Daily Times

Currently this scribe is touring Australia and has had the opportunity to observe the life-threatening bushfires from up-close and here is my two cents worth on the topic. Bushfires in Australia impact extensive areas and cause property damage and have accounted for the deaths of 800 people in Australia since 1851, and millions of animals. Although bushfires in Australia are an annual feature, this year they are the worst in recorded history as they refuse to die down and are taking greater control of human, animals and insect lives as well as houses and property.

While the world is still struggling with the impact of the fires that devastated the Amazon Forests, the Australian bushfires continue to threaten life and bio-ecology and are a cause for serious concern. The 2019-20 bushfire season is of notable intensity compared to previous seasons as it has burned an estimated 10.7 million hectares (26 million acres; 107,000 square kilometers; 41,000 square miles), destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including over 2,204 homes) and killed 29 people as of 11 January 2020. An estimated 1 billion animals have also been killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction.

Due to safety concerns and significant public pressure, New Year’s Eve fireworks displays were cancelled across Australia, except the main one at Sydney Harbour. While the valiant firefighters of Australia continue to battle the raging fires, the Australian Defence Services have joined in the massive firefighting efforts. Volunteers have also come up to help overcome the catastrophe that endangers life and property.

Special prayers to extinguish the raging fires are held in churches while the Muslims in Australia are chipping in with Namaz-e-Istasqa (Prayer for Rain), which has brought some relief but not enough to put out the bushfires. Interestingly, the native Aborigines, the indigenous population of Australia, who have been facing this hazard for centuries and have a deep knowledge of the land, have a solution. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; they knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn, and how frequently. Their skill is based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.

Indigenous burning techniques aren’t enough on their own. Communities will need to properly manicure adjacent forests, landscape their own private property, and have effective house design and maintenance

The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren’t too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy.

Though current fire fighters on the ground still use some fuel control and hazard reduction techniques, it is not enough. The ancient wisdom considers aspects such as: When do you a start a fire? What time of the year? What time of day? How long you want it to burn? What plants are there? What’s the weather like – is there a drought like now?

In Australia, fires that are too hot actually allows the flammable undergrowth to germinate more. When early European settlers tried to copy Aboriginal techniques by lighting fires, they made the fires too hot, and got even more of the flammable scrub. So, they tried again, unsuccessfully.

Climate change has only worsened the conditions for fires although bushfires are ignited both naturally and by humans. Under worsening conditions, fires are harder to put out: They grow too big to get to safely, and even aerial suppression isn’t necessarily possible because of the wind, which calls for the adoption of the indigenous fire techniques.

Australia needs to address the problem with a long-term solution, which involves effective township design. Indigenous burning techniques aren’t enough on their own. Communities will need to properly manicure adjacent forests, landscape their own private property, and have effective house design and maintenance.

Aboriginal techniques require more money, but the cost might be worth it. The most common way fires are handled now is with medium-intensity fires. It’s similar to these smaller, more frequent fires, except it burns a little hotter, covers more land and is just a little more intense. Naturalists need to chip in with the help of the Aborigines and their knowledge of the land.

Meanwhile on Kangaroo Island, Australia’s third largest island, a third of the island was burnt. Large parts of the island are designated as protected areas and host animals such as sea lions, penguins, kangaroos, koalas, bees, Kangaroo Island dunnarts and various birds including glossy black cockatoos. NASA has estimated that the number of dead koalas could be as high as 25,000 or about half the total population of the species on the island.

While Australia is bravely trying to overcome the catastrophe, international help is essential and should pour in now for a continent, whose human, animal and eco-biological life is at peril.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host