Hasbeen let me list why
As a true firefighter legislation and tree huggers makes it impossible to burn in winter
Rain, heavy and more than usual falls then too, and stalls action
Believe me I know the bush, even now wander about camera in hand, taking photos
It is tinder dry, I have never seen it so deep or so dry
Fire bugs, few know it is an illness, fewer know the attraction even takes those effected in to bush fire brigades
50 years ago wet bag in hand we fought them in the southern highlands till we dropped
Towns women feed us the best scones and sandwiches in the world
No on looked for the spotlight we just did what was needed
I leave early AM tomorrow to bring my repaired car back from Evans head, about five and a half hour drive [smoke will slow it] every single K will be fire affected
Wish, boy do I wish, ex city dwellers would understand why we must cold burn, and why they must not live mid forrest.

Hasbeen in my post above a very very important truth is there to be seen
Tree Huggers, we name them that, but in truth often women and even more often totally committed but totally uninformed they do as much harm as fire bugs
Loving the bush but never understanding it, they are unaware this land was burnt for thousands of years, cold burn
Animals get away in cold burns
They die in fire storms
Even road workers once burned the edges of roads cold burned
PC councils, the under informed now rule, and kill because they will never understand

I'm presently anchored off a Cape York Community that copped a Cyclone first & now the fires are doing their bit. Locals reckon the high number of fishing/camping tourists might have something to do with the fires.
They're not very keen on all these people tearing the land & reef apart.

Belly it is not the problem with sensible fuel reduction that I was doubting, but that there would be much fuel. I guess you have more national parks, which are the only areas that have much fuel around here.

Anywhere that has been grazed this year is almost bare of anything that would burn.

I would really hate to have a national park as a neighbor these days.

National Parks are simply Anti-Evolutionalists' follies ! In the event of fire they destroy everything that evolved within them. Bush with no fire is not natural on this Continent !

Dear individual,

Bushfires are a part of Australia's natural history simply because it is mostly hot and dry. Most of the soil is sandy and the burnt vegetation is how the soil is replenished with nutrients that support further plant life, but only for a short period because the nutrients are really in the plant cover and not intrinsically in the soil. It's a cycle that has been going on for a long time.

British colonisers made the mistake of thinking the nutrients were in the soil so when they deforested 90% of the land they destroyed the only source of nutrients for the soil. Now we're left with a hot dry wasteland that depends on irrigation to grow crops and support farming. And now we have the great water dilemma as a result.

Not a very nice picture is it? And it's only going to get worse as the planet gets hotter from AGW resulting from overpopulation and consumerism that demand increasing use of fossil fuels to support a global civilisation based on First World lifestyles.