Bushfires
Whilst bushfires occur around the world, several specific recent fires have caught the attention of the world. The fires in the Amazon and California have been in the media.
However, the devastating fires over the 2019-20 summer in Australia were the worst in terms of area burnt, their rapid and sometimes random spread along with the impact on communities.
As the Australian fires were the stimulus for the creation of this website I will draw on local experiences.
If you would like to contribute any balanced, researched or personal stories, links or articles they may be sent to
The bushfires swept through the Monga National Park in late November - December 2019 and the Park was closed for some twelve months.
Many parts were showing good signs of recovery with regrowth spreading up most of the trunks of the burnt Eucalyptus trees. Fortunately in the numerous small gullies the majority of the tree ferns seemed to have survived and showing new growth.
Pockets of Plumwood trees also survived but many were burnt and fallen. Patches of grass trees were doing well. Some tops of ridges and rocky outcrops appeared to be struggling - perhaps the fires were more severe in these locations.
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As is well known the 2019-20 summer bushfire season in most parts of Australia was catastrophic.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has an app called Fires Near Me and the various current fire related incidents were recorded.there. For some of the period, I recorded the entries. The different fires might range from Grass fires, Bush fires, Hazard Reduction, Vehicle fires etc.
Of particular interest are the bush fires, grass fires and hazard reduction fires.as these destroyed the most in terms of the environment and natural wildlife habitat. Many houses and other infrastructure was lost not to mention the tragic human toll and subsequent financial and mental hardships to individuals, families and communities.
It has since been reported that the vast amounts of smoke from these large events has brought on premature deaths on a scale similar to Covid-19 in these areas.
The following graph represents the land area in NSW that was currently burning (active fires) or burnt (but that fire not yet declared "out" and removed from the lists).
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So here we go again.
Today (August 27 2020), yes it is still winter in Australia, there were vast areas of the Northern Territory classed as Severe Fire Danger and a considerable region of Catastrophic Fire Danger.
Also today there was a request from California for Australia to send some 50 specialist fire fighters to help with the bad fires there.
It is now fairly obvious that the bushfire "seasons" are longer in both hemispheres and will overlap meaning it will be more difficult to send human and equipment resources between regions. WAKE UP WORLD !!
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