Tasmania bushfires: it’s not humanity and climate change – it’s just one careless man
FIRES are raging in Tasmania.Tony Young, who lives in Dunalley, tells media:
“The trees just went off. They were like firecrackers — flames 20ft or 30ft high. All I could do was drive to the other side of the road and look at the whole place being engulfed, just like in a movie.”
Andrew Jenkins told the Hobart Mercury:
“(Fire) came over the hill. The smoke was tremendous. There were a few spot fires and all of a sudden it was here.”
Why are there fires? Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister, opined:
“We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fire periodically.”
Gillard then added:
‘’While you would not put any one event down to climate change … we do know that over time as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events.”
Damien Carrington writes in the Guardian:
The two nations in which the fringe opinions of so-called climate sceptics have been trumpeted most loudly – the US and Australia – have now been hit by record heatwaves and, in the US, superstorm Sandy. The scientists are turning up the volume of their warnings, but whether this leads to loud and clear political action to curb emissions or more shouting from sceptics and the vested fossil fuel interests that support them remains to be seen.
But did the heat case the fires?
The Age’s Andrew Darbley warns:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard underscored the dangers facing Australia this summer from climate change as she saw Tasmanian bushfire ruins, and warned people to expect more.
And then the update:
A man has been accused of starting a 10,000-hectare bushfire in southern Tasmania. Police allege a 31-year-old New Norfolk man left a campfire unattended near Lake Repulse last week, sparking the huge blaze which has burned through 10,600 hectares since Friday. Police said they would proceed with a charge of leaving an unextinguished fire unattended.
Such are the facts…
Posted: 9th, January 2013 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
