Bushfire

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Bushfire

A bushfire is a fire

Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
that occurs in the bush

The Bush

The bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in many places, such as Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, and Alaska....
(collective term for scrub

Scrubland

Scrubland is a plant community characterized by scrub vegetation. Scrubland consists of shrubs, mixed with grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Scrublands may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity....
, woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
or grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
of Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, New Caledonia

New Caledonia

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Bushfire'

Start a new discussion about 'Bushfire'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

A bushfire is a fire

Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
that occurs in the bush

The Bush

The bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in many places, such as Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, and Alaska....
(collective term for scrub

Scrubland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade....
or grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
of Australia

Australia

New Zealand

New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
). In south east Australia, bushfires tend to be most common and most severe during summer and autumn, in drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation ....
years, and particularly severe in El Niño years. Southeast Australia is fire prone, and warm and dry conditions intensify the probability of fire. In the north of Australia, bushfires usually occur during winter (the dry season), and fire severity tends to be more associated with seasonal weather patterns. In the southwest, similarly, bushfires occur in the summer dry season and severity is usually related to seasonal growth. Fire frequency in the north is difficult to assess, as the vast majority of fires are caused by human activity, however lightning

Lightning

File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
strikes are as common a cause as human ignited fires and arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example....
.

History

The natural fire regime was altered by the arrival of humans in Australia. Fires became more frequent, and fire-loving species — notably eucalypts — greatly expanded their range. It is assumed that a good deal of this change came about as the result of deliberate action by early humans

Fire-stick farming

Fire-stick farming is a term coined by Australian Archeology Rhys Jones in 1969 to describe the practice of Indigenous Australians where fire was used regularly to burn vegetation to facilitate hunting and to change the composition of plant and animal species in an area....
, setting fires to clear undergrowth or drive game.

Plants have evolved a variety of strategies to survive (or even require) bushfires, (possessing reserve shoots that sprout after a fire, or developing fire-resistant or fire-triggered seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s) or even encourage fire (eucalypt

Eucalypt

Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the new genus Corymbia....
s contain flammable oils in the leaves) as a way to eliminate competition from less fire-tolerant species. Many native animals are also adept at surviving bushfires.

Bushfire control

Key factors affecting bushfires

• Fuel: Anything that burns is fuel for the fire: litter on the ground (leaves, twigs, rubbish), undergrowth (shrubs, grass, seedlings), trees and other vegetation, structures (such as houses) and any other miscellaneous objects in the vicinity; gas bottles, piles of firewood, tyres, etc. Ladder fuels are low growing (30 cm to 2 metres) vegetation that offers a ladder for the fire to rise to the canopies of trees.

• Weather: Weather is a major contributor to bushfires. The hotter and dryer, the more likely it is for a bushfire to start and spread uncontrollably. High winds will reduce humidity, and cause an ongoing bushfire to spread more rapidly. Most bushfires start in the afternoon, when it is driest and hottest.

• Topography/slope: The topography of the terrain is a major factor in bushfire behaviour. Generally the fire spreads faster uphill. Conversely, fire going downhill advances more slowly. The superheated air is pushed in front of the fire drying and pre-warming the fuel for ignition. When a fire progressing downhill hits the flat at the bottom of the hill, the height of the flame can quadruple, when the fire hits the undulating slope opposite, the height may quadruple again. In other words, 1 metre flames going downhill can turn into 4 metre flames at the bottom of the hill, and to 16 metre flames starting to climb the next hill. While the height of the flame depends mainly on the height of the fuel, the former stands as a reminder that an innocent looking small bushfire can rapidly change into a life threatening fire.

Firefighting methods

In National Park

National park

A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution....
s and reserves, bushfire fighting is carried out by professional

Professional

A professional is a person who has completed a doctoral or law program or equivalent .A professional is someone who has a professional degree - a number one on the Hollingshead scale....
staff, such as Ranger

Ranger

Ranger was a gamekeeper in the 14th century England, though the meaning evolved to mean a soldier who ranges over a region to protect the area or enforce the law ....
s, Park Workers, Field and Technical Officers, with help from volunteer

Volunteer

A volunteer is someone who works Community service or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so. The word comes from France, it can also be translated as "will" ....
s from rural areas. The rural areas have bush fire services

Fire fighting

Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructive fires. A firefighter fights these fires to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment....
, such as the CFA

Country Fire Authority

Country Fire Authority, or CFA, is the name of the fire service that provides firefighting and other emergency services to all of the country areas and regional townships within the state of Victoria , Australia, as well as large portions of the outer suburban areas and growth corridors of Melbourne not covered by the Metropolitan Fire...
, largely staffed by volunteers, to help control bushfires. As with large fires on public land

Public land

In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries....
it is common for Parks staff and Rural or Country volunteers to work together on large rural fires. On some occasions urban firefighting professionals are also called in to assist. As well as the water-spraying trucks commonly used in urban firefighting, bushfire services often own or lease aircraft, particularly fire helicopters, that can douse areas inaccessible to ground crews. However, large fires are often of such a size that no conceivable firefighting service could attempt to douse the whole fire directly, and so alternative techniques are used.

Typically, this involves controlling the area that the fire can spread to, clearing control line

Control line

Control line is a simple and light way of controlling a flying model aircraft.It originated as an alternative to Free Flight models that were "set and forget" type aircraft....
s which are areas which contain no combustible material. These control lines can be produced by bulldozing, or by backburning — setting a small, low-intensity fire to burn the flammable material in a controlled way. These may then be extinguished by firefighters, or, ideally, directed in such away so that they meet the main fire front

Front

Front may refer to:* The Front, a 1976 film* The Hybrid Front, a Sega Mega Drive strategy game* The Front * Front for a blacklisted artist...
, at which point both fires will run out of flammable material and be extinguished.

Unfortunately, such methods can fail in the face of wind shifts causing fires to miss control lines, or because fires jump straight over them (for instance, because a burning tree falls across a line, or burning embers are carried by the wind over the line).

The actual goals of firefighters vary. Protection of life (both the firefighters and civilians) is given top priority, then private property according to economic and social

Social

Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms . It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary....
value. In very severe fires, this is sometimes the only possible action. Protecting house

House

A house generally refers to a or building that is a dwelling or place for habitation by humans. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to high-rise apartment buildings....
s is regarded as more important than, say, machinery sheds, though firefighters, if possible, will try to keep fires off farmland

Farmland

Farmland may refer to:*Arable land, land used for agriculture*Farmland, Indiana, a town in the United States*Farmland Industries, founded in 1929 as the Union Oil Company, later renamed Consumers Cooperative Association and Farmland Industries, Inc....
to protect livestock

Livestock

Livestock is the term used to refer to a domesticated animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce things such as food or fibre, or for its labour....
and fences (steel fences are destroyed by the passage of fire, as the wire is irreversibly stretched and weakened by it). Preventing the burning of publicly owned forest

Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
ed areas is generally of least priority, and, indeed, it is quite common (in Australia, at least) for firefighters to simply observe a fire burn towards control lines through forest rather than attempt to put it out more quickly — it is, after all, a natural process.

The risk of major bushfires can be reduced by reducing the amount of fuel

Fuel

Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy and to heat or to move an object. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion....
present. In forests, this is usually accomplished by conducting hazard reduction controlled burn

Controlled burn

Controlled or prescribed burning, also known as hazard reduction burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or Greenhouse gas abatement....
s — deliberately setting areas ablaze during favourable weather conditions in spring or autumn. Controlled burns can be controversial, both because they can be regarded as tampering with the forest ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
, and because serious fires can be started if a control burn gets out of hand. The Australian Aborigines

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
used controlled burning to encourage new growth of plants.

Contrary to urban understanding of bushfire, rural farming communities are comparatively rarely threatened directly by them. They are usually located in the middle of large areas of cleared, usually grazed, land, and in the drought conditions present in bushfire years there is often very little grass left. However, urban fringes often spread into forested areas, and communities have literally built themselves in the middle of highly flammable forests.

On occasions, bushfires have caused wide-scale damage to private property, particularly when they have reached such urban-fringe communities, destroying many homes and causing deaths.

People living in fire-prone areas typically take a variety of precautions. These include building their home out of flame-resistant

Flame retardant

Flame retardants are materials that inhibit or resist the spread of fire. These can be separated into several categories:*Minerals such as asbestos, compounds such as aluminium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, antimony trioxide, various hydrates, red phosphorus, and boron compounds, mostly borates....
materials, reducing the amount of fuel near to the home or property, constructing firebreak

Firebreak

A firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a wildfire. A firebreak may occur naturally where there is a lack of vegetation or "fuel", such as a river, lake or canyon....
s and investing in firefighting equipment.

Significant bushfires

Notable bushfire events

Fire	Location	Hectares Burned	Date	Deaths	Properties Damaged
Black Thursday bushfires Black Thursday (1851) The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the state of Victoria , Australia on 6 February 1851. They are considered the largest Australian bushfires in recorded history, with approximately 5 million hectares, or a quarter of Victoria, being burnt....	Victoria, Australia	approximately 5 million ha	6 February 1851	about 12	1 million sheep; thousands of cattle
Red Tuesday bushfires Red Tuesday The Red Tuesday bushfires took place on February 1, 1898 in South Gippsland, Victoria . The bushfires claimed 12 lives, destroyed about 2,000 buildings and affected about 15,000 people, leaving 2,500 homeless....	Victoria	260,000 ha	1 February 1898	12	2,000 buildings
1926 bushfires	Victoria		February – March 1926	60
Black Friday bushfires Black Friday (1939) The Black Friday fires of January 13, 1939, in Victoria, Australia, are considered one of the worst natural bushfires in the world, and most certainly the single worst in Australian history as a measure of land affected....	Victoria	2,000,000 ha	December 1938 – January 1939, peaking 13 January 1939	71	3,700
1944 Bushfires	Victoria	estimated 1 million ha	14 January – 14 February 1944	15–20	more than 500 houses
1951-2 Bushfires	Victoria		Summer 1951–52	at least 10
Black Sunday Bushfires Black Sunday (1955) The Black Sunday Bushfires of 1955 were a series of bushfires that broke out across South Australia on 2 January, 1955. Extreme morning temperatures coupled with strong north-westerly winds contributed to the breakout of numerous fires in the Adelaide Hills, Jamestown, South Australia, Waterloo, South Australia, Kingston SE, South Australia a...	South Australia South Australia South Australia is a States and territories of Australia of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....		2 January 1955	2
1961 Western Australian bushfires	Western Australia Western Australia Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....		January–March 1961	0
1962 bushfires	Victoria		14–16 January 1962	32	450 houses
Southern Highlands bushfires Chatsbury bushfire The Chatsbury/Bungonia Bushfire of 1965 was a series of devastating bushfires that raged from 5th through 14 March 1965 and destroyed the Southern Highlands, New South Wales villages of Tallong, New South Wales and Wingello, New South Wales as well as most of the surrounding orchards....	New South Wales New South Wales New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....		5–14 March 1965	3	59 homes
Tasmanian "Black Tuesday" bushfires 1967 Tasmanian fires The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires....	Tasmania Tasmania Tasmania is an Australian island and States and territories of Australia of the same name. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait....	Approximately 264,000 ha	1967	62	1,293 homes
1969 bushfires	Victoria		8 January 1969	23	230 houses
Northern Sydney bushfires	Sydney Sydney Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia.... , NSW		1979
Ash Wednesday bushfires Ash Wednesday fires The Ash Wednesday bushfires were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983. Within twelve hours, more than 180 bushfires fanned by winds of up to 110km per hour caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia....	South Australia and Victoria	418,000 ha	16 February 1983	75	about 2,400 houses
1994 Eastern seaboard fires 1994 Eastern seaboard fires The 1994 Eastern seaboard fires were bushfires in New South Wales, Australia between 27 December 1993 and 16 January 1994 were widespread along the NSW coast from Bega, New South Wales to the Queensland border and inland as far as Bathurst, New South Wales....	New South Wales		27 December 1993 – 16 January 1994	4	225 homes
Dandenongs bushfire	Victoria		21 January 1997	3	33 homes
Lithgow bushfire	New South Wales		2 December 1997	2
Linton bushfire Linton bushfire The Linton bushfire was a wildfire that burned through private land and state forest near the township of Linton, Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1998....	Victoria		1998	5
Black Christmas (bushfires) Black Christmas (bushfires) The Black Christmas bushfires were bushfires that burnt for almost three weeks from 25 December 2001 across New South Wales, Australia. It was the longest continuous bushfire emergency in NSW history....	New South Wales	740,000 acres	2001–02	0	121 homes
2003 Canberra bushfires 2003 Canberra bushfires The Canberra bushfires of 2003 caused severe damage to the outskirts of Canberra, the Australian capital city. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory?s pasture, forests and nature parks were severely damaged, and most of the renowned Mount Stromlo Observatory was destroyed....	Canberra Canberra Canberra is the List of Australian capital cities of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall.... , Australian Capital Territory Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory is the Capital districts and territories of the Australia and its smallest States and territories of Australia....		2003	4	almost 500 homes
2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires The Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires, also known as the Great Divide Fire Complex, started with eighty seven fires that were started by lightning in the north east of Victoria on January 8 2003....	Victoria	over 1.3 million ha	8 January – 8 March 2003		41 homes
Tenterden	Western Australia Western Australia Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....		December 2003	2
Eyre Peninsula bushfire Eyre Peninsula bushfire In January 2005, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, was the scene of a devastating bushfire in which nine people were killed and at least 113 injured. It was one of Australia?s worst bushfires since the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983....	South Australia South Australia South Australia is a States and territories of Australia of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....	145,000 ha	2005	9	93 homes
2006 Central Coast bushfire	Central Coast, New South Wales Central Coast, New South Wales The Central Coast is an urban region in the Australian state of New South Wales, located on the coast north of Sydney and south of Lake Macquarie ....		New Years Day, 2006
Jail Break Inn Fire Jail Break Inn Fire The Jail Break Inn Fire was started by a cigarette butt near the Jail Break Inn 8 km west of Junee, New South Wales Australia on January 1 2006....	Junee, New South Wales	30,000	New Years Day 2006	0	Livestock losses estimated to be over 20,000.
Stawell New year fire	Victoria		December 2005 – January 2006
Grampians Bushfire	Victoria		January 2006	3
Pulletop bushfire Pulletop bushfire Pulletop, New South Wales bushfire started on the February 6 2006 in hot dry and windy weather conditions about 30 km southeast of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales....	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Wagga Wagga is a city in New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, Wagga with an urban population of 46,735 people, is the state's largest inland city and the country's fifth largest inland city, as well as an important agricultural, military, and transport hub of Australia....	9,000	6 February 2006	0	2,500 sheep and 6 cattle killed, 3 vehicles and 2 hay sheds destroyed as well as 50 km of fencing.
2006-07 Australian bushfire season			September 2006 – January 2007
Kangaroo Island Bushfires Kangaroo Island bushfires The Kangaroo Island Bushfires were a series of bushfires caused by lightning strikes on the 6 December 2007 on Kangaroo Island South Australia, resulting in 95,000 ha of land being destroyed....	South Australia	95,000 ha	6–14 December 2007	1
2009 Victorian bushfires	Victoria	450,000+ ha	7 February 2009 – ongoing	210+ still counting	2,029+ houses, 2000 other structures

Bushfire gallery

External links

(Australia-wide bushfire monitoring system)
Interactive Google map showing current fire hotspots in Australia and neighbouring countries
State requirements for building in bushfire-prone areas
General Information & Emergency Alerts
, The NSW Rural Fire Service is the largest fire department in the world which specialises in fighting bushfires.
A website for South Australian Fire fighters
, Victoria, Australia
ABC TV case study of the 2005-2006 bushfire season
- Effects of Bushfires on Catchments
- includes live maps of fires around the state

Bushfire

History

Bushfire control

Key factors affecting bushfires

Firefighting methods

Significant bushfires

Notable bushfire events

Bushfire gallery

See also

External links