Fire in Australia

1 >> Place and space/Geography >> Natural and social systems >> Change and continuity/History >> ResourcesYour task as you explore this issue through the National Museum of Australia s display and other resources is: to create an annotated bushfire map of Australia that provides a viewer with ideas of what, where, when and how bushfires exist, their impacts, and their management. You will be given more ideas about this at the end of the you work through this unit you will explore these important aspects of bushfires: What is a bushfire? Where do bushfires occur in Australia ? Why? What effects do they have on people and the built and natural environment? How can they be managed? For what purposes? Whose responsibility is it to manage them? Are bushfires really natural hazards ?INVESTIGATING A NATURAL HAZARD For many Australians summer is bushfire time, a time of threat and the summer of 2003, for example, bushfires devastated parts of Canberra and the ACT.

2 Four people died and 500 houses were destroyed together with many wild animals, pine plantations, natural bushland, farm animals, pets, property and irreplaceable family possessions. Cartoon by Michael Leunig reproduced with permissionAll Australia is it enough just to see bushfires as a natural hazard, or should we be aware of the complex place of bushfires in Australia ? That is the issue that you will work through in this unit. It is also an issue that is explored in a display in the National Museum of the end of this unit students will be better able to:> describe the nature of bushfires in Australia > decide the extent to which bushfire is a natural hazard in Australia > analyse the geographical processes associated with it> discuss its economic, environmental and social impacts> critically analyse the responses of individuals, community-based groups and governments to OUTCOMES National Museum of Australia display: fire in the city 1994 Bushfires in Sydney and 2003 Bushfires in CanberraPhotograph George Serras1 National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004 The National Museum of Australia at Acton opened in March 2001 as part of the celebrations for the Centenary of Federation.

3 The Museum employs a fresh and exciting approach to Australian history, culture and National Museum unit of work in STUDIES asks students to consider the stories and concepts behind Museum themes, objects and images, and can be used with students in Society and Environment, History, Geography, English and Media A NATURAL HAZARD in AustraliaWhat is a bushfire?2investigationWhat do you know? What do you think?1investigation1 Here are the main natural disasters that have occurred in Australia in the last 200 years. Rank them in order of greatest loss of life (1 12). (You can check your answers on the back cover.) 2 One of the natural disasters in this list is bushfires. What are the first ideas and images that come into your mind? List Where do bushfires occur in Australia ? Mark them on this outline map.

4 Explain why you have selected those tackling this unit answer these questions. Then come back to this quiz again at the end of your studies and see if any of your answers have When do bushfires occur during a year? Why do they occur then?5 What are the major problems caused by bushfires?6 What are the major advantages?7 Whose responsibility is bushfire control?8 What are the three main causes of bushfires?9 What are the three elements needed for a bushfire?10 List five main elements that determine a bushfire s Which area of Australia has the most bushfires?Bushfi res Disease epidemics Drought Earthquakes Volcanic eruptionsHeatwaves LandslidesSevere storms at sea Tsunamis Severe storms on landTropical cyclonesFloods When you were asked for your ideas about bushfires in question 2 of the quiz, chances are that many of your ideas were of destruction charred bushland, loss of livestock, destroyed houses, even human , fire is a natural element and has been among the driving forces in Heat produced naturally or by human actionsthe evolution of native flora and fauna.

5 Australia would not be Australia without is fire ?A bushfire is an unplanned fire in an area of natural vegetation. During a bushfire three elements are involved:2 National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004 The size and intensity of a bushfire is influenced by many factors, including:Wind speed and directionWind affects a fire by increasing the amount of oxygen available, and affecting the rate of burning. If the wind is blowing in the direction the fire is moving, burning material will fly ahead and spread the fire more quickly. If the wind changes direction it can turn the long flank of a fire into a wide front, increasing the severity of the conditionsFires tend to be more severe on hot days with low relative humidity. Humidity refers to the degree of moisture in the air. Low humidity dries out the fuel, making it more easily your knowledge and understandingLook at this map and answer the questions about Fires have started at A, B and C.

6 Explain why locations X, Y and Z are to some extent protected from the Which fire A, B or C would you expect to burn the greatest area? Why?3 The fire at A is fanned by strong wind gusts from the south-west. How could this lead to fires at B and Y?4 There are three steep hills, with houses at S, T and U on those hills. Which of the three has the best chance of surviving the fire ? Why?5 fire B is being fanned by strong winds from the west. If all the vegetation in its path burns, what distance will the fire travel to reach the creek?6 What might reduce the chance of this happening?7 If the winds are causing the fire to travel at kilometres per hour, how long will it take for the fire to reach the creek?8 The fire reaches the creek, and the wind changes, now coming from the south-east. Describe the effect of the wind change on the direction and size of the What would now be threatened by the fire ?

7 10 A fire starting at point C burns towards the east. The creek is dry in summer, so the fire crosses it. Would the fire travel faster as it approached the creek, or as it moved past it? Explain your usually travels faster uphill than on level ground or downhill. A fire moving uphill moves more quickly because the flame is closer to the unburnt fuel, and pre-heats it, causing it to ignite more readily. The rate of spread of a fire doubles with every ten degrees of increase of the in the Australian Landscape, Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Country fire Authority, 1999, page 14 Living in the Bush, Country fire Authority Victoria, 2004, page 5 State of the fuelA period of high vegetation growth followed by hot, dry weather can dry out vegetation, and provide for a more intense of the fireFire may be a ground fire (slow, smouldering fire with no flame and little smoke), surface fire (where it is the litter and low-lying vegetation burning), or crown fire (where the fire moves rapidly through the canopy of the overstorey or top layer of vegetation).

8 All three types may be present at the one National Museum of Australia and Ryebuck Media 2004 Australia is the most bushfire prone continent. Why? Australia is dominated by drought- and fire -tolerant vegetation, such as the eucalypts. This was not always the case. Australia was once dominated by bushfire-resistant rainforest. Why did it change? We do not know. There are several theories, but all are based on limited and fragmented Australia was dominated by rainforest type vegetation. Then climate changed naturally over time, becoming drier. So this theory says that drought-tolerant vegetation gradually took over from the rain-dependant vegetation, spreading theory builds on this, and argues that the climate changed naturally, but was assisted by fire . The drought-tolerant eucalypts are also fire -dependant, so as fires increased, they spread the eucalypt into newer areas across the argue that climate change was assisted by the extinction of the megafauna.

9 (See STUDIES 1/03.) These animals ate large volumes of vegetation, in effect keeping the bush clean. As they died out (either because of climate change or hunting by Aboriginal people), vegetation became thicker, creating larger bushfires that attacked the rainforest areas, and helped the advance of the fire -resistant of fuelDifferent fuels create different types of fires. Moist fuel creates low-intensity fires. Dry fuel creates high intensity fires. TSUF orests and fire , Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne, 1998 page 24 Where do bushfires occur in Australia ? Why?3investigationOpposite is a map of Australia showing different fire patterns in each state and territory. The numbers refer to the regions in the table below. Use the table showing the months of greatest fire PlaceRegionJan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecNSW1 Coastal strip Sydney Brisbane3 Arc from just below the border with Qld and SA through Canberra to Victorian border2 Area between the above twoNT1 Area between Darwin and Tennant Creek2 Area between Tennant Creek and just above Alice Springs3 Just above Alice Springs to the SA borderQLD1 North Coast coast in an arc from Cairns through Mt Isa then straight to the NT border3 From NT border continue to near Brisbane.

10 Then drop to the NSW border2 The area between the above twoSA3 Thin coastal strips from Vic border to WA border1 Area from WA border across to just below the NSW/Qld border2 The strip in between the above twoTAS1 AllVIC2 Coastal strip from Warrnambool to SA border3 Straight line from coast up to NSW border, in line with Canberra1 The strip between the above From bottom of Perth straight across to the coast, then in a thin strip following the coast to the SA border1 Straight line from NT border level with Tennant Creek to the coast4 A line at 45 from under Geraldton to above Kalgoorlie, then straight across to the SA border3 An arc from Shark Bay up just below Port Hedland and then to the NT border, above Alice Springs2 The remaining area of WAactivity to draw a series of boundaries of fire seasonality in Australia .