Frank Batini, Hon Secretary, Bushfire Front
The weekend of 4/5 November 2023 was eerily similar to my experiences as a 20 year old fire-fighter at the disastrous 1961 Dwellingup fire, which burnt 200000 hectares of forest and destroyed several towns. Fortunately, despite several near-misses, no lives were lost. Multiple lightning strikes, dry, heavy fuels and strong winds eventually overwhelmed all fire-fighting efforts. Control was only achieved with the onset of cooler weather and rain.
High temperatures, dry fuels, strong winds and multiple “dry-lightning” strikes earlier this month were also cause for concern. The next day, the spotter aircraft reported 26 smokes within the forests south-east of Perth. The Incident controller plotted the location of these fires onto his fuel-age plans and was relieved to find that, of the 26 fires, 20 were burning in fuels that were less than four years old, so could initially be left unattended. He then concentrated all fire-fighting efforts on the six fires burning in heavier fuels. These were brought under control, with a total of only 6000 hectares of forest burnt.
This is another, of the many examples, where fuel reduction by prescribed fire has been successful in avoiding potential catastrophe. Typically, the local news agencies, both print and TV, ignored this “good news” story.
See further: Tempered by Fire – Stories from firefighters and survivors of the 1961 Western Australian bushfires. Roger Underwood (Editor). A Bushfire Front publication. January 2011.
