Bushfires in Australia – photo taken earlier this year

 

Ed: The very recent events (Iran, Megxit) have only relegated the tragedy of the Australian bushfires, they have not vanished from the papers. Below is a letter from one of our readers in Oz. We’re publishing it because it throws a light on aspects which the “Climate Emergency’ shouters prefer not to mention – just as here in the UK the devastating floods, in somerset a few years ago and recently in Yorkshire, are blamed on ‘Climate Emergency/Climate Change’ while the real causes, i.e. interference by the green crap brigade, is conveniently forgotten. 

I also recommend you watch Paul Joseph Watson’s devastating video on those bushfires before you read Jamila’s letter:

 

 

Here is Jamila’s letter:

Sir,

in answer to your question on why this is happening, I think it is the result of building wooden houses in forests.  I am perhaps more conscious of fire risk than others but I wouldn’t buy an old house in bushland (which is the Australian term for forest).

For at least the last 15 years building regulations have required new buildings in fire prone areas to be built to quite high standards.  Around here people building in bushland have to put in very large water tanks, which they must keep full of water, with a 4 inch hose connection so that if a fire comes through the fire brigade, or the house owner, can use a pump (diesel, not electric) and a fire hose.  We can cut down trees within 10 metres from our homes. Newer roofs are constructed in a way to prevent embers from being blown into the attics from gutters. Older houses often get destroyed that way.

The way I see it is this.  Decades ago, in the 50s, people bought cheap blocks of land by the beach, put up a tent, then a shed, then a shack, then a cheap house.  No one cared about how these settlements spread through bushland because the land and the houses were cheap and people could shelter at the beach if a fire came through.  No one supported stringent building regulations because the resale price was so low people didn’t want to build expensive houses when they only planned to use them for a few weeks every year.

As Australia’s population and wealth grew the price of these houses increased, many now cost over a million dollars.  People renovate and extend but don’t often totally rebuild to today’s standards. They are still surrounded by highly flammable trees.

It is certainly true that there is ongoing conflict between environmentalists who want to protect the bushland and people who want to do controlled burns to reduce fire hazard but that is only part of the story.  If you buy a flammable house in a flammable forest you know there is a risk it will burn down. If you buy a house in a flood zone you know there is a risk it will flood – the houses in Brisbane that are in the river’s flood zone are hundreds of thousands of dollars cheaper than the houses in neighbouring suburbs on higher land.  People here mostly understand the risks so you don’t hear people complaining that this is somebody’s fault, somebody else should pay, this should never be allowed to happen again.

Respectfully, Jamila Maxwell

 

Photo by Ninian Reid

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