Thread by @CC_Buckingham

A lot of misinformation is doing the rounds about the fires. Here are some resources for your information and so you can counter people spreading this misinformation.

The biggest one is that greenies/The Greens have prevented hazard reduction and backburning. This is false.

But first, the difference between the two - up until today I thought they were the same. I've learned they are not.

Hazard reduction takes place BEFORE the fire starts. It involves preemptively reducing the amount of fuel a fire has access to.

Backburning takes place AFTER the fire has started. Firefighters start a burn ahead of the fire front so it burns back towards the fire in an attempt to cut off its future fuel source and stop it in its tracks. This is risky, and needs to be at just the right distance.

Too far from the fire front, and you risk a wind change ruining your work and making the fire worse; too close to the fire front, and it's not effective. Diagram is below.

Here's the link on the Greens website where they say they support backburning and hazard reduction where necessary:

greens.org.au/bushfires

However, hazard reduction isn't always viable. It hasn't taken place as much as firies would like because the window of opportunity has narrowed due to climate change. Below is an article from former NSW fire chief, Greg Mullins, which contains this neat quote:

"Warmer, drier conditions with higher fire danger are preventing agencies from conducting as much hazard reduction burning – it is often either too wet, or too dry and windy to burn safely. Blaming "greenies" for stopping these important measures is ... basically untrue claim."

Here's the article:

smh.com.au/national/this-…

Here's a rolled up Twitter thread from @jagungal1, who's done a lot of work in the field:

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1212937…

Couple of screenshots from a NSW fire station's FB post, now deleted; when it was up it was at this link:

facebook.com/queanbeyanfire…

Choice quote (across two tweets):

"Political parties of any denomination do NOT influence the decisions of organisations like FRNSW, NSW Rural Fire Service and Parks and Wildlife Services when choosing when and how to do Hazard Reduction burns. It just doesn’t work like that...

"... The main reason Hazard Reduction burns are cancelled or delayed is due to the predicted intensity of the burn exceeding the limits that would make it safe for firefighters, native flora and fauna and obviously you wonderful people."

Feel free to link any of this information to whoever needs to hear it.

I understand people are distraught, but blaming the wrong people helps no one.

@threadreaderapp Unroll please