Australian bushfires

[Theknacktoflying]

Is anyone else absolutely floored by the info coming from Sydney that almost 480 million animals, birds and reptiles have died.

The loss of human life, the loss of homes and habitat is quite something.

What a way to begin 2020

Apparently some of the fires are so big that they’re making thunderstorms! The lightning is the causing new fires

You can't live comfortably in a climate that shows no sign of cooling short, medium or long-term

It isn't hot like that all the time in Australia. This summer ( ie for the last month or so) we've had 40+ only a few times . The rest of the time it has been in the 20's or 30's which is quite pleasant and normal to the average Aussie. It isn't unbearable at all. People adjust to it, the houses are built for hot climates and air conditioning is the norm.

The suggestion that Australians will be looking to emigrate in the next couple of years is just not valid. Most Aussies actually love Australia and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Aussies don't run away because of some bad weather .

AtomicRabbit as I said many posts back, over 40 degrees is nothing new. We were sent home from school not infrequently in summer 50 years ago because it would get that hot. When I was younger and even later at one point when my kids were young I would do stints servicing outback communities for months at a time. Hot as fuck and generally over 40 in summer. When I took the kids for a few months over summer they were so used to the hot temperature that when we returned home to mid-30’s temps they put on tracksuits because they felt cold. It took me a week to prise them out of tracksuits and jumpers in mid-30’s temperature.

It would probably rock your world to know that many communities live quite happily/normally with this heat and people don’t throw their arms around, run around hysterically and emigrate. And that’s why we have ice cold beer here.

I'm not Australian so I don't know how it feels to live there - perhaps I'm playing it all out of context. However, knowing what I know, imagining I was Australian, I'd be looking to move to a new country within the next 2 to 3 years.

Hyperbole. You claim you don't know what it's like but you can forecast what people would do? Australia is a massive country with huge variations of environments. It's not a country that's burning completely, it's just the burning part has been burning a lot more than usual

@AtomicRabbit I can assure you that there will not be mass migration due to the weather. These fires and recent droughts have been devastating of course. But living in Australia, hot weather is the norm. I am now in my mid 30s but as a child living in a rural area, I remember plenty of days over 40. One year, on the day of our school swimming carnival, it got the 47 degrees. Over Christmas this year, my family were disappointed that it wasn't really warm enough for the beach - it was 27 degrees.

As someone said above, we are used to it, our houses are built for the heat and majority have air conditioning.

I’m Australian and have considered moving. Despite living here all my life I’ve never got used to the summer weather in Australia. I’d go as far as to say I have a form of SAD where I get depressed in summer. I desperately miss rain.

This is something I’ve been considering for years, not just because of the fires. I just don’t feel at home in this country and this climate. It’s really hard to explain.

It would take a lot to make people consider moving, but there has definitely been a measurable increase in 40+ days in my lifetime.

It was 43 here in Sydney on Tuesday so we went to the cinema, then in the afternoon I sprayed my boys on their trampoline with water from our tank. Then we had dinner in our air conditioned house.
It’s hot but it’s not like it’s a surprise.

The days around that one very hot day (and it was very hot) we’ve been kayaking on the river at the end of our road in a massive unburnt national park, been to our local outdoor pool, been at friends houses in their outdoor pools etc. We’ve sat outside for breakfast and dinner most days and enjoyed pleasant temps in the late 20s and mid 30s.

In the same way that we saw the flooding in the uk (our parents are from the south of England), I’m sure it’s not affecting everyone, but obviously it’s bad for the people it does affect.

Don’t forget as well that basically between March and September (in Sydney) the temp is between 16-30 degrees, pleasantly sunny etc, it’s not hot like this all year round, but it is hot every summer, so it’s not a shock that we are having a few hot days in summer in a hot country.

The bush fires are particularly bad this year and I wouldn’t blame anyone who didn’t want to live in the countryside after that ordeal, but the vast majority of us live in the cities in any event.

@ShippingNews
spot on, aussie too here and no one i know is looking to leave.

Well it's reassuring to have you all jump in and correct me. Phew. So the current fires are all just media hyperbole? They seem to make it all look very bad. I don't doubt that they are making the most of it as always
Yes when they say australia is on fire, thats bullshit. Parts of are but not as a whole
Yes the pics are scary and some areas are apocalyptic but thats not the case aus wide. In the media you see the worst of the worst.
Calls of mass migration of aussies leaving is bullshit. A few may wanna leave but no mass numbers

Worried? we slept through fire warnings before christmas, woke to family in the city, ringing thinking our town was about to burn thanks to media, the fire was no where near us, wasnt even smokey in our town. For me, ive lived rural as a kid, fires happened. Even as a kid we all had a suitcase packed ready to grab. Its normal to be fire ready as a rural aussie

NSW and VIC have thick thick bushland and backburning hasnt happened enough, the fuel load is huge. Allow more backburning and fires wont be as intense. This is what happens when some endangered bug gets protection, the land is then left to grow, die and create fuel loads not seen in the past

Pushing past 40 degrees in the summer - and it's showing no signs of stopping.

It always has. It's just earlier this year. Have a look at the weather averages in Alice Springs. We get plenty of cold weather where I am, it's only hot between Dec - Feb. sometimes a bit into March.

My uncle is Australian, lives in a suburb of Melbourne, not particularly rural. Usually considered unaffected by bush fires but a few days ago the town next to his was evacuated and he spent a nerve wracking 24 hours waiting to see whether it would be spreading and heading his way. As he put it, this is way too close for comfort and the fires have been touching communities that aren't used to having them. That's the difference for him.

What baffles me , if the fires can’t be contained in the worst areas, why doesn’t the government seek help from other countries?

Also the numbers of animals killed by fires is really frighting , if these bushfires happen more often , numbers of species will be impacted. Not to mention they will have no place to live.

... why doesn’t the government seek help from other countries?

Thirty-nine firefighters from North America have arrived in Australia to provide assistance during the bushfire crisis. The team landed in Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport a short time ago and will be helping local crews across Victoria.

www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-02/us-firefighters-arrive-in-australia-to-help-efforts/11838086

Allow more backburning and fires wont be as intense. This is what happens when some endangered bug gets protection, the land is then left to grow, die and create fuel loads not seen in the past

Don’t listen to everything Barnaby Joyce tells you.

One of the big problems for backburning in the past few years has been the winter weather - too warm and way too dry. Several brigades haven’t been able to carry out the number of hazard reduction burns they wanted to because there was no chance to do it safely.

Also worth listening to some of the bushfire scientists on the difference between a fuel-driven fire and a weather-driven one where fuel loaf plays only a small role in the severity of the fire. That’s why fire weather and FFDI is a thing.

Chuffoff some of the issues with Melbourne is that it has hugely increased its population and its sprawl in recent years. A lot of new suburbs back onto grassland or bush and that means much higher fire threat.

Several brigades haven’t been able to carry out the number of hazard reduction burns they wanted to because there was no chance to do it safely.

If proper heavy duty backburning had of been allowed to continue over the decades then it wouldn’t matter nearly as much if we hadn’t been able to do hazard reduction burns here and there in the years when it’s been too dry to do them.

If proper heavy duty backburning had of been allowed to continue over the decades then it wouldn’t matter nearly as much if we hadn’t been able to do hazard reduction burns here and there in the years when it’s been too dry to do them.

Can you share the evidence of when state governments prevented this due to environment concerns (it’s a state responsibility), and why the scientists saying weather is a greater factor that fuel load are wrong at FFDI of over 50 are wrong?

There’s a lot of hot air about this but bugger all facts.

If proper heavy duty backburning had of been allowed to continue over the decades

Ah look, Barnaby Joyce is on the thread.

As for Australia becoming uninhabitable, I agree but I think it will become a bit like Dubai first - basically everyone stays inside in air conditioning all the time.

As for Australia becoming uninhabitable, I agree but I think it will become a bit like Dubai first
Has there been a significant increase in temperatures over the years?

Notanother the area they live in is just 20km north of Melbourne and not new. However, there are rumours that the bushfire that was burning there earlier in the week could've been started by an arsonist

Has there been a significant increase in temperatures over the years?

Statistically, yes. The Bureau of Meteorology annual climate report is a good source of data.

However I think talking about Australia as a whole becoming uninhabitable is really silly. It’s a huge continent with a wide range of ecosystems. Climate change will have a huge impact and definitely change the way people live and where they live, and water will be a huge issue. But ‘uninhabitable’ is drawing a pretty long bow.

FFS, Australia will not become inhabitable, any more than the UK will with its shitting cold long winters and floods.

There is a state of emergency in Aus, but I'm getting a little over the hysteria on MN. Has Brexit gone a little off topic lately

We are very used to bushfires. There hasn't been any meaningful back burning in years and we have had a hot start to summer.

The consequences have been horrific, I have had family caught up in the latest bushfires, but for fucksake STOP with the hysteria.

@managedmis Bit dramatic lol