Do we over sensationalise bushfires now?

[Underdog]

Whenever there is a bushfire I want to know about over here I just listen to ABC. They broadcast the official info from FESA (which is fastidiously checked for fear or legal action) at regular intervals.

DFES information can also be pretty dated. I was nearby the John Forrest National Park fire the weekend before last and I was getting accurate updates via a local Facebook group well before it was even mentioned on the DFES website. The information might not always be accurate but in these instances no information is worse.

Before it was mentioned on the DFES website, residents were being warned, a number of appliances were deployed and numerous bombers were making runs dropping water (when they would have otherwise been in Parky/Stoneville). The fire was quite significant.

Perhaps the delays come from the time to assess the situation and the vetting process.

 

[Run n Spread]

Everything is sensationalised now. Specifically bushfires for all the reasons listed in the OP I suppose. Bushfires have always and will always be a threat in Australia, especially in the Southern States with dry summers and very very dense bushfires. i.e. Halls Gap, The most dense bush I've seen they would be on high alert every year and residents would have to be vigilant about clearing, where and how they build.

Report by all means but I can't work out the sense of shock the news conveys. Don't get me wrong I have immense sympathy for those who are personally affected and lose property but multiple bushfires in Australian summers are pretty much a guarantee.

How the **** do these idiots that start fires deliberately even do it?

How would anyone know really? To be honest in dry dense bush when something like a engine spark or small glass reflection can kick start a massive fire how could you possibly tell if arson was involved with 100% certainty unless evidence/some form of petrol/accelerate was found. I question how many fires are actually deliberately lit and how many they just can't find/ascertain a cause so guess arson?

 

[little graham]

Well the fire I was at Thursday all the media (including CFS FB) were a good two hours behind and then broadcast for hours afterwards when there was no longer a threat. I know of various residents evacuated by the CFS in the last few minutes who were warned way before by a civilian of the approaching front, the media or police were nowhere to be seen or heard. The fire was very predictable.

One of the reasons were a lack of CFS resources, predominately English police at the local station who were only interested in catching motorists speeding away from the area and a Simpsons style local media. The media got a photo of the resident drag queen acting all big and tough about defending his property that was never in danger and then went about 20 k's away and did that with a local hypochondriac who evacuated for no reason ,well probably so she could get on tele.

 

[Tulip]

Not sure why the Tony Abbott thing is necessary, no matter what you think of someone on a personal level they all give their time and risk their lives to fight fires and keep people safe. It's not like he does it to make good copy either.

 

[Gough]

Not sure why the Tony Abbott thing is necessary, no matter what you think of someone on a personal level they all give their time and risk their lives to fight fires and keep people safe. It's not like he does it to make good copy either.

Because he is a twit, who I wouldn't trust running a bath let alone a country.

 

[Tulip]

Because he is a twit, who I wouldn't trust running a bath let alone a country.

Doesn't answer the question as to why you've brought him up in a discussion involving firefighters.

 

[Gough]

Lighten up man, it was a half hearted gag, but if you think he doesn't play up the whole firefighter thing, then you're naive.

 

[Hans_Moleman]

How the **** do these idiots that start fires deliberately even do it?

Me and my brother tried lighting my grass on fire the other day (cut, in a barrel, plenty of hoses and shit so don't be alarmed) and we couldn't even get a ******* male to last longer than 2 minutes, that was even with fuel!

Trees/grasses need to be dry and have something fanning the fire (windy conditions in the case of bushfires) to travel across large areas, otherwise they'll just quickly burn a particular area and fizzle out. The oil in eucalypt trees also helps with the combustion of fuel, and since there's so many of them here in Australia it isn't difficult to see how bushfires spread so easily.

Firebugs don't cause these deliberately lit fires as often as the media suggest anyway. People ignoring total fire bans and throwing cigarette butts from car windows on hot days have a lot to do with them.

 

[Quivorir]

Firebugs don't cause these deliberately lit fires as often as the media suggest anyway. People ignoring total fire bans and throwing cigarette butts from car windows on hot days have a lot to do with them.

Thats what baffled me the most, we were actually trying to light grass on fire (it was dead and dry and windy - but I guess only so much wind can get in a barrel) and we still couldnt do it. Crazy to think a cigarette can.

 

[HBF]

Because he is a twit, who I wouldn't trust running a bath let alone a country.

Has my vote for an early contender for POTY.

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Just under a quarter of firebugs are firefighters because they want to get on the truck for a adrenaline rush

 

[Hans_Moleman]

Thats what baffled me the most, we were actually trying to light grass on fire (it was dead and dry and windy - but I guess only so much wind can get in a barrel) and we still couldnt do it. Crazy to think a cigarette can.

Grass burns very quickly though as opposed to something such as tree branches, and so it becomes more difficult for grassfires to spread. It just doesn't have the mass of some other common sources of fuel for fire (bark, tree branches, leaves too).

Lighting a fire in a barrel is a different kettle of fish to lighting one in an open bush or paddock- the latter has a way of spreading whereas it's harder for flames/embers to escape from a barrel. Embers in a bushfire can travel up to hundreds of metres I've heard, so it's not difficult to see how they travel so rapidly.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Not sure why the Tony Abbott thing is necessary, no matter what you think of someone on a personal level they all give their time and risk their lives to fight fires and keep people safe. It's not like he does it to make good copy either.

Yes, those media cameras just happen across where he is. Like when Putin's fishing or Obama's shooting hoops.

 

[Tulip]

Yes, those media cameras just happen across where he is. Like when Putin's fishing or Obama's shooting hoops.

He's been doing it for many years now. There are many valid criticisms that you can aim at our PM, it bemuses me why anyone would waste time with derogatory comments about his legitimate charity work. For example, the media were nowhere near Davidson three months ago when he did a 14 hour shift one weekend. That was a couple of people who spotted him that put him on social media.

 

[little graham]

A thousand or so people got evacuated at midnight last night from a fire thats been burning for 11 days.Barely rates a mention on news...

 

[peternorth]

A thousand or so people got evacuated at midnight last night from a fire thats been burning for 11 days.Barely rates a mention on news...

depends on location of evacuation.

national news give precedent to sydney/nsw always.

anyway all media outlets now clamber over each other to be the newsbreakers irrespective of people or property.

david koch/mines/ambulance as an example

 

[Illinois Nazi]

anyway all media outlets now clamber over each other to be the newsbreakers irrespective of people or property.

This is so true. Ever since 9/11 they realise that being first with the story is paramount, so at the first hint of any sort of disaster it's blanket coverage and stick with it just in case.

 

[little graham]

This was the scene at 1 am.

About 500 meters to the bottom right of this pic is a town that was sleeping when the order to evacuate was given last nite at midnight. This is a prick of a fire thats cost hundreds of millions of dollars already, will cost more again.

 

[sprockets]

I drove through the Grampians yesterday from Dunkeld right through Hall's Gap to Stawell and there was little sign of fires. There were some blackened tree trunks that appeared to be from an older controlled burn as there was a heap of green undergrowth. Apart from that and what looked like chimney smoke on one of the hills (was obviously not chimney smoke though) there was no sign of bushfires. I also saw 5 or so fire trucks parked in Hall's Gap.

As a matter of fact I only smelled smoke when I was out of the area.

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

A thousand or so people got evacuated at midnight last night from a fire thats been burning for 11 days.Barely rates a mention on news...

This was the scene at 1 am.

About 500 meters to the bottom right of this pic is a town that was sleeping when the order to evacuate was given last nite at midnight. This is a prick of a fire thats cost hundreds of millions of dollars already, will cost more again.

Which fire is this mate ?

 

[little graham]

Bangor!

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Bangor!

They keep upgrading & downgrading that fire

 

[little graham]

They've had to undertake some very serious and risky back burning because most nights a gully wind blows it towards towns,its in mountain forrest where the CFS can't get to it. So instead of them going to it, they brought the fire to them in conditions that favored us more than the next week of heatwave.

Serious management of a fire that may burn all summer long.

 

[little graham]

They keep upgrading & downgrading that fire

Last nite.

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Next 6 days will test the fires that are burning in SA