Fight Fire With Fire - Foresters
THE SUNDAY AGE
Saturday October 22, 1994
Throwing large numbers of men and machines in to battle major bushfires will never solve a problem that is fundamental to living in the Australian environment, according to two of Australia's more experienced foresters.
Mr Bill Hurditch, former head of bushfire fighting in New South Wales, and his son Dr Bill Hurditch, director of the NSW Chamber of Mines, believe that the best way to save the Australian bush from fire is to burn it.
Controlled burning (or hazard reduction) of bushland must now be given the same degree of support as firefighting equipment and organisations, they argue.
While controlled burning was used widely in south-eastern Australia during the 1960s and early 1970s, these techniques fell from favor under pressure from environmentalists, the two argue in a paper entitled `The Burning Continent'.
``Television images of masses of equipment, armies of manpower and flights of water bombers offer an immediate political solution, but fuel a recurring misconception in the minds of the Australian public," they write.
``In the bushfire equation there is only one controllable factor: fuel quantity. This must be reduced ... Unless this is done, the ferocity of bushfires will never be reduced."
© 1994 THE SUNDAY AGE