Fire

SETA suggests that my research on the relationship between logging and fire is merely “opinion”. It is anything but ... SETA makes an absurd comparison between the flammability of national parks and state forests. The proper scientific comparison is between logged and unlogged state forests ...

Victoria has long faced the devastating impact of powerline-related bushfires, with outdated Single Wire Earth Return powerlines responsible for 30 to 40 fires each year. Despite almost ten years of successful trials, partially funded by the Victorian Government, which prove that early fault detectors for powerlines can prevent bushfires, the technology has yet to be widely rolled out ... ARR.News asked some further questions of IND.T CEO, Professor Alan Wong.

One of the key drivers of fire behaviour that Professor Lindenmayer seems to pay little attention to is the ground fine fuel load across the forest landscape. The key driver of fire intensity, with a given fuel moisture content, wind speed, air temperature and relative humidity, on the day, is fine fuels.

The day started rather innocuously on 18 March 2018 at Tathra, a serene coastal town nestled amidst the forested hills of southern New South Wales, renowned for its natural beauty near the sea. Yet, by 5 pm, this picturesque setting became the backdrop for a disaster that laid bare systemic failures in firefighting coordination, urban planning and bushfire preparedness.

A demand for data to inform fire management has prompted Charles Darwin University (CDU) researchers to develop a tool animating historic bushfires across Australia. The Landscape Knowledge Visualisation (LKV) Lab at CDU has recently released the Burn Area Animation Tool, a site which animates where bushfires occurred from 2012 to 2024 around Australia. 

More than 150 ancient tingle trees in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park have fallen after a prescribed burn on December 18 last year. This is the finding of a local researcher, ANU environmental science student Uralla Luscombe-Pedro, who surveyed the area burned next to the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk.

The devastating bushfires that swept through the Nhill, Dimboola, and Wimmera regions have left a lasting impact on residents, businesses, and wildlife. In response, local podcast Two Cousins One Chat has released a special episode featuring Hindmarsh Shire Council CEO Monica Revell, who provides insights into the damage, recovery efforts, and community support initiatives.

David Lindenmayer's response to my rebuttal still fails to address the core points I raised in my original blog and overlooks the straightforward questions I posed in my response to his critique ... If Professor Lindenmayer believes his theories reflect reality, he should test them in the field.

A $2 million program is supporting councils to expand collection points for problem batteries like those found in vapes and e-scooters. The new LNP Government has announced a three-point plan to tackle battery safety risks sparked by a spike in dangerous fires.

In a recent article in Australian Rural & Regional News, I highlighted the overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that logging does indeed increase the risk of high-severity wildfire. Mr Onfray wants evidence of this effect of logging on wildfire – and there is plenty of it.

In response to the South East Timber Association’s (SETA) critique, I want to clarify the scientific evidence and address the inaccuracies in their claims. SETA disputes the well-documented link between logging and increased fire severity, but the scientific consensus is clear: logging fundamentally alters forests in ways that make them more flammable.

John Williams. "The black clouds had been building up all day. It was going to be a dry storm and the air was full of heat and electricity. The rolling clouds tumbled over a solid layer of still air. You could hear the pods of the desert banksias popping as the temperature soared to 42 degrees ..."

Professor David Lindenmayer’s response fails to engage with the key points I raised. The core argument in my piece is that the peer-reviewed studies claiming logging increases fire severity often rely on unknown or poorly defined methodologies, selective data, weak correlations, or literature reviews rather than empirical fire behaviour analysis.

Join this special February Hazardous Webinar to discuss the lessons we can take so far from the devastating Los Angeles (LA) bushfires and what they mean for Australia. The webinar is bought to you by Natural Hazards Research Australia and AFAC.

Members of the South East Timber Association respectfully disagree with many of the assertions made by David Lindenmayer and have a few observations and questions relating to Professor Lindenmayer’s opinion. Kosciuszko State Park was established in 1944. Areas of the original dedication, now in Kosciuszko National Park (KNP), were either never harvested or last harvested more than 80 years ago ...

Emergency crews have now contained the Little Desert fires that started almost two weeks ago. The fires were ignited by dry lightning on 27 January and ended up burning 95,000 hectares in the Little Desert region so far.

Professor Lindenmayer responds to Robert Onfray's article, "Debunking false claims about bushfire risk and native logging in Australia" by contending that logging does indeed increase the risk of high severity wildfires, and the evidence for this worrying narrative comes from work by many scientists across Australia and in fact around the world.

February depresses me. So many things have gone wrong in Februarys past - apart from many other minor things it is always fire month and it was this coming week 11 years ago that we lost our home, many precious animals, my garden and after 20 years in a place I loved so much, we had to move.

Nine fire specialists from Forestry Corporation have deployed to Victorian firefronts as part of an interstate NSW firefighting contingency ... “Our firefighters are highly skilled and experienced in Australian bushland firefighting and are always ready to lend a hand in regional NSW or further afield": Rebel Talbert, FCNSW’s Senior Manager Fire and Natural Hazards.

The local CFA teams are incredible: knowledgeable, brave and hardworking. The community is so fortunate to have them on standby during this period of extended hot weather, which is expected to continue for at least the next week.