What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis?
The 2019–20 Australian fire season was heralded as emblematic of the catastrophic harm wrought by climate change. Similarly extreme wildfire seasons have occurred across the globe in recent years. Here, we apply a pyrogeographic lens to the recent Australian fires to examine the range of causes, imp...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Fire |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/4/97 |
| _version_ | 1797504767949275136 |
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| author | Rachael H. Nolan David M. J. S. Bowman Hamish Clarke Katharine Haynes Mark K. J. Ooi Owen F. Price Grant J. Williamson Joshua Whittaker Michael Bedward Matthias M. Boer Vanessa I. Cavanagh Luke Collins Rebecca K. Gibson Anne Griebel Meaghan E. Jenkins David A. Keith Allen P. Mcilwee Trent D. Penman Stephanie A. Samson Mark G. Tozer Ross A. Bradstock |
| author_facet | Rachael H. Nolan David M. J. S. Bowman Hamish Clarke Katharine Haynes Mark K. J. Ooi Owen F. Price Grant J. Williamson Joshua Whittaker Michael Bedward Matthias M. Boer Vanessa I. Cavanagh Luke Collins Rebecca K. Gibson Anne Griebel Meaghan E. Jenkins David A. Keith Allen P. Mcilwee Trent D. Penman Stephanie A. Samson Mark G. Tozer Ross A. Bradstock |
| author_sort | Rachael H. Nolan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The 2019–20 Australian fire season was heralded as emblematic of the catastrophic harm wrought by climate change. Similarly extreme wildfire seasons have occurred across the globe in recent years. Here, we apply a pyrogeographic lens to the recent Australian fires to examine the range of causes, impacts and responses. We find that the extensive area burnt was due to extreme climatic circumstances. However, antecedent hazard reduction burns (prescribed burns with the aim of reducing fuel loads) were effective in reducing fire severity and house loss, but their effectiveness declined under extreme weather conditions. Impacts were disproportionately borne by socially disadvantaged regional communities. Urban populations were also impacted through prolonged smoke exposure. The fires produced large carbon emissions, burnt fire-sensitive ecosystems and exposed large areas to the risk of biodiversity decline by being too frequently burnt in the future. We argue that the rate of change in fire risk delivered by climate change is outstripping the capacity of our ecological and social systems to adapt. A multi-lateral approach is required to mitigate future fire risk, with an emphasis on reducing the vulnerability of people through a reinvigoration of community-level capacity for targeted actions to complement mainstream fire management capacity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:09:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4b6fac672afb4ef685f6e31a06e81240 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:09:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-4b6fac672afb4ef685f6e31a06e812402023-11-23T08:14:41ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552021-12-01449710.3390/fire4040097What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis?Rachael H. Nolan0David M. J. S. Bowman1Hamish Clarke2Katharine Haynes3Mark K. J. Ooi4Owen F. Price5Grant J. Williamson6Joshua Whittaker7Michael Bedward8Matthias M. Boer9Vanessa I. Cavanagh10Luke Collins11Rebecca K. Gibson12Anne Griebel13Meaghan E. Jenkins14David A. Keith15Allen P. Mcilwee16Trent D. Penman17Stephanie A. Samson18Mark G. Tozer19Ross A. Bradstock20Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaPacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, 506 Burnside Road West, Victoria, BC V8Z 1M5, CanadaScience, Economics and Insights Division, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Parramatta, NSW 2150, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaScience, Economics and Insights Division, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Parramatta, NSW 2150, AustraliaSchool of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, AustraliaNSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW 2522, AustraliaScience, Economics and Insights Division, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Parramatta, NSW 2150, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, AustraliaThe 2019–20 Australian fire season was heralded as emblematic of the catastrophic harm wrought by climate change. Similarly extreme wildfire seasons have occurred across the globe in recent years. Here, we apply a pyrogeographic lens to the recent Australian fires to examine the range of causes, impacts and responses. We find that the extensive area burnt was due to extreme climatic circumstances. However, antecedent hazard reduction burns (prescribed burns with the aim of reducing fuel loads) were effective in reducing fire severity and house loss, but their effectiveness declined under extreme weather conditions. Impacts were disproportionately borne by socially disadvantaged regional communities. Urban populations were also impacted through prolonged smoke exposure. The fires produced large carbon emissions, burnt fire-sensitive ecosystems and exposed large areas to the risk of biodiversity decline by being too frequently burnt in the future. We argue that the rate of change in fire risk delivered by climate change is outstripping the capacity of our ecological and social systems to adapt. A multi-lateral approach is required to mitigate future fire risk, with an emphasis on reducing the vulnerability of people through a reinvigoration of community-level capacity for targeted actions to complement mainstream fire management capacity.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/4/97wildfiresmokedemographicsfuelclimate changeadaptation |
| spellingShingle | Rachael H. Nolan David M. J. S. Bowman Hamish Clarke Katharine Haynes Mark K. J. Ooi Owen F. Price Grant J. Williamson Joshua Whittaker Michael Bedward Matthias M. Boer Vanessa I. Cavanagh Luke Collins Rebecca K. Gibson Anne Griebel Meaghan E. Jenkins David A. Keith Allen P. Mcilwee Trent D. Penman Stephanie A. Samson Mark G. Tozer Ross A. Bradstock What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? Fire wildfire smoke demographics fuel climate change adaptation |
| title | What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? |
| title_full | What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? |
| title_fullStr | What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? |
| title_short | What Do the Australian Black Summer Fires Signify for the Global Fire Crisis? |
| title_sort | what do the australian black summer fires signify for the global fire crisis |
| topic | wildfire smoke demographics fuel climate change adaptation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/4/97 |
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