Rules in Victoria preventing building within x no of metres of trees or tree lines have just meant people are cutting down more trees. Which just adds to the pr

Rules in Victoria preventing building within x no of metres of trees or tree lines have just meant people are cutting down more trees. Which just adds to the problem of hotter, dryer conditions. The only thing that stops fires is holding moisture in the soil and in the trees. Fire breaks are really effective for small fires in moderate weather conditions. The kind of fires we saw in Oz or Cali jump straight over them. Look at these maps from late last year from the guardian[0]. The fires were jumping 20kms or more at a stretch. If look down to the snowy mountains map, you can see where a strong change in wind sent ember attacks to every ridge line over successive days. Unless your fire break clears every ridge you can't stop these kind of fires. Also, since all the misinformation last year in Australia in the msm about lack of back burning and arson being the major causes of fires. I can't speak to the experience in calu, but we have now found that back burning had actually increased 10 fold before the fires from the previous 10 year period, but suitable conditions for back burning had also decreased by more than a third. Lightning strikes were responsible for most bushfires, with only about 1-3% being deliberately lit. Hell, in the midst of the firestorms, the sudden updraft of smoke and ash into the atmosphere was creating it's own mini weather events including more lightning. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2019/nov/21/how-australias-bushfires-spread-mapping-the-nsw-and-queensland-fires https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2019/nov/21/how-au...