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Bush Fire Season to Start Early

Bush Fire Season to Start Early

Old Jul 17th 2004, 3:48 am
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Default Bush Fire Season to Start Early

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...694566486.html

Extreme dry forces early start to fire season

By Daniel LBut new research from the Risk Frontiers Natural Hazards Research Centre at Macquarie University confirms that no one who lives close to the bush should feel safe in extreme conditions.

The centre studied satellite images and aerial and ground photos of the the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire in Victoria (2500 homes destroyed), the 2003 Canberra fire (500 homes) and 1994 Sydney fires (200 homes).

Keping Chen and John McAneney found that, despite varying conditions, about 60 per cent of dwellings built within 50 metres of the bush were lost in each instance.

Their research also found that the greatest risk was from embers rather than direct contact with the fire and that the maximum distance at which homes are destroyed is usually less than 700 metres.
Parched NSW is facing a bushfire season as bad as 2001-02, when 109 homes, 222 vehicles and 753,000 hectares of land were burnt over 23 ferocious summer days, the Rural Fire Service warned yesterday.

The start of the official fire season has subsequently been brought forward from October 1 to August 1 in 46 of the state's 154 local government areas.

The Commissioner, Phil Koperberg, said the only moderating factor was that so much of the state has already been burnt in recent years through wild fires and hazard reduction.

But as the Canberra fire of 2003 showed, in the most extreme conditions, even paddocks grazed bare by livestock will burn.

As the drought drags into its third year and with 87 per cent of the state drought-declared, parts of NSW are extremely dry.

"If things remain as they are we will be facing a worst-case scenario," Mr Koperberg said.
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Old Jul 17th 2004, 3:49 am
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But new research from the Risk Frontiers Natural Hazards Research Centre at Macquarie University confirms that no one who lives close to the bush should feel safe in extreme conditions.

The centre studied satellite images and aerial and ground photos of the the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire in Victoria (2500 homes destroyed), the 2003 Canberra fire (500 homes) and 1994 Sydney fires (200 homes).

Keping Chen and John McAneney found that, despite varying conditions, about 60 per cent of dwellings built within 50 metres of the bush were lost in each instance.

Their research also found that the greatest risk was from embers rather than direct contact with the fire and that the maximum distance at which homes are destroyed is usually less than 700 metres.
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Old Jul 17th 2004, 3:52 am
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Yep a bit of a Kong c&p but this is an exceptionally dry year in NSW and arguably a taste of things to come.
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Old Jul 17th 2004, 6:51 am
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Yes Bondi I saw this on the news last night. Pretty scary really. Mind you saying that we actually had about 20mins of drizzle today..whoopppeeeeeeee ...but the poor grass won't get greener...
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Old Jul 17th 2004, 7:26 am
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Originally posted by Pants
Yes Bondi I saw this on the news last night. Pretty scary really. Mind you saying that we actually had about 20mins of drizzle today..whoopppeeeeeeee ...but the poor grass won't get greener...
Bush fires are pretty scary:scared:

When we were in Adelaide we went to Mount Lofty and saw the pictures of the infamous 'Ash Wednesday' fires in the 1980's

Glad I wasn't living in the Adelaide hills then!:scared:

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