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Excuse my ignorance, can anyone explain to me what makes it so difficult to extinguish the fire? (This question is not meant to be an ass) I tried to google it,

Excuse my ignorance, can anyone explain to me what makes it so difficult to extinguish the fire? (This question is not meant to be an ass) I tried to google it, but couldn't find a proper answer. I'm just really curious.

kmlx 7y ago
you've got to understand australia is huge, as big as the united states. so when you've got fires as big as european nations, it's impossible to extinguish, even contain.
- benjaminsuch 7y ago
  Okay I get that, but how do they battle it? What is the plan? Where do they start? Are they just trying to prevent the spread and wait till the fire kills itself?
  - flukus 7y ago
    > Are they just trying to prevent the spread and wait till the fire kills itself? Basically this whenever possible, often if it's not near a populated area they won't even try to limit the spread, they put themselves out eventually with the right conditions (wind, rain, geography). Near populated areas they do what they can, mostly controlled burns and having fire breaks that allow them to effectively concentrate resources (firetrucks, water bombers) where they can actually be useful, a firetruck can be effective where there's a firebreak but without one it would be suicide to be there.
  - SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
    I can help answer this, one of my parents is a volunteer firefighter who was helping within the last few days. The current mandate for the CFA is asset protection, ie; protecting houses, farms and other properties where they can. It's understood that the fires can't be put out in the current conditions, so resources are focused on protecting buildings for now. We're hoping for rain, but that's probably not going to appear in any significant quantities for a couple of months.
logicchains 7y ago
It's a reeeeealy big fire? Like how managing 10k servers is way harder than managing 10.
BLKNSLVR 7y ago
It's not like a barbecue fire that can be controlled with a garden hose. As someone else in this thread has mentioned, one of the fire fronts is 180km wide. Edit: 180km perimeter I think the article says that one of the fires has burnt an area the size of the state of Rhode Island. https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11838160-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11838160-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11834342-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11834342-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.google.com/search?q=Australian+bushfires https://www.google.com/search?q=Australian+bushfires
- fhars 7y ago
  And that is just one fire. The total area burnt in New South Wales alone was almost nine times larger than Rhode Island by 9 December. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bushfires-burn-area-bigger-than-wales-a-result-of-record-spring/11810324 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bushfires-burn-area-b...
carl_sandland 7y ago
Have a look at the regions involved; https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me * the number of active fires is high. * we have no proper rain and the ground is like DEAD dry. * the amount of resources we have to put them all out is not infinite. * the transport network does not cover much of those areas. * the population tends to cluster in or at the fringes of flammable regions. * the weather and fuel load are combining into truly horrific, chaotic fire behaviour, that can create their own weather systems (fire storms). It's a good question though! I wonder if we can invent some technology to solve this.
emsign 7y ago
The scale. They don't have enough equiptment to extinguish it. Someone might make an exact calcuation, but my guess is they would need hundreds of fire fighting air tanker planes by now. They say the only thing that can help now is rainfall. And it's not gonna come. All that the fire fighters can do now is saving lifes, helping people to evacuate, trying to keep important roads safe, etc.
woolly 7y ago
Some other issues that I don't think have been mentioned: - A lot of the trees are eucalypts which are super oily and incredibly flammable. Some have been known to explode when they get too hot. - It's been getting incredibly windy, which is taking burning embers far ahead of the main firefront and starting advance fires. Recently, a firey was crushed to death after the fire engine was blown over on top of him the winds are that strong.
perilunar 7y ago
Adding to what others have said... * the state-based Rural Fire Services are staffed mostly by volunteers * and have been inadequately funded for the last few years, despite warnings that this fire season would be a shocker * we don’t have enough fire bombers * leadership by state and federal politicians has been a complete joke

kmlx 7y ago

you've got to understand australia is huge, as big as the united states. so when you've got fires as big as european nations, it's impossible to extinguish, even contain.

benjaminsuch 7y ago
Okay I get that, but how do they battle it? What is the plan? Where do they start? Are they just trying to prevent the spread and wait till the fire kills itself?
- flukus 7y ago
  > Are they just trying to prevent the spread and wait till the fire kills itself? Basically this whenever possible, often if it's not near a populated area they won't even try to limit the spread, they put themselves out eventually with the right conditions (wind, rain, geography). Near populated areas they do what they can, mostly controlled burns and having fire breaks that allow them to effectively concentrate resources (firetrucks, water bombers) where they can actually be useful, a firetruck can be effective where there's a firebreak but without one it would be suicide to be there.
- SturgeonsLaw 7y ago
  I can help answer this, one of my parents is a volunteer firefighter who was helping within the last few days. The current mandate for the CFA is asset protection, ie; protecting houses, farms and other properties where they can. It's understood that the fires can't be put out in the current conditions, so resources are focused on protecting buildings for now. We're hoping for rain, but that's probably not going to appear in any significant quantities for a couple of months.

logicchains 7y ago

It's a reeeeealy big fire? Like how managing 10k servers is way harder than managing 10.

BLKNSLVR 7y ago

It's not like a barbecue fire that can be controlled with a garden hose. As someone else in this thread has mentioned, one of the fire fronts is 180km wide. Edit: 180km perimeter I think the article says that one of the fires has burnt an area the size of the state of Rhode Island. https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11838160-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11838160-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11834342-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11834342-3x2-460x307.jpg https://www.google.com/search?q=Australian+bushfires https://www.google.com/search?q=Australian+bushfires

fhars 7y ago
And that is just one fire. The total area burnt in New South Wales alone was almost nine times larger than Rhode Island by 9 December. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bushfires-burn-area-bigger-than-wales-a-result-of-record-spring/11810324 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bushfires-burn-area-b...

carl_sandland 7y ago

Have a look at the regions involved; https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me * the number of active fires is high. * we have no proper rain and the ground is like DEAD dry. * the amount of resources we have to put them all out is not infinite. * the transport network does not cover much of those areas. * the population tends to cluster in or at the fringes of flammable regions. * the weather and fuel load are combining into truly horrific, chaotic fire behaviour, that can create their own weather systems (fire storms). It's a good question though! I wonder if we can invent some technology to solve this.

emsign 7y ago

The scale. They don't have enough equiptment to extinguish it. Someone might make an exact calcuation, but my guess is they would need hundreds of fire fighting air tanker planes by now. They say the only thing that can help now is rainfall. And it's not gonna come. All that the fire fighters can do now is saving lifes, helping people to evacuate, trying to keep important roads safe, etc.

woolly 7y ago

Some other issues that I don't think have been mentioned: - A lot of the trees are eucalypts which are super oily and incredibly flammable. Some have been known to explode when they get too hot. - It's been getting incredibly windy, which is taking burning embers far ahead of the main firefront and starting advance fires. Recently, a firey was crushed to death after the fire engine was blown over on top of him the winds are that strong.

perilunar 7y ago

Adding to what others have said... * the state-based Rural Fire Services are staffed mostly by volunteers * and have been inadequately funded for the last few years, despite warnings that this fire season would be a shocker * we don’t have enough fire bombers * leadership by state and federal politicians has been a complete joke