Hazard reduction burning had little to no effect in slowing extreme bushfires

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/06/hazard-reduction-burning-had-little-to-no-effect-in-slowing-this-summers-bushfires

Adam Morton Environment editor
@adamlmorton
Wed 5 Feb 2020 11.30 EST

Hazard reduction burning had little to no effect in slowing the most severe fires that devastated more than 5m hectares across New South Wales this summer, an analysis has found.

Forest scientists from the University of Melbourne said initial results suggested hazard reduction was best used in a targeted way around assets to help protect them from less intense fires.

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Patrick Baker, a professor of silviculture and forest ecology, said the prescribed burning did not “seem to have done much at all” in areas that faced a crowning bushfire that burned the canopy.

He said the fire that devastated the NSW south coast between Batemans Bay and Jervis Bay over the new year scored 3.95 out of 4 on a severity scale despite recent hazard reduction burns in the area, some of which scored up to 3.8. “Pretty much the whole area was torched,” Baker said.

The analysis found prescribed burning was likely to have helped save property in areas on the fringe of major fire complexes where the flames were less severe, such as Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

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In Victoria, for example, burning the sandy soiled landscape in the Mallee, which makes up nearly a fifth of the state, would do little to protect assets but could have a catastrophic impact on native animals and plants, he said.
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“We need to be smart about where we burn,” Baker said. “The other issue is we don’t have endless resources to do this. It’s extraordinarily expensive, so if people want to double or triple or quadruple prescribed burning, the question is what else are we not going to get done?”

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A group of 31 ex-fire and emergency bosses will write to Morrison on Thursday saying the royal commission will be a waste of time and money if it does not examine the role of climate change.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Greg Mullins, the former NSW fire and rescue commissioner, said: “Climate change has increased fire danger so much that fires now burn freely through areas that have undergone hazard reduction burning recently. I saw fires a metre high burning across mown lawns while fighting fires at Batemans Bay on New Year’s Eve.”

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