Hi, I hope you enjoyed my previous (first) blog, the topic this week was to be a continuation of the theme Fire Safety Training but….  given the crisis that NSW and I guess, very soon Victoria, will be facing I thought I would get a few things off my chest first, it is a bit of a rant, but I am not going to make any apologies for it.

One of my major concerns is the fact that powerline failures are now being investigated as a potential cause of the bushfire crisis, is this the case or are we looking at a perfect storm of:

  • Climate Change
  • Lack of governmental control over power companies
  • More and more people living in bushfire prone areas’

I don’t know what the answer is but I am damned sure the questions need to be asked.

Vince Duffy, the man responsible for electricity supply in South Australia says power would be turned off if his state was confronted with conditions like those prevailing on Black Saturday in Victoria, his States has a shut-off policy that enables power companies to cut electricity once certain conditions relating to heat, humidity and wind velocity are reached, whilst this is a controversial step the strategy has been used on several occasions.

Some of the most catastrophic bushfires in Australia’s history have been started by powerline failure and it is of some concern that the most devastating fires in NSW last week started as a direct result of damaged powerlines.  We need to accept that we live in one of the world’s most flammable landscapes and powerlines can provide the ignition source to that landscape.

In February 2009, the Bushfire Royal Commission found electrical faults caused five of the 11 major fires.

Climate change will definitely bring more frequent extreme fire weather, which, in turn, poses risks from both bushfire, and heat stress.

The interplay between bushfire risk, power supplies and extreme weather illustrates what actual adaptation to climate change will look like and it cannot be a passive or a painless process.

We need to buy in now to find a solution to balance the effects of power supply and climate change and the places we choose to live or suffer at times catastrophic effects that will impact the great country that we live in.  We cannot leave it all to the Government; we must act, normal, everyday people have brought about the greatest changes in this world.

 

……….. ‘Til the next time Greg