"Nobody, not one Australian I know has ever said eucalyptus was a sensible export as live wood, or was suitable for planting like this in these countries. I can

"Nobody, not one Australian I know has ever said eucalyptus was a sensible export as live wood, or was suitable for planting like this in these countries. I can't work out who did think this was a good idea." Well, I'd very definitely agree with that comment. I have firsthand experience of eucalyptus trees and bushfires and I find it truly perplexing why people in other countries would want to put their lives and property at risk by planting this dangerous invasive species that often grows faster and more robustly there than it does in Australia. I grew up in a very fire-prone part of Australia in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales west of Sydney and I've lived through some of the most devastating fires. At the end I've posted a link to a YouTube video of a fire I was caught up in as a kid. It was many decades ago but I still have vivid memories of the event. It's impossible to forget witnessing over a hundred homes and businesses burn down as the fire raged through the township. Unless one's been caught up in a raging bushfire it's almost impossible to visualize what it's really like, especially one involving eucalyptus trees, the roaring noise is almost deafening and suddenly trees just explode when the eucalypt oil ignites. It can be very frightening. Luckily, my parents' home wasn't in the path of the fire it being several kilometers away but I saw the aftermath and I helped out with bringing bedding and provisions to the poor souls who'd lost their homes and possessions—many had lost everything. It was a truly pitiful sight to see so many people crammed into the town hall floor space of the next town with hardly a footstep between them. The video is quite long, about 30 min, and of course it's a revisited historical video so the camera footage isn't a vivid as one expects nowadays. Nevertheless, it depicts the human loss very well indeed. When I first saw the video some years back I could feel myself reliving the event, it was quite uncanny and unsettling. Incidentally, in the video one gets a quick glimpse of that town hall where the victims were temporarily rehoused. From images of recent fires across the globe that have involved eucalyptus trees, it seems to me we ought to be severely limiting these foreign plantings. I recall years ago, when I first went to California and saw that the eucalyptus trees grew better there that in many parts of Australia I was horrified. From my experience it was clear to me what was going to happen there. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYOVnmkP0c https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYOVnmkP0c