Australia Heading Into New 'Fire Age', Warns Global Fire Historian

ABC RN - Gregg Borschmann

Some have called the 2019-2020 fire season the Black Summer. (Supplied: Jochen Spencer)

Key Points This summer’s bushfires have been described as "forever fires" by fire historian Stephen Pyne March 2 was the first time in 240 days that not a single wildfire was burning in Australia The royal commission into last summer's bushfires has begun its hearings

Australia could be at the beginning of a new "epoch of fire", driven by humans and climate change.

Fire historian Stephen J. Pyne told RN Breakfast humans were pushing the planet to the opposite of an Ice Age — a new age of fire that he calls the Pyrocene.

"I think Australia is on one hand part of the leading edge of this new fire epoch, the Pyrocene," he said.

Yesterday, the bushfires royal commission started public hearings with a focus on climate and resilience.

Mr Pyne, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University, said Australia had been a fire continent for millions of years but that the Black Saturday fires in 2009 and the most recent 2019-2020 fire season marked a new era.

"The Black Saturday Fires seemed to hit Australians as a special trauma, not just a tragedy but a trauma, almost as if it was a terrorist attack [with] the source of the terror coming out of the very land you live on," he said.

"That seemed different, in a way qualitatively different, than what had happened before and then last summer's fires were just so overwhelming and went on and on forever."

On March 2 this year, not a single wildfire was burning in Australia for the first time in 240 days.

Australia can look to some positives

Thirty years ago, Mr Pyne wrote the definitive history of fire in Australia and has just released an updated version of his book, Still Burning Bush.

He said despite climate modelling predicting longer, more dangerous fire seasons, he was optimistic Australia did have positives we could look to.

A helicopter water bomber fighting fires near Bilpin. (Supplied: Jochen Spencer)

"Australia is a real fire power, not just because you have lots of fires and lots of explosive fires from time to time, but you have an extraordinary fire culture," he said.

"You've got a political engagement [with the future of fire] I can't think of any other place in the world that has it. You also have world-class science."

He said humans had become the "keystone species" for fire, turbo-charging the coming together of industrial fire and wildfire.

"When you add it all up, we've got changes in sea level, we've got mass extinctions, we've got huge changes in biogeography underway and in many ways fire is an index and mover of [this new] age."

Back burning and hazard reduction not the only answer

In the United States, Mr Pyne said firefighters were now developing a combination of strategies, protecting people and high-value assets, but also backing off.

Two weeks after the backburn the Mt Bell landscape was ravaged. (Supplied: Jochen Spencer)

He warned that strategies like back burning, which use fire to fight fire, were of limited use under emergency conditions.

Jochen Spencer, a tour guide and manager of the Wollemi Cabins at Berambing told RN Breakfast many communities along the Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains were burnt out by a back burn that had gone wrong in December last year.

"It was pretty shocking," Mr Spencer said.

"The community that I've spoken to are pretty upset about this because a lot of people knew that as soon as they lit up that backburn in that location, it was going to be a serious threat and very likely to hit Berambing, Mt Tomah and Bilpin.

"It was high fire danger for that day, It only takes one ember to go onto the wrong side of a containment line and you've got chaos, and that's exactly what happened."

Mr Spencer also said the Fires Near Me app was unreliable and not up to date during the crisis.

Jochen Spencer says locals at Bilpin, Berambing and Mt Tomah feared the back-burn would hit their villages.(Supplied: Jochen Spencer)

He said he wanted the royal commission to look at better communications on fire days.

"It seemed like there was some big differences between what the app was actually showing, like where the fire was, compared to where the fire actually was," Mr Spencer said.

"It was about 5 kilometres difference; I mean, that's a big difference when you've got flames approaching built-up areas.

"There were vulnerable people in the neighbourhood who were panicking.

"They hadn't experienced a fire. Having that communication on those official sources up to date is really critical for people like them, where they don't know what's going to happen and they're relying on that information for their safety."

Links

• (AU) Bushfires Left Estimated 445 Dead From Smoke And A Nation Traumatised
• Mallacoota's school was saved from fire, now it's become the focus of the town's renewal
• 'A phonecall would have been nice': RFS volunteers feel forgotten after summer fires
• 'It would have helped confusion': Regional students call for school bushfire training
• (AU) Fire Season Extends By Almost Four Months In Parts Of Australia
• 'Incredibly blessed': Royal commission to eye fire success and failure
• 'Unbelievable what's happening': Fire inquiry reviews 1000 submissions
• Bushfire royal commission: 'Black Summer' played out exactly as scientists predicted it would
• Bureau of Meteorology predicted the devastating "Black Summer" weather
• Ex-ESA Chief wants Bushfire Royal Commission to address climate change
• Australia's 'Black Summer' bushfires 'not a one-off event', royal commission hears
• Royal commission into bushfire crisis begins hearings with focus on impact of climate change