Indigenous knowledge to be used in future Australian bushfire research

Australia’s National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week started on July 7 with a commitment from bushfire researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Canberra City.

The university has previously published numerous articles of landmark research on bushfires, including creating the world’s first extreme bushfire warning system, developing the first fire-retardant paint that passes the stringent BAL-40 test, and studying the long-lasting impacts of Australia’s “Black Summer” Bushfires.

University researchers have made a new commitment to future bushfire projects, vowing to incorporate more Indigenous practices.

“UNSW Canberra researchers are working to better incorporate Indigenous practices and understandings of fire in bushfire management, to better prepare for an increasingly uncertain future thanks to climate change,” a press release from the university said.

bushfires

Similar to the practices of various Native American tribes, fire played an intrinsic role in the lives of Australia’s Indigenous communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for countless generations, and is still in use today.

Small controlled fires help them hunt, clear pathways through bush, and regenerate vegetation, according to The Nature Conservancy. “Cool Burns” have recently made a comeback after centuries of Euro-Australian suppression diminished the practice, caused by early colonizers’ view of fire as only a threat rather than a land-management practice. The loss of managed fire on Australia’s landscape, along with climate change, is a direct contributor to the severe bushfires that have burned the country since.

UNSW Bushfire Director Jason Sharples, a member of the Aboriginal Bundjalung people, said Indigenous fire knowledge adds needed depth to modern bushfire research.

“Local Indigenous people would know the land was ready for a burn when certain environmental indicators aligned, for example, when wattle flowers fell and when certain cloud formations were observed over prominent mountains,” Sharples said.

“Essentially, Country told them the right time to burn, and the people would offer fire as a gift back to Country. From a Western scientific perspective, this aligns with selecting the correct season based on the native flora, and only burning on a day when temperature and relative humidity conditions are within an acceptable range, as indicated by the cloud formations.”

UNSW is already working on two projects with the commitment to Indigenous practices in mind. One of the projects is studying how ridgelines, which correspond closely with Indigenous Songlines, cause unique wind patterns and influence fire spread. The other project compares modern bushfire regimes in southeast Australia with traditional fire regimes, Indigenous calendars, and cultural fire lore to better understand how climate change will affect future bushfires.

The university’s commitment pairs well with this year’s NAIDOC theme: “Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.” The theme conveys the strength and vitality of the nation’s Indigenous cultures which have stayed alive for generations despite historic and ongoing oppression and persecution.

“NAIDOC Week is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of promoting the cultural practices and learnings of Indigenous Australians and this will remain central to the work we do within UNSW Bushfire,” Sharples said.

 

 

Earth’s most extreme wildfires are growing more intense and frequent

A recent study published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution scientific journal broke down 21 years of satellite data to be the next in line to reveal a burning truth: extreme wildfire events are becoming more frequent and intense.

The study, led by researchers at Australia’s University of Tasmania, found that six of the past seven years have been among the most extreme wildfire years on record. The study also found the frequency of extreme wildfires  more than doubled between 2003 and 2023.

“This study provides concrete evidence of a worrying trend,” lead researcher Dr. Calum Cunningham told the university. “The intensity and frequency of these bushfires are increasing at an alarming rate, directly linked to the escalating effects of climate change.”

The research also confirmed that, while the total area burned is on the decline, fire behavior on the whole has worsened in several regions, including boreal and temperate conifer biomes in North America and Russia. Hotspots were also recorded in Australia, southern Africa, Mediterranean Europe, and South America. The burning of said biomes would reportedly hold dire implications for carbon storage, human exposure to wildfire, and significant ecological damage.

“The impact of these extreme events is devastating, not only for natural ecosystems but also for human populations,” Cunningham said. “These fires release significant carbon emissions, threatening to create a vicious cycle that further accelerates global warming.”

Australia's "Black Summer" bushfire season
Australia’s “Black Summer” bushfire season

Australia’s “Black Summer” fire season of 2019-2020 was named specifically for its unprecedented scale, intensity, and still-ongoing effects. The most recent “Black Summer” report on the bushfires focused on how they affected the nation’s tourism industry, specifically how previous reports underestimated the financial losses.

“Our novel research into the losses from the tourism shutdown resulting from Australia’s 2019-20 fires found that flowing on from direct impacts of AU $1.7 billion, indirect impacts along supply chains resulted in $2.8 billion in total output losses and $1.6 billion in reduced consumption,” the University of Sydney researchers’ report said. “We calculated significant spill-over costs, with total output losses being an increase of 61 percent on top of the direct damages identified.”

READ MORE: Australia’s ‘Black Summer’ bushfires impact on tourism still being uncovered

Long bushfire season wears down firefighters in Queensland and Western Australia

State fire officials are airing concerns about firefighter fatigue as southwest Queensland heads into an “unprecedented” prolonged fire season this autumn, and South West Rural Fire Service superintendent Wayne Waltisbuhl told ABC News that he could not remember the last time a fire season continued into March.

“It’s usually finished by late January, early February,” he said. “It’s just very dry conditions.”

Waltisbuhl said the season could continue for the next six weeks, and the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting higher than median average temperatures for the March-to-May period. “We’ll have some really peak days with high fire danger weather and some lulls.”

In Western Australia, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) is disputing claims it doesn’t have the resources to handle the fires burning across the state. The West Australian reported that it took 200 firefighters to control a fire at Neergabby, near the popular tourist destination of Moore River. DFES deputy commissioner operations Craig Waters said that Western Australia is still “well-protected and well-resourced” and can provide a rapid response to such incidents.

Shadow Emergency Services Minister Martin Aldridge said that five trucks had been “mothballed” at city stations while the fires burned, but Waters disputed that. He said the five engines were crewed and available on Saturday and Sunday.

Those fires started the day after the United Professional Firefighters Union (UPFU) warned that the State could face a catastrophe over the weekend, after trucks were stripped and crews benched on Friday because of firefighter exhaustion. “DFES had sufficient resources over the weekend,” explained Waters, “to manage the effects of the industrial action initiated by the UPFU during the high-threat period.”

He said that in the metropolitan area, DFES has 139 vehicles across the career and volunteer brigades, with an additional 130 across local government bushfire brigades. He said that based on risk, together with the need to manage fatigue and staff rostering, DFES had decommissioned five firefighting vehicles in the metro area — for Friday only.

Waters said the state thus far had experienced only a moderate fire season, but he warned people not to be complacent. “There is still a long way to go, and Western Australia is incredibly hot and dry in summer, and the smallest flame can spark a devastating bushfire. Bushfires are burning for longer, and more intensely than we’ve seen in previous decades. Our firefighters do a tremendous job during bushfire season but we need people to take responsibility.”

Residents ordered to evacuate bushfires

Bushfires are burning out of control northeast of Melbourne, the coastal capital of the Australian state of Victoria, and 9News reported that some residents have been told to leave immediately. Meanwhile, people in Maintongoon also have been issued a “leave immediately” warning. Updates will be posted at the VicEmergency website.

Melbourne fires map
Map of Victoria bushfires

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) in New South Wales says some of the active bushfires are too dangerous to control, and that they may have been deliberately lit. The RFS has an interactive map online.

RFS map
RFS map of New South Wales incidents

A firefighting aircraft has been called up to fight two large and out-of-control bushfires believed to have been deliberately lit near Moonie in Queensland’s Western Downs, according to ABC.net.au news.

On Tuesday night the RFS was called to two fires in the Waar Waar State Forest and Cattle Creek, and South West Region RFS Superintendent Wayne Waltisbuhl said that fire crews notified police.

“Some of the crew who arrived on scene last night observed some people in the area in a car and they took off very quickly,” he said. “That was suspicious at the time the fires were lit, so that information has been passed to police to follow up.”