(IFFN No. 26 - January 2002)
In the Editorial of International Forest Fire News No. 24 (April 2001) the rationale and a short overview of the FAO Global Forest Fire Assessment 1990-2000 within the Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA) has been presented. Most of the country contributions that include statistical wildland fire data and narrative information regarding the fire situation in the 1990s have been prepared for publication in IFFN and the FAO report. This special issue of IFFN includes national fire reports from Asia and the Pacific. Meanwhile the FAO "FAO Global Forest Fire Assessment 1990-2000" has been published in full length on the internet. The website address on which the report can be downloaded (PDF; size: 6 MB) is:
http://www.fao.org:80/forestry/fo/fra/docs/Wp55_eng.pdf
Based on the country reports and the IFFN archive the FAO has put the most important fire information in the country profiles. Forestry and fire information can be navigated by country:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/fo/country/nav_world.jsp
Through a cooperative arrangement with the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) more country profiles will be added successively to the FAO website.
Australia's Christmas Fires of 2001-2002
During the preparation of this IFFN issue Australia's Christmas Fires burned between end of December 2001 and mid of January 2002. Some media called this fire episode as Australia's "worst fire disaster in history." However, when the fires were terminated by rains by mid January 2002 the losses were less severe than anticipated. About 600,000 hectares had been affected by wildfires, a total of 120 houses burnt down, 3000 sheep were killed. These damages should be compared with the impacts of the Ash Wednesday Fires of 1983 that occurred during the drought caused by the extreme El Niņo of 1982-83. At that time the human death toll was 75, a total of 2539 houses burned and about 300,000 domestic livestock were killed y the fires. Satellite-derived burned area assessments included in the Australia country report in this issue of IFFN reveal that in the two fire seasons 1998-99 and 1999-2000 a total of ca. 345,000 wildland fires were recorded in the whole of Australia affecting 31.2 and 71.2 million hectares respectively.
It is well known that Australia's ecosystem are well adapted to fire. Human-caused fires have been documented for the last 60,000 years. Natural- and human-caused fires of varying intensities and severities are inherent elements of ecosystem dynamics. Apparently the impacts of the 2001-02 fires in Australia were relatively small compared to earlier extreme events or averages of vegetated area affected by fire. Why were these fires considered a major disaster?
First, the fires burned at the wildland-urban interface. This interface is a broad belt of urban development sprawling into the surrounding bush and forests. Similar to the exurban trends in North America the Australian cities expand horizontally rather than vertically. The highly flammable properties of Australia's bush and forest vegetation in which suburban houses are embedded represent an extremely high hazard for these houses, especially considering the fact that the houses are often wooden constructions.
Second, prescribed burning as a standard fire management practice in Australia is difficult to apply in this intermix situation. Prescribed burning aims at reducing fuel loads (combustible materials) on the forest floor and understory under controllable conditions in order to reduce the energy potential and to avoid high-intensity fires that are difficult to control.
Third, the Christmas Fires of 2001-2002 were caused by an unprecedented amount of arson. What was new in the situation was the high share of young people setting these fires purposely. The assumption that urban kids living in the exurban environment and not being aware of the consequences of their doing because of a lack of environmental awareness and responsibility, however, must be proved.
The coincidence of weather conditions favourable for the spread of large, high-intensity fires, and the above-mentioned circumstances reveal an increased vulnerability of the post-modern society, especially those living at the edge of or within a system in which fire is a common and needed natural phenomenon.
Freiburg, January 2002 Johann G. Goldammer
[ Top | IFFN No. 26 ]