While there is a severe fire hazard in many places in Western Australia, there are several standout places where the hazards are very high, and the potential for loss of life and property is also very high. Local governments need to…
The Sawyers Bushfire – Disaster Averted
The January 2018 Sawyers Valley bushfire occurred under moderate temperature but windy conditions. Believed to have been started by an arsonist, the fire started at about 8 AM alongside Gorrie Road and moved rapidly to the west-south-west in jarrah and wandoo forest,…
A Rural Fire Service for WA
Why We Need a Rural Fire Service Why is the Government running scared of providing us the type of Fire Service that those living outside the Perth area and major country towns deserve? Western Australia used to have an effective rural…
Fuel management is the critical factor
The Importance of Reducing Fuel Loadings Much of the vegetated areas between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin are carrying long unburnt and very heavy fuels which in the event of a bushfire will produce fast moving and high intensity fire behaviour. There…
The role of water bombers
Water bombing and magic bullets by Roger Underwood Back in the summer of 1960/61, when I was training to become a forestry officer, I was unlucky enough to be caught up as a firefighter in the great bushfires of that year. In…
The alternative approaches
Bushfire management in Australian forests – confronting a changing environment by Roger Underwood There is an old saying that one of the greatest of human failings is the inability to learn from the mistakes of others. One example is that of my…
Smoke
The Smoke Issue The smoke that arises from bushfires, whether it comes from prescribed burns or from wildfires, is a controversial subject in Western Australia. Every time the metropolitan area is affected by smoke drift from a prescribed burn in nearby forests…