Those Who Will Not Learn From History . . . .

Update on Victorian Bushfires

In February of this year we posted on the subject of the deadly Victorian bush fires. (The posts can be read here, and here.)

A dominant theme was that the fires had been exacerbated as a consequence of greenist pressures and policies preventing systematic burn off of bush in Victoria. Unless the Australian forest is periodically burned off, combustible material builds up. The more dead dry wood, branches, and leaves per hectare, the greater the intensity of fire. The more intense the fire, the greater likelihood it will spread out of control.

For decades the Green movement has effectively controlled the policies of local councils in Victoria, shutting bush up to human contact and management (euphemistically called natural heritage areas) and preventing controlled burn-offs generally throughout the state. (Such burn-offs allegedly contribute to global warming, and therefore are to be seen as damaging to the entire planet. Moreover, species of animals and birds die in controlled burn-offs, so for that reason as well they are verboten.) Even people who had built houses amongst the gum trees were not allowed to clear the areas around their houses. Such environmental "destruction" was beyond the pale.

But the Scriptures make clear that if man does not rule over the natural order, the natural order ends up dominating and ruling human kind. And so it came to pass in Victoria as hundreds lost their lives in the worst bush fires for many years.

This week, the investigation into the fires was officially released. What have the authorities and officials learned? Apparently, diddly squat. Miranda Devine takes up the story:

You would have thought, with less than 10 weeks until the bushfire season, this week's Victorian bushfires royal commission interim report might have mentioned the most frequently raised concern in submissions, the one which experts say determines whether a manageable blaze becomes an inferno: the availability of fuel.

But no. Not one of the report's 51 recommendations deals with prescribed or controlled burning or any means of fuel reduction which reduces the intensity of a fire and makes firefighting easier, or even possible.

That is despite the fact 485 of more than 1200 submissions concern fuel reduction. (Emphasis, ours)

If left to itself, the Australian bush has periodic fires which rage for weeks and weeks. This is a natural phenomenon, and has occurred long before Australia was colonised and settled by Europeans. Fires are a key factor in bush health and regeneration. In 1939, after a particularly severe fire season and high loss of life, the Stratton Commission reported and recommended that rather than fire suppression and fire fighting (which was a lost cause, since fires occur naturally) the more prudent strategy was fire risk reduction through a systematic programme of controlled burns.

This policy was successfully carried out and was effective until greenism began to insinuate itself into state and local body government.

But the 1982 election of the Cain government in Victoria ''signalled the start of an enduring period of profound change which continues today''.

Successive state governments ''largely embraced the environmentalists' view that Victoria's forests needed to be 'saved' and that this would be achieved simply by changing public land tenure from state forest to national park''.

National Parks in Victoria increased by almost 30 per cent from 1998 to 2008. ''A substantial part of this expansion has had little or no rational conservation-based foundation, and has been undertaken simply to serve a political need to win the support of 'green' voters.''

The priority was changed to fighting bushfires once they had begun. But fighting such high intensity fires, made many times worse because they are fuelled to the gunnels, is a herculean task. Given the wrong weather conditions, success is impossible.

But the recent report would indicate that greenism still controls Victorian politics, both at a state and local council level. Amidst all the recommendations (51 in all) not one addresses the obvious: the need to reinstate a policy of controlled burn-offs, and unlocking the "forest parks" by putting access tracks right through them. The firefighting experts made numerous submissions to that effect, but have been ignored.

One wonders how many more people need to die on the altar of greenism before people give up this bloody and rapacious religion. Australians are normally such a no-nonsense, common-sense people. It is paradoxical that they have become thralls to greenism. We suspect that it will not take too many more conflagrations and deaths to produce a violent reaction. Meanwhile the bushfire season draws nigh.