Don't say you wern't warned!

[davidc4430]

NSW fires see more than 850,000 hectares destroyed so far in season 'as bad as it gets'

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-11/nsw-bushfires-850000-hectares-destroyed-worst-to-come/1169103...

many years ago after a monumentally bad fire a inquiry was formed to see what our leaders should do in order to be better prepared if the same situation should happen again.

like the puchasing of the canadian super tanker fire fighting planes.

of couse they were expensive but if each state was to purchase 1 then come a day like we are predicting now these planes would all be available to be deployed as a mega fire fighting group.

but no, we were told we dont need them, we can do better with out them.

and anyway, these big fires dont happen very often.

well well well, looks to me like the eastern states are in for fires, big fires, nearly every year!

i just heard on radio where if your considered in a fire prone area (thats just about everyone these days) you can forget insurance cover.

oh, and done mention 'climate change' to the govt, its still a load of you know what to scomo and co.

[myoclon1cjerk]

Another photo op for Scott Trump.

[springyzone]

Probably the reason is us, the voters.

There are no votes in doing things out of season, in fact, quite the opposite a lot of the time. People have short memories.

A few years ago, there was a widespread drought in Vic. Newspapers were on and on about how the govt should have prepared for this, built a dam or whatever as it is predictable we have droughts every now & again.

The govt at a big cost started to build the desalination plant. the drought broke before it was completed and suddenly the papers were on about the waste of money on this white elephant & they have not let up about it since.

2009. You might recall the bushfires. People & papers were up in arms-Why didn't the govt have special building regulations in high risk areas? Why hadn't they looked into compulsory bunkers and other things?

Fast forward to now and we are still reading of people complaining about the extra cost of trying to build in some of these areas and how the govt 'takes away incentive'.

The only time I can see the govt getting away with spending big on super tankers that might stand idle would be during an actual fire emergency, then people would see the need and not whinge.

[davidc4430]

yep, after the horror out will come our hero pollies to walk around looking glum and making speeches how we will 'pull together' and 'rebuild'

and there will be stories buried half way thru the papers years afterwards where people are still living in caravans (or worse) because their insurance companies have found tiny clauses that says they dont have to payout the claims.

i guess going by todays leaders we wouldnt have any fire fighting capability if theyd been in charge 100 years ago.

oh, but buy a load of jets from the good old USA for our airforce to go to anywhere the USA says at our expense, yes we can do that.

just how much do we spend fighting wars nothing to do with us?

or giving cash handouts to countries with despot leaders?

[johcaschro]

So, it's happening again. Have you looked closely at the news pictures of burned-out houses in this most recent episode of Australia's long history of bush fires?

Yep, they did it again. They built or bought wooden houses smack bang in the middle of densely forested areas in Australia and then claim surprise,shock and despair when the inevitable calamity finally overtakes them.

People living in wooden houses in forests in Australia are a direct cause of everybody else's fire insurance premiums rising when the ins. companies want their money back after the unescapable eventual bushfire burnout.

And what's worse, is hearing that reality-denying refrain . . . "we will re-build" (our wooden houses in the middle of the forest so we can claim surprise, shock and despair when it all happens again one day, as we all know it must).

[myoclon1cjerk]

Once we've finally succeeded in making Australia's animals extinct, we can begin to 'dismantle' the forests and replace them with fast food outlets,freeways and maybe a huge museum of flora and fauna. Job creation.

[joz*garage]

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2482728975338842

[davidc4430]

Are bigger water-bombers the answer to Australia's bushfire woes?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-15/are-bigger-water-bombers-he-answer-to-bushfire-woes/11705502

of course they arnt the 'answer'

but 5 or 6 of those purpose built canadian super fire fighting planes would certainly be a bonus during a out of control bushfire wouldnt they?

[imastawka]

Talking about building in forests.

David, you might be interested in what happened to a friend of mine some years ago before Black Friday 2009 in Victoria.

They still made him pay.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/fined-for-illegal-clearing-family-now-feel-vindicated-20090212-85bd....

[chameleon54]

I had the same experience on a smaller scale. Our house fronts onto a river gully owned by the council. The council never do any fire management, so myself and a couple of neighbours went in one weekend and cleared out some of the fallen timber and whipper snipped the metre high grass that comes right to the roadside in front of our houses.

Monday morning I get a knock on the door. Its a council rep. there to tell us if we ever do anything like that again we will be up before the courts on charges for clearing native vegetation. 

The following year I contact the council to get them to clean up the mess.......... SILENCE......So then I call back again stating I had taken photos of the tall grass and would be keeping them in a separate place as a record of council negligence. If a fire ever comes through the gully I will be forwarding the photos to insurance companies, lawyers, the media and anyone else interested in the councils negligence........A team of council workers where on site within hours clearing away the grass....

Now each year before the fire season I just quietly go into the gully and mow and whipper snip and clean up any fallen timber while the council does a great impersonation of the three wise monkeys. See's nothing, hears nothing, says nothing......