General Australian Fires - Why are foreigners donating to the wealthiest country on Earth?

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ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,555
33,607
I'm just gonna leave this here

Scientist David Packham on what’s really causing the bushfires
I have a small 60 acre property in central Vic and the local CFA told me I could not do any hazard reduction burning and they had no resources to supervise a burn. I will re-apply this winter when cooler heads might prevail. I have two fire pumps and a 1,000 ltr tank mounted on a pallet, plus a backpack, clothes and shovel. I was told not to do anything and a permit would not be approved. slashing and bulldozing are my only resources apart from poison and ploughing. All have draw backs, all are harmfull one way or the other, most are too expensive. Very frustrated small holding farmer wanting to reduce fuel loads.
 

ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,555
33,607
Newspaper article from 1851
Temperature rose to 117°f/47°c (in the shade) was this forest fire part of Australia's history?













BLACK THURSDAY.
PROBABLY one of the most terrible days of
which there is any record in Australian
annals was Thursday, the 6th of February,
1851, commonly known as Black Thursday.
But a small proportion of our present
colonists have any recollection of that day,
as our total population then only amounted
to about 70,000 souls, against the 350,000
of to-day. But such of their number as
have access to files of the newspaper pub-
lished at the time, would do well to turn
them over, and, as a warning for the future,
glance at the narrative of the disasters of
that dreadful day.
We find it recorded that as early as
seven or eight o'clock in the morning, the
thermometer stood at 117° in the shade.
At mid-day it sank to 109°, but in the
afternoon it rose again, and at four o'clock
was 113°. Monday last was about the
hottest day of the present season ; yet the
thermometer did not stand above 95° in
the shade. Our readers who felt
inconvenienced by the increase of heat
between that and the usual 70° or 75°
will have some difficulty in imagining the
sensations produced by a still further rise
of 20°. The intense heat of Black
Thursday was not it's only peculiarity.
From early morning it was accompanied
by a hot wind, almost of the strength of
a hurricane, and throughout the day the
surface of the country was exposed to the
full power of it's withering influence.
Bush-fires raged across hundreds of miles
of country, sweeping along with almost the
rapidity of lightning, and destroying, nearly
instantaneously, men, women, and children,
crops and homesteads, fences and gardens,
and vast quantities of cattle, sheep, horses,
pigs, and fowls. From the whole land
arose a cry of utter desolation. Scores of
families were reduced from a condition of
competence to one of penury, and men
who woke that morning thriving and pros-
perous farmers, lay down at night without
a farthing in the world, or any resource
left them but manual labour.
It is a most remarkable fact, as illustra-
tive of the deficient foresight of even an intel-
ligent people, that we accustom ourselves
to speak of Black Thursday as a thing
that has been, but is not likely to occur
again. This is utterly irrational. A simi-
lar day, accompanied with all it's terrible
peculiarities, might befal us to-morrow, or
any day during the full heats of any one
of our summers. Such days give no
warning. People retired to rest on the
night preceding the day of which we
speak, just as little expecting such a ca-
tastrophe, as was the case with our
readers when they sought their pillows
last night. A repetition of the horrors of Black
Thursday may be upon us any day. Ob-
servant men would simply notice on the
eve of such an infliction, a slight decline in
the barometer, an increasing degree of
that attenuation of the atmosphere which
is productive of such disagreeable sensa-
tions during a hot wind. Under such cir-
cumstances the community would retire
to rest. They would awake to find the
whole country wrapt in flames. Fire, fire,
everywhere, would be roaring along the
ground, and amidst the ruin and confusion
of a distracted people would be left the
charred traces of the unruly element.
Upon the occasion of which we speak,
the extent of country burnt over in one
day was incalculable, and there were cir-
cumstances connected with the fire which
would now sound almost incredible, al-
though they were well authenticated at
the time. The districts principally suf-
fering were the agricultural neighbour-
hoods of the Barrabool Hills, Kilmore, the
Plenty, Western Port, some parts of
Gipps Land and of the Port Fairy dis-
tricts. In many of these neighbourhoods
scarcely a homestead or a fence was left
standing. Stacks and barns, stables and
outhouses were all swept off, generally
with their contents; the inhabitants had
much to do to save themselves. At the
Upper Plenty a poor woman and her five
children were burnt to death ; and in nu-
merous instances men fought with the
flames till, choked and exhausted in the
struggle, they fell and were roasted
as they lay. Whole flocks of sheep,
and vast numbers of cattle were
burnt, standing huddled together in
abject helplessness and terror. The
very wild animals did not escape, and a
letter from Dandenong states that kanga-
roos, opossums, snakes and lizards, were
driven forward by the flames, till over-
taken and destroyed by the heat and
blinding smoke. The birds dropped dead
from the trees, or gave way before the
scorching blast, and drifted out and fell
into the sea. So general was the fire, and
all-pervading its effects, that on board a
vessel out of sight of land in the Straits, it
became so dark at four p.m. that the
captain could not see the bow from the
stern. The small ashes from burning forests
were deposited on the northern coast of
Van Diemen's Land, and even on the deck
of a vessel half way to New Zealand.
In the report of a public meeting in
Geelong, convened for the purpose of
affording succour to the people in that
neighbourhood, nearly half a column is
occupied by a mere list of farmers abso-
lutely burnt out. And it is stated to have
been a most affecting sight, when poor
men but recently in comfortable
circumstances, who had got toge-
ther a dray and a few working bullocks,
were selling them—the last wreck of their
property, to save their families from
starving. The colonists behaved very well,
and subscriptions amounting to many
thousands of pounds were raised for the
supply of food, clothing, seed corn, and
farming implements, to the most destitute.
Still the suffering was very severe, and
the misfortune widely felt,
Yet all this may happen again each day
that comes round during the summer.
Nay, if such a day did come, its ravages
would be more extensive than ever, in as
much as the country is more thickly
settled ; there are more fences and home-
steads, and stacks and stubble-fields to
burn ; and a race less experienced in
coping with bush-fires to contend with
them. It is better to be prepared before-
hand, for while there is no knowing what
any day may bring forth, we at present
slumber on a volcano.
The bush-fire of Australia is a peculiar
thing. It varies excessively according to
circumstances,—the heat of the day, the
dryness and thickness of the herbage, the
strength of the wind, and the character of
the country over which it passes. Ordina-
rily it creeps along the ground at the rate of
a mile or two an hour, and burns little
more than the dry grass and broken timber
that lies upon the ground. But upon
Black Thursday all this was changed. The
flames rushed to the tops of the
highest trees ; burning twigs and sheets
of bark blew far down along the
gale, lighting new fires whatever they
fell; and setting at defiance all at-
tempts to arrest their progress. The
enemy came down upon the wind a perfect
wall of fire, moving at railway speed, and
darting upon its prey with a force and ra-
pidity that were irresistible. Ordinarily
the bush-fire will be stayed by a cattle
track of a foot wide. Upon that occasion
it leapt across wide rivers as if they con-
stituted no barrier at all.
The best preventative against the bush-
fire is fire itself. A tract of country is
scarcely ever burnt over twice in the same
year. Thus, all homesteads, stockyards,
paddocks, gardens, and fences should be
isolated by having a good wide belt of
land burnt over around them. This should
be done on a perfectly calm day, and with
plenty of attendants to keep the fire from
spreading too rapidly. It is easily beaten
out with a green bough while kept under
proper control, but many of the disasters
of Black Thursday arose from the flames
getting the upper hand which were origi-
nally kindled as a safeguard. There is a
very stringent act directing due notice to
be given to neighbours when this pre-
caution is to be adopted. But after
the warnings which have been given, and
with the horizon even now daily lighted
up by the glare of bush-fires, no sane
man who has property to guard will
delay the most vigorous measures of pre-
caution. The circle of safety should be
quite complete, so as entirely to isolate the
property to be secured ; it should be very
wide, so as to guard against the conse-
quences of great heat and a high wind :
it should be formed during a calm day, and
with ample assistance at disposal.
We trust that our up-country brethren
will aid us in averting serious disaster
by echoing our warnings. There is not
a day to spare.
 
M

member 1013

Guest
If it weren’t for the insane temperatures and deadly fauna, I would already live there.
 
M

member 3289

Guest
Newspaper article from 1851
Temperature rose to 117°f/47°c (in the shade) was this forest fire part of Australia's history?













BLACK THURSDAY.
PROBABLY one of the most terrible days of
which there is any record in Australian
annals was Thursday, the 6th of February,
1851, commonly known as Black Thursday.
But a small proportion of our present
colonists have any recollection of that day,
as our total population then only amounted
to about 70,000 souls, against the 350,000
of to-day. But such of their number as
have access to files of the newspaper pub-
lished at the time, would do well to turn
them over, and, as a warning for the future,
glance at the narrative of the disasters of
that dreadful day.
We find it recorded that as early as
seven or eight o'clock in the morning, the
thermometer stood at 117° in the shade.
At mid-day it sank to 109°, but in the
afternoon it rose again, and at four o'clock
was 113°. Monday last was about the
hottest day of the present season ; yet the
thermometer did not stand above 95° in
the shade. Our readers who felt
inconvenienced by the increase of heat
between that and the usual 70° or 75°
will have some difficulty in imagining the
sensations produced by a still further rise
of 20°. The intense heat of Black
Thursday was not it's only peculiarity.
From early morning it was accompanied
by a hot wind, almost of the strength of
a hurricane, and throughout the day the
surface of the country was exposed to the
full power of it's withering influence.
Bush-fires raged across hundreds of miles
of country, sweeping along with almost the
rapidity of lightning, and destroying, nearly
instantaneously, men, women, and children,
crops and homesteads, fences and gardens,
and vast quantities of cattle, sheep, horses,
pigs, and fowls. From the whole land
arose a cry of utter desolation. Scores of
families were reduced from a condition of
competence to one of penury, and men
who woke that morning thriving and pros-
perous farmers, lay down at night without
a farthing in the world, or any resource
left them but manual labour.
It is a most remarkable fact, as illustra-
tive of the deficient foresight of even an intel-
ligent people, that we accustom ourselves
to speak of Black Thursday as a thing
that has been, but is not likely to occur
again. This is utterly irrational. A simi-
lar day, accompanied with all it's terrible
peculiarities, might befal us to-morrow, or
any day during the full heats of any one
of our summers. Such days give no
warning. People retired to rest on the
night preceding the day of which we
speak, just as little expecting such a ca-
tastrophe, as was the case with our
readers when they sought their pillows
last night. A repetition of the horrors of Black
Thursday may be upon us any day. Ob-
servant men would simply notice on the
eve of such an infliction, a slight decline in
the barometer, an increasing degree of
that attenuation of the atmosphere which
is productive of such disagreeable sensa-
tions during a hot wind. Under such cir-
cumstances the community would retire
to rest. They would awake to find the
whole country wrapt in flames. Fire, fire,
everywhere, would be roaring along the
ground, and amidst the ruin and confusion
of a distracted people would be left the
charred traces of the unruly element.
Upon the occasion of which we speak,
the extent of country burnt over in one
day was incalculable, and there were cir-
cumstances connected with the fire which
would now sound almost incredible, al-
though they were well authenticated at
the time. The districts principally suf-
fering were the agricultural neighbour-
hoods of the Barrabool Hills, Kilmore, the
Plenty, Western Port, some parts of
Gipps Land and of the Port Fairy dis-
tricts. In many of these neighbourhoods
scarcely a homestead or a fence was left
standing. Stacks and barns, stables and
outhouses were all swept off, generally
with their contents; the inhabitants had
much to do to save themselves. At the
Upper Plenty a poor woman and her five
children were burnt to death ; and in nu-
merous instances men fought with the
flames till, choked and exhausted in the
struggle, they fell and were roasted
as they lay. Whole flocks of sheep,
and vast numbers of cattle were
burnt, standing huddled together in
abject helplessness and terror. The
very wild animals did not escape, and a
letter from Dandenong states that kanga-
roos, opossums, snakes and lizards, were
driven forward by the flames, till over-
taken and destroyed by the heat and
blinding smoke. The birds dropped dead
from the trees, or gave way before the
scorching blast, and drifted out and fell
into the sea. So general was the fire, and
all-pervading its effects, that on board a
vessel out of sight of land in the Straits, it
became so dark at four p.m. that the
captain could not see the bow from the
stern. The small ashes from burning forests
were deposited on the northern coast of
Van Diemen's Land, and even on the deck
of a vessel half way to New Zealand.
In the report of a public meeting in
Geelong, convened for the purpose of
affording succour to the people in that
neighbourhood, nearly half a column is
occupied by a mere list of farmers abso-
lutely burnt out. And it is stated to have
been a most affecting sight, when poor
men but recently in comfortable
circumstances, who had got toge-
ther a dray and a few working bullocks,
were selling them—the last wreck of their
property, to save their families from
starving. The colonists behaved very well,
and subscriptions amounting to many
thousands of pounds were raised for the
supply of food, clothing, seed corn, and
farming implements, to the most destitute.
Still the suffering was very severe, and
the misfortune widely felt,
Yet all this may happen again each day
that comes round during the summer.
Nay, if such a day did come, its ravages
would be more extensive than ever, in as
much as the country is more thickly
settled ; there are more fences and home-
steads, and stacks and stubble-fields to
burn ; and a race less experienced in
coping with bush-fires to contend with
them. It is better to be prepared before-
hand, for while there is no knowing what
any day may bring forth, we at present
slumber on a volcano.
The bush-fire of Australia is a peculiar
thing. It varies excessively according to
circumstances,—the heat of the day, the
dryness and thickness of the herbage, the
strength of the wind, and the character of
the country over which it passes. Ordina-
rily it creeps along the ground at the rate of
a mile or two an hour, and burns little
more than the dry grass and broken timber
that lies upon the ground. But upon
Black Thursday all this was changed. The
flames rushed to the tops of the
highest trees ; burning twigs and sheets
of bark blew far down along the
gale, lighting new fires whatever they
fell; and setting at defiance all at-
tempts to arrest their progress. The
enemy came down upon the wind a perfect
wall of fire, moving at railway speed, and
darting upon its prey with a force and ra-
pidity that were irresistible. Ordinarily
the bush-fire will be stayed by a cattle
track of a foot wide. Upon that occasion
it leapt across wide rivers as if they con-
stituted no barrier at all.
The best preventative against the bush-
fire is fire itself. A tract of country is
scarcely ever burnt over twice in the same
year. Thus, all homesteads, stockyards,
paddocks, gardens, and fences should be
isolated by having a good wide belt of
land burnt over around them. This should
be done on a perfectly calm day, and with
plenty of attendants to keep the fire from
spreading too rapidly. It is easily beaten
out with a green bough while kept under
proper control, but many of the disasters
of Black Thursday arose from the flames
getting the upper hand which were origi-
nally kindled as a safeguard. There is a
very stringent act directing due notice to
be given to neighbours when this pre-
caution is to be adopted. But after
the warnings which have been given, and
with the horizon even now daily lighted
up by the glare of bush-fires, no sane
man who has property to guard will
delay the most vigorous measures of pre-
caution. The circle of safety should be
quite complete, so as entirely to isolate the
property to be secured ; it should be very
wide, so as to guard against the conse-
quences of great heat and a high wind :
it should be formed during a calm day, and
with ample assistance at disposal.
We trust that our up-country brethren
will aid us in averting serious disaster
by echoing our warnings. There is not
a day to spare.
False equivalence fallacy
 

RussfromNH

Live Free or Die
Dec 12, 2018
2,540
4,195
climate change is the cause of Australia wildfires


Australia Arrests Dozens for Starting Bushfires on Purpose
Nearly 200 people have allegedly committed bushfire-related offenses.

On Monday, the New South Wales police force announced that it had charged 24 people with deliberately starting bushfires in the Australian state.

The force also noted that it’s taken legal action against a total of 183 people for 205 bushfire-related offenses, including failure to comply with a fire ban and discarding lit cigarettes or matches on land.

The news that arsonists have contributed to the deadly fires raging in Australia is both highly disturbing and disheartening. But perhaps even more troubling is the wielding of this information as “evidence” that climate change isn’t a major contributing factor to the emergency.

Timothy Graham, a senior lecturer on social network analysis at the Queensland University of Technology, told ZDNet that he believes someone has orchestrated a disinformation campaign on social media to try to shift the blame for Australia’s bushfires away from climate change and onto the arsonists.

“I’m not sure whether it’s orchestrated, or the extent to which this campaign is being coordinated,” he told the publication, “but there does appear to be a particular focal point for spreading disinformation about arson in relation to the bushfires.”
 

silentsinger

Momofuku
Jun 23, 2015
21,038
14,484
I’m with Sir David Attenborough on this

pretty sure he knows more than all of us twatknuckles put together and he ain’t happy
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,237
Who's donating to Switzerland?
Swing and a miss. Median, not mean.

And the study was even done by those chocolate gobbling multilingual fanucs, so you can't whine about bias.
 

ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,555
33,607
I’m with Sir David Attenborough on this

pretty sure he knows more than all of us twatknuckles put together and he ain’t happy
Attenborough is a hypocrite reading off a script, not unlike David Suzuki.
For example they want to jack up airfare making air travel impossible to afford for lower classes but being rich, frequent travelers themselves is simply a paradox.

They're both alarmists, some of you folks need to stop drinking the koolaid.