City types shouldn't be complacent and criticising.

It wouldn't take much: a hot dry period, gusting winds and a mistake somewhere (a powerline affected by a falling limb or lightning?) for whole suburbs to be engulfed in a fire storm due to the native tree and shrub fashion and litter used in gardens.

Where fires leap streets fire brigades are easily overwhelmed.

Foxy,
You may have reviewed the above book or one of your colleges may have some years ago.

The correct title is 'The Complete Australian Bushfire Book' Joan Katherine Webster. ISBN 0 17 006759 9

It is written in straight forward everyday language and easy to read. To me it shows that the author is a very practical person.

So impressed am I by the book that I have purchased over the years about a dozen copies and given them as presents to people that reside in 'at risk' areas.

Being written by a fellow Victorian, I thought you may be interested.

Dear Yuyutsu,

Eucalypts are the base of many Australian ecosystems. Other plants and animals depend on the eucalypts being there. By replacing eucalypts with fruit trees an ecosystem is destroyed. There has been too much habitat destruction by human intervention. Habitat destruction is the chief cause of species extinction.

Also evident on the TV were tall trees that had fallen across some roads; one might ask why are trees that can fall and block a road during a bushfire not cut down?

Is Mise,
If we could asses where a bushfire was going to start and its path removing roadside trees could be done, but we cannot do that. Its like trying to predict where lightning will strike. There are thousands of miles of rural roads, so cost is the problem. Roads have become fire hazards now since the advent of livestock transport. Council in my former area weed spray the roadsides to stop grass growing right up to the bitumen, thus giving a wider fire break. Some 'greenie' councils have stopped firewood gathering from roadsides which adds to the hazard.

Clearing near a house does not necessarily mean 'shearing'. Some trees can be retained, but they should be smooth barked and spaced well apart.

Banjo,

I've been in a rural fire brigade also but nowhere near your length of time, I have also been on private company fire teams and on the Army Fire squad in a couple of big storage areas with acres of grass which we kept well cut where possible and burnt off other areas (no greenies to worry about). We usually did the burn offs as a fire fighting drill.

Among the hippies that I know on the North Coast and adjacent mountains in NSW the planting of fire retardant species of trees and bushes has always been of much importance.

For a good read, see:
http://www.smalltreefarm.com.au/Aust%20Article-Take%20The%20Eucalypt%20Out%20of%20Incendiary%20Debate.pdf

One way to clear trees from the roadsides would be to allow the felling and removal of trees for firewood.