Bushfires, Muhammad, and Auntie

See, thanks to global warming we have had more bush fires, and of course irreversible damage to the Great Barrier Reef. This and other alarmist propaganda can be found on a daily basis in all forms of the ABC.

First point, bush fires are natural. They have occurred for millennium and will continue to do so. The aborigines knew about them, as does our early history e.g. Black Thursday in 1851. The more people that start living in denser bush communities, the greater the death toll when one sweeps through.

Despite all the talking heads who have only ever seen a fire on a TV set there are some basics that if followed would cut future deaths to a bare minimum.

1. Look at the US cyclone model. During cyclone period a map appears on people's TV sets showing the current position of a cyclone , its direction and if it is about to hit a population area. US citizens watch and when it gets close they jump into their cellar for it to pass by.

What Australia needs is someone, dare I suggest the ABC, to do exactly the same thing. Pop up a map that shows where fires are, and wind directions. This will give likely escape routes and warning if an area if about to be hit. We have the technology lets use it, with calm WW2 style commentary, not raving idiots.

2. Look at those houses that survived what did they have in common? Easy. They had a cleared area around them. No bushes growing up next to houses. No houses built in valleys (natural fire paths). A bit of work will fireproof most houses. People need to do a bit of work to protect themselves and their houses. They might also like to build a cellar to hide in as the fire goes over. Yes smoke can be a problem, so a small air tank of some kind if it gets really bad perhaps.

3. Sensible people giving directions. Some communities complained that they were told to stay, then leave, directly onto smoke filled roads where many died in the accidents and confusion. Escape plans are important but only with good intelligence of which direction to escape through.

So where does Muhammad come in in this story?

Back on September 8th there was a story in the Age about the group Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network who argued that it was OK to start bush fires because people had cut down trees in their lands in the past. The group had urged Muslims in Australia and elsewhere to start bush fires as a weapon of terror. No I am not making this up.