where it might burn then your house MUST be built to withstand fire. If you can't afford or don't want the add ons then you can't (afford) to live there period.

Every one involved has their own singular focus which tends to be one sided to my way of thinking there should be a TAFE/uni course in fire MANAGEMENT which includes burn rates temperatures and other techniques.
I've seen ENERGEX contractors bulldoze endangered species bushes in a reveg patch because their 'arborist (?)' said they were gums and this was the most cost efficient method of ensuring the didn't grow up under the transmission lines. PS the plants grew to a meter.

I'd like 10 cents for every time Ive seen great rows of stumps being burned by farmers and developers in Queensland ....because it's cost effective.

Who gave them permission a council planner who wouldn't know a valley wind current from a fart.

The whole burning off thing is in my mind a whole discipline and needs a rounded knowledge not just plants= fire therefore eliminate plants.
There are some native understory plants that have a symbiotic relationship with some trees and some native plants that reduce more flammable weeds and competitors.

Examinator you surprise me, in NSW and surely every state?
Training takes place, those in command know great details about wind temp, fuel load and very much more.
Before the fire is started.
Those stumps? well here at least much of the year you just can not burn without a permit.
And so it should be.
Even if you burn in winter you must inform your neighbors first.
Training is not the problem.
Sorry but the things you highlight are.
People highlight those concerns, give too much weight to them, make it imposable to burn when its under control.
A Little knowledge can be a very bad thing.
You would be stunned to see a fire base engine room, the information available to those fighting it is huge.
In the devastating Victorian fires red tape and wrong people in those rooms saw the information not used and deaths, needless deaths result.

One of Australia’s greatest problems is the lack of accountability by State Governments. Both Victoria and New South Wales have been grossly irresponsible in letting their States be littered by a body of flammable material, so deep that when it burns, people get killed. This is virtually negligence amounting to manslaughter.

As a people the Australians made it quite clear by a referendum in 1899, that we wanted to have one National Government. That National Government has a clear responsibility to protect its citizens, not only from threats to them by terrorists from abroad, but also from those inside our borders too. It has so far been a useless organization. It has been listening to the wrong people. It almost did a job in 1957, when it enacted the Commonwealth Police Act 1957, and another half a job in 1979, when it enacted the Australian Federal Police Act 1979, but what we really need is a fully integrated National Emergency Services Command to include the Army, Police and Firemen.

The Commonwealth has power to control the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth. The laws of the Commonwealth include laws made by each of the States that make up the Commonwealth, including the Commonwealth itself. It has power to make laws about insurance, (xiv) and the biggest losers in catastrophic bushfire situations after the people who lose their lives and loved ones are the institutions who write insurance against fires. Because it controls insurance it has a duty to ensure that fire risks are eliminated, and to that end two arms of a public service are required. Police and Firemen. Already we have volunteer firefighters, and it is time we had volunteer Commonwealth Police as well.

This is a matter for the Minister for Home Affairs to address as a matter of urgency. The Hon Brendan O’Connor lives in Melbourne not far from where the roaring bushfires devastated a very beautiful part of Australia. One of his responsibilities is the protection of (ii) property of the Commonwealth (including Commonwealth places) and property of authorities of the Commonwealth