Mega fire bears down on Sydney and the Hunter

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Originally Posted by rick130

Re hazard reduction burns, a mate of a mate is a Nat Parks Ranger in Qld.
One of the big fires he's been deployed on recently near Toowoomba was hazard reduction burned only a handful of months ago.
It burnt again.

And FWIW several of the fires around here shouldn't have happened, it's wet and rain forest.
We're talking average annual rainfalls of 1700-1800mm.
Normally they can't be hazard reduction burned anyway.
These aren't normal conditions.

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Rick I read an article on that very subject a few weeks ago before all this got out of hand & I remember thinking to myself "They'll now be ok for Summer now the fires have gone through, Blessing in disguise" Not so it seems as it is just as dangerous having burnt bare earth as it is vegetated. Not sure whether it was in the media or in here. Seems it is a different fire path & is a more "explosive" burst that came through after. A sort of airborne fire, ie. off the ground.

. Me? I thought it would be next to impossible but seems not. Maybe one of our experienced Firefighters could elaborate on this occurrence, I wish I could recall the exact details but they have gone from my brain for the mo.

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

I live at Avoca Beach so we are getting lots of smoke and some ash.

The fires largely have been in National parks so far but are now approaching Glenworth Valley, which is owned by a friend and has 200 horses there.

Today is much more still as far as wind is concerned and the smoke is thinner.

My take is that no hazard reduction burning has been done for many years in the Wollombi or Dharug National Parks ( to the best of my knowledge), so these fires will clean up the understory.

I wonder if Sydney and the Central Coast could have been spared the density of smoke if hazard reduction burning had been done regularly by National Parks staff.
It is also ironic that the Koalas have suffered greatly through this when cool understory burns would have probably meant their survival.

I am worried whether some halfwit will light a fire on Cullens Road near my place, as the bush there is very dense with steep profiles. My house is probably unable to be defended due to the extensive unable to be cleared leaf litter and steep slope along with my large wooden deck.( built by a PO before the current building restrictions on decks were introduced).
Regards PhilipA

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Philip, I feel your concern. I will say a prayer for you tonight.

Living with fire and facing our fears. This does my head in...…."

A real estate agent showed me an elevated timber home that looked out to the south-west across vast hectares of native forest. A death trap if ever there was one.“Yes,” agreed the agent. “I’ll just have to find a buyer who doesn’t mind about that.”

Friday essay: living with fire and facing our fears

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Originally Posted by Saitch

These fires brought back memories of the NSW 1993-94 fires. Not good, although I just read the latest update and things are hopefully taking a turn for the better.

Major Fire Updates - NSW Rural Fire Service

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there appears to be a 25-30 year cycle for big fires.

i did some calculations. the
Gospers Mountain fire is about the same size as the fire on 1983 ash wednesday in the adelaide hills.


the area burnt in vic was about 5 times bigger.




the difference being is that SA and vic all burnt in 1 day, where the Gospers fire has been going for several weeks.




I'm not saying the fire isnt bad, but we should be expecting worse and understand fires of this size have happened before and will happen again.


for context (i got bit carried away)


gosphers 2019
293,550ha




ash wed 1983
208,000ha SA only




red tuesday 1898 <------ did climate change exist back then?
260,000 ha


Black Thursday 1851 <------ did climate change exist back then?
5,000,000


black sat 2009
450,000 hectares


black friday 1939
2,000,000ha, vic only


1985 Cobar bushfire
516,000ha




1994 Eastern seaboard fires
400,000ha




2001 Black Christmas bushfires
753,314 ha

according to news sites, Emergency warnings for 17 fires in New South Wales is unprecedented.


given that the emergency warning system has only been around for 10 years, the news is doing what it does best. fear mongering.

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Originally Posted by Eevo

there appears to be a 25-30 year cycle for big fires.

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The '93-'94 fires were ****, most of the Blue Mountains were on fire but I feel the '02 one was more destructive?
Areas like Mulgoa where affected badly and the town of Warragamba was wiped off the map.
The fire just jumped from ridge to ridge in the National Park, across the gorge and Warragamba dam and straight into rural areas
I'd just moved from that area to the bush, a lot of people I knew were affected.
Relying on phone calls for news on friends and animals was hard.
Embers are dropping and spot fires occurring at another friends place at West Hoxton, 15km to the east.
I think that's all housing estate now?

Only a few years before that I'd watched a fire walk down the ridge from Silverdale toward us, the only thing between us and it was a narrow section of river flat and river.
If anyone remembers the old Silverdale Hillclimb, that's the section of ridge I'm talking of.

Memory isn't reliable, but I don't recall it being this widespread and definitely not this early in the season.

I did recall dear old dad saying the 1940 (I think?) fires burnt out half the state.
Unprecedented drought leading into it, etc, etc

All the areas I mentioned above were burnt out, all grazing, farmland, dairies and market gardens on what is now the western edge of Sydney

Interestingly the first 50 years of the 20th century were much drier than the second half for those areas of NSW

After the fire. Quite often when the fire is over those not touched by fire just get on with our lives , but that is when the hard work begins for those who have lost everything.

Nymboida lost 85 homes in bushfires; rebuilding them is still a long way off

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Originally Posted by rick130

The '93-'94 fires were ****, most of the Blue Mountains were on fire but I feel the '02 one was more destructive?
Areas like Mulgoa where affected badly and the town of Warragamba was wiped off the map.

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i have that one done as the 2001 Black Christmas bushfires

wiki has a page on it
Black Christmas bushfires - Wikipedia

migh even be two pages on it
2001 Warragamba bushfires - Wikipedia