Summer Fire Safety !

 The last winter weekend in Sydney brought a reminder of last summers fire events as the city was wreathed with smoke.  The fire services took the opportunity of settled weather and a lack of wind to conduct controlled " burn off " fires to reduce the fire hazard for the coming summer.

Last year was unusually dangerous because of drought.  The bush was tinder dry and the inevitable summer lightning strikes saw many fires blaze out of control, and sadly some were deliberately lit by idiots who get their kicks out of arson.

The weather forecasters predict this year will bring a " La Nina " effect of a " wet " summer and areas burned last year will not have regrown sufficiently to burn again so soon, but there is a lot of the state with a heavy fire load and global warming promises more record breaking hot days.  If we get a fire respite it will be sheer good luck and the future seems certain to deliver longer and more dangerous fire seasons.

What is now ringing alarm bells is the knowledge that the risk management plans held by local government are more than five years out of date.  To some extent, this is blamed on the aborted plan to amalgamate many councils as an economy measure which did not proceed and put forward planning on hold.

In many cases, this time lapse was compounded because upgrades were waiting for council approval and encountering the usual political lack of consensus that occurs when anything changes the status quo. This is legislation that will substantially effect the average ratepayer and will be vigorously resisted by elements opposed to any sort of change.

It is now clears that global warming is a real issue with which we have to contend.  Heat records are being broken and we face a longer fire season than in the past and how we build the homes we live in and our responsibility for clearing away surrounding fire danger needs to equate to that increased risk.

In the past, councils were obsessed with tree preservation. and it was difficult to get permission to lop even dangerous trees overhanging a house. A lot depends on the type of tree involved because some have characteristics that add to a fire and need to be replaced with a safer variety.  It is also fast becoming a requirement that the owners of land take action to clear away the type of kindling matter that allows a fire to advance across their property.

This may seem like radical change to many people, but it is plain common sense.  It is near impossible to build a fire proof house, but small changes can make a home very fire resistant.  Usually an ember attack precedes the fire front and owners defending their home can cope with that if the property is well prepared.  A little effort extended before the fire season starts can pay big dividends in leaving a home untouched once the fire front has passed.

We live in a changing world and it is imperative that those council ordinances are brought up to date.  The responsibility of home owners need to be clear and concise and the task of seeing it is undertaken is best conducted at the council level.