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In Australia we do a lot of controlled burning through the winter. They're called "hazard reduction burns" and are carefully planned operations involving lots o
by davidbanham 9y ago
In Australia we do a lot of controlled burning through the winter. They're called "hazard reduction burns" and are carefully planned operations involving lots of firefighters and appliances.
The aim is to burn the leaf litter and other fuels, but not let the fire get hot enough to kill established trees.
You start to see signs of regrowth very quickly. HRs are usually done in the late winter. By mid spring the landscape is an incredible sight of bright green new growth out of black tree trunks.
There are a lot of species of trees and plants native to the Australian bush that need fire as part of their breeding and growth cycles. It's integral to land management here.
- dmoy 9y agoThe US does a lot of controlled burning as well.
- King-Aaron 9y agoWe specifically call them 'hazard reductions' or 'prescribed burns' here now, because of the numerous times 'controlled' burns became rapidly uncontrolled... :P
- bamboozled 9y agoNot sure if you've ever been to parts of Australia where "fire-stick farming" [1] is still practised? It's really amazing to witness being performed. These places don't seem to ever have wild damaging fires like other parts of Australia, due to a lack of fuel build up, and the environment in these places always look "immaculate", almost like a freshly cleaned apartment. The smell of these slow burning fires through winter is really nice. I've spent a lot of time on the East Coast of Australia too, where the "bush" is managed the European way, and there is a lot of problems with wild fires, invasive species (introduced) and a less healthy looking landscape. The hazard reduction burning in Australia seems to be more about establishing parameters to protect property more than anything else? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire-stick_farming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire-stick_farming
- davidbanham 9y agoI'm aware of the practice, but haven't specifically sought out fire stick farmed areas to travel to. I'll have to check some out. The literature you've read is _probably_ mostly focused on the Rural Fire Service (RFS) HR program. Their focus is protection of life and property in settled areas. The land management burns are undertaken by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). RFS often assists with these to provide extra manpower. I imagine the various State Forestry agencies also have similar programs, but I don't know anything about them.
- cakedoggie 9y agoStill, there are a far too many houses allowed to be built in fire zones.