LA is on fire. How will Australia cope when bushfires hit Sydney, Melbourne or another major city? (theconversation.com)

submitted 2 months ago by hanrahan@slrpnk.net to c/australia@aussie.zone

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So, could something similar happen in major Australian cities – and how prepared are we? The answers are: yes, and not very.

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[-] Nougat@fedia.io 37 points 2 months ago

Did everyone forget how Australia was entirely on fire a few years back?

[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 16 points 2 months ago

The fires mostly missed the major cities. Although dealing with hazardous levels of smoke for much of that period is not nothing.

[-] Salvo@aussie.zone 9 points 2 months ago

Canberra doesn’t count because there are only Politicians there.

[-] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

Half of it burned in 2003 anyways. And unfortunatly parliamentary triangle doesnt have any water restrictions during droughts so its not dry.

[-] trk@aussie.zone 7 points 2 months ago

On one of the commercial news channels the other morning, some yank talking head they had on for whatever reason said "I'm not sure how familiar you are in Australia with wild fires" as part of the introduction...

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 24 points 2 months ago

we have pledged net zero fire by 2050, nothing to worry about.

[-] Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone 12 points 2 months ago

I don't hold a hose, mate.

[-] Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 20 points 2 months ago

We use the outer suburbs as a fire break. No trees left to burn there. Just roof and road.

[-] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 14 points 2 months ago

You think modern houses — more glue and plastic than solid timber — aren't going to explode into flames? Modern suburbs are tinderboxes.

[-] TinyBreak@aussie.zone 10 points 2 months ago

It the people of officer could read they'd be very VERY upset right now.

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I can see this being picked up by the right as an argument against walkable urbanism (“all that density is a deathtrap!”) and in favour of the car-dependent quarter-acre-block sprawl that is Our Sacred Way Of Life.

In reality, the thin boundary between forested country and built-up areas is the problem. A solution would be to have farmland as a buffer around the cities, as pastures and fields of crops don’t burn as well as either.

[-] muntedcrocodile@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago

Sad but true.

[-] theonlytruescotsman@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 months ago

Just tow the fire out of the environment.

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 12 points 2 months ago

If a suburb has older housing stock with older gardens, for instance, it’s absolutely ripe for a fire to spread quickly. If you have more modern housing stock (which is usually better at defending against ember attack), and the houses are more spaced apart and the gardens are clearer, then you might be OK.

ok but what if we have "more modern housing stock" clad in flammable material and clustered together up each others arses cheek to jowl and excuse me, 1666 London is calling....