Australia Burns

[Earnest]

Serious question:

Do you think Australians affected by the bush fires will be compensated by the government or will the insurance companies bear the burden?

[mak]

Volunteer firefighters get $6000 for lost income.

Sent from my SM-A910F using Tapatalk

[Earnest]

Thank you, Mak.

Also wondering about who stumps up for burned down houses and the like?

[Aardvark]

Just had to pay my annual house insurance, $200 more than last year

[bluejets]

Serious question:

Do you think Australians affected by the bush fires will be compensated by the government or will the insurance companies bear the burden?

Usual action is that if a disaster is announced by the government, as it was when the floods hit here in 2013, then an amount of compensation is dished out to those uninsured.

[tamada]

I would think that the insurance companies would be the first line of recourse for any property owners facing losses. That is the same as the US Gulf Coast when it comes to hurricanes. Extra federal fund or emergency funding comes after the state calls a disaster. Home owners need to ensure their coverage doesn't lapse though as new insurance applications and renewals are blocked during the federally declared active hurricane season. Not sure if Australian insurers have similar limitations during the hottest, most dangerous months. Have premiums gone up due to the slow rise in temperatures and commensurate rise in fires? Have some property owners, when faced with an increase, chosen to wing it?

My understanding is the individual states can request extra funding from central government but the preparedness and equipping of their fire departments is managed at state level. If it looks like NSW and others haven't appropriately assessed the increasing risks each year and if requested, they maybe haven't allocated federal funding correctly, can the federal government be held responsible? Maybe more oversight is needed in that regard?

[RLTrader]

After another weekend of devastation, Australia faces weeks more of unprecedented fires

2019 is now officially the hottest year on record in Australia, meaning the 10 hottest years on record have been in the 14 years since 2005. On Saturday, the north-western Sydney suburb of Penrith was one of the hottest places on earth, with a temperature high of 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit). The previous high in the sprawling working-class area was 47.3C in January 2018.
A discernable shift is underway in how masses of people view the political parties and institutions that have downplayed or denied the reality of climate change. Successive governments, both conservative and Labor, have responded with indifference and inaction to the increasingly strident warnings and the expert appeals for stepped-up preparations. Committed to the interests of the Australian capitalist elite, they have sought to defend the corporate profits that derive from fossil fuel use, while meeting the selfish demands for tax cuts by the wealthy. Vast resources have been allocated to building up the military, while even the pretense of international cooperation to stem global warming has been increasingly cast aside.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison ...

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/0 ... e-j06.html

[jackspratt]

The world socialists can say what they want - but the history is totally different ie at least part of that linked article is bullshiit.

In 2008, the then Labor government proposed the introduction of an emissions trading scheme ie a price on carbon emissions. It was supported by the opposition Liberals. The hard right of the Liberals, led then by Australia's later worst ever Prime Minister (Abbott), deposed the leader of the Liberals, and the troglodytes took over. They are still running the show.

Despite that, Labor still had the numbers in the lower house to pass the legislation, which they did. But unbelievably, it was defeated in the upper house - with the support of the Greens.

And here we are today, with Australia on fire, the right wing reactionaries still in charge, and PM Scotty from Marketing proving time after time what an absolute light weight he is.

[Earnest]

Just had to pay my annual house insurance, $200 more than last year

Yeah, that's where I was going next.

[mak]

Warnie has donated his green baggy cap to help the bush fire victims. It is expected to generate $500k.

[noosard]

Australian fires are quite regular
This fire has burnt about 10 million hectares
But 1974 fires burnt about 117 million hectares (15% of Australias land mass )
As for the claims of temps above the norm again during these past great fires conditions were very similar
Mid to high 40c wind speeds 100km/hr low humidity

[TJ]

If true, this article is troubling.

Nearly 200 People Arrested Across Australia For Deliberately Starting Bushfires

Authorities in Australia have arrested close to 200 people for deliberately starting the bushfires that have devastated the country, yet the media and celebrities continue to blame “climate change” for the disaster. The fires have caused at least 18 deaths, destroyed thousands of homes, millions of hectares of land and killed hundreds of millions of animals. A total of 183 people have been arrested by police in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania for lighting bushfires over the last few months, figures obtained by news agency AAP show. In New South Wales, 24 people were arrested for arson, risking prison sentences of up to 25 years.

In Queensland, police concluded that 103 of the fires had been deliberately lit, with 98 people, 67 of them juveniles, having been identified as the culprits.

“The link between arsonists and the deadly fires that devastate Australia every summer is well known and well documented, with the rate of deliberately lit fires escalating rapidly during the school holiday period,” reports Breitbart’s Simon Kent.

Around 85 per cent of bushfires are caused by humans either deliberately or accidentally starting them, according to Dr Paul Read, co-director of the National Centre for Research in Bushfire and Arson.

“About 85 per cent are related to human activity, 13 per cent confirmed arson and 37 per cent suspected arson,” he said. “The remainder are usually due to reckless fire lighting or even just children playing with fire.”

Read also highlighted the link between school holidays and kids starting fires, commenting, “School holidays are a prime time for fire bugs, but especially over summer.” The kids have got time to get out there and light, and the most dangerous adults choose hot days.”

https://summit.news/2020/01/06/nearly-2 ... bushfires/

[Bandung_Dero]

That's utter "Social Media" BS and anyone with half a brain would question those figures.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-08/ ... a/11846434

[mak]

Compilation map of bush fires from satellite data for this season.

[mak]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwhoNQUPXTo
http://smarturl.it/DG.LetItRain

[noosard]

NSW fire boss says people complaining about lack of hazard-reduction burns have short memories

NSW's top fire brass has weighed in on a national debate about hazard-reduction burns, saying the practice made his organisation "public enemy number one" last year when Sydney was shrouded in smoke.
"Let's not forget, only a matter of months ago in New South Wales, we and the land management agencies, particularly national parks and forestry, we were public enemy number one because a byproduct of hazard reduction burning is smoke and yes, there's a very significant health issue with smoke," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-08/ ... e/11850862

[AlexO]

NSW fire boss says people complaining about lack of hazard-reduction burns have short memories

NSW's top fire brass has weighed in on a national debate about hazard-reduction burns, saying the practice made his organisation "public enemy number one" last year when Sydney was shrouded in smoke.
"Let's not forget, only a matter of months ago in New South Wales, we and the land management agencies, particularly national parks and forestry, we were public enemy number one because a byproduct of hazard reduction burning is smoke and yes, there's a very significant health issue with smoke," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-08/ ... e/11850862

It all comes down to whether you want hazard reduction burns that cause limited smoke obviously or the total mayhem that you have now with loss of property and life as well as smoke (huge amounts) if you do not have hazard reduction burns. Same as the UK, the tree huhuggers dont want rivers dredged and banks cleaned out but then claim huge flooding when rivers burst their banks is all down to "climate change".

[jackspratt]

A couple of other quotes from that linked news article - which seem to have been overlooked thusfar (my emphasis):

The Commissioner has also defended fire management agencies saying claims by some politicians that "Greenies" have disrupted prescribed burning were not true.

"We are not environmental bastards, we actually work through a sensible, environmental regime," he said.

"Our priorities are life, property and that environment ranks third."

and

He also said the burns did nothing to combat the massive "mega-fires" burning in NSW.

"Hazard reduction burns that are only two years old, we're seeing these fires on these bad days just skip straight through it," he said.

"We're only seeing effective amelioration on fire spread through hazard reduction areas that have been done so in the last 12 months."

[noosard]

I saw on the news 2 days ago a small town with the fire burning towards it with metre high dry grass
Now that is crazy not reducing that

[AlexO]

So you as an Aussie tell us what your solution would be.
Stop digging up the Countries natural resources to sell to the Chinese. (who produce thanks to Australia, 50% of the annual Worldwide Carbon Footprint) ?
Stop Fire Break Hazard reduction burning because some environmentalists think the ant population in that area will suffer.?
Or just say **** it What will be will be.
Never mind the human cost, how's about the unique Aussie wildlife who if lucky enough to survive the flames, what are they going to live on? Ashes. Sorry! wholeheartedly for the Nation in their time of need but this has to be prevented in the future.