American reacts to How Australian Bushfires work

[@missqiqilamour]

Just finished a 12 hour shift as a fire dispatcher. Crazy days in Victoria! ❤ from 🇭🇲

[@Aaron_Hanson]

As a resident of Ballarat, I thank you for the work you do 💙🍻🇦🇺

[@Drew_TheRoadLessTraveled]

A true Hero. Thanks.

[@markfryer9880]

Thanks for the work that you do! 12 hours on any Total Fire Ban Day would be extremely stressful. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@michellesmith6558]

Stay safe!

[@felicitydeikos5250]

I know, as a Victorian, we still have a bushfire going on.

[@DavidCalvert-mh9sy]

Having experienced a couple of bush fires, think of an ember attack as being red hot hail blowing towards you. One burning twig may not set your house alight. But thousands of them blown onto your house certainly will.

[@debkendall]

It is traditional for the 'country Fire authority' to 'burn-off' when the weather is cooler trying to keep the undergrowth down. The volunteers of the CFA do an amazing job

[@bereanborn888]

Unfortunately they often choose to “burn off” in fire season…then they blame some random “arsonist “ for starting the fire.

[@Ausecko1]

gotta get them rakes hey Trump

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

@@bereanborn888 And then Sky News claims that the Greens have stopped burn offs.

[@viktoriyaserebryakov2755]

That is when the hippies aren't hugging the trees.

[@flichop1522]

​@@bereanborn888there's a really narrow window when they can burn and situations can change suddenly. It shows just how unpredictable guess can be that even controlled burns can get away. I worked in a bushfire service for a decade and they _never_ blamed arsonists when it was an "overachieved" burn

[@jimjacobs2817]

01:51 Remember 'deliberately' lit' fires would include professional or amateur backburns that get out of hand. 04:18 Also the bush is bone dry 06:00 I remember a video of a guy filming the Black Friday fires from his lounge room. Within minutes distant smoke on the horizon became a white-hot wall of flame. He fled into his cellar till the fire passed and survived to show the vid.

[@smalltime0]

I tried explaining it to Europeans when I was at school in Germany. They couldn't understand why the firefighters were retreating (I forget exactly how far but it was over 100km I think). A few days later they thought that an area the size of Belgium meant that a large % of Australia had burnt down. They couldn't get a grasp of what a Catastrophic danger rating meant. It basically means you should have already left or have a very good fire management plan in place.

[@markfryer9880]

​@@smalltime0They have a great problem with the scale of Australia. We are basically the same land area as the 48 Continental States. I was involved in Exercise Kangaroo '89 which at the time was the largest peacetime exercise that the Australian Defence Force had been involved in since WWII. The Area of Operations covered the whole of the top of Australia from North-West W.A. to Cape York in Queensland. The Area of Operations was described as being from Madrid in Spain to just outside of Moscow! If you could have told them that their minds would have been blown away! Also if we travel for 4 hours by car we are still within most states. In Europe, you would be several countries away from where you started. Most maps don't help because if you were to use a common two A4 page map in Europe and went to use the same map in Australia you would need at least 2 A2 sized maps to be working in the same scale. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@smalltime0]

@@markfryer9880 yeah lol, one of the women I was studying with was like ' have you ever been to New Zealand?' (I haven't), ' its right there!'. ' Have you been to Moscow' 'no' ' its right there'.

[@mehere8038]

video lumped deliberate & accidental fires together in this video, pretty sure the vast majority are accidental, or at least the vast majority of land burnt is from accidental & lightning fires, when conditions are really bad, deliberate ones go WAY down, it's only when conditions aren't bad that deliberate ones spike in Australia. I'm also not sure what things like cigarettes & BBQ's come under if talking deliberate vs accidental, I know a few years back certain people were picking up on the number of fines for intentional fire lighting, but those numbers were for things like BBQ's & dropped cigarette butts not fully extinguished in the middle of cities, on the day of a total fire ban, not for attempting to light a bushfire

[@Rexmoona]

There was a deliberately lit fire at the national park near my housing estate about 1.5 years ago (second one in 8 years) my partner was driving ahead of me on the road that is next to the national park. Probably 3-5 minutes ahead of me. When he drove through the fire was not even in sight it was the same just smoke he could see, but the time I got to the road it was right up to the fence. I could feel the heat in my car. I ended up having to turn down another street and couldn’t get home for 2 hours even though my house was 5 minutes away. The shut down both entries to my estate 😅

[@kazz3956]

I live about 45 km away which is around 28 miles, south of the Yarloop fires. RIP to the two souls who were lost. The heat generated from that fire was intense, and embers were falling over our home so we had to turn off the airconditioning to avoid fires here. The fire jumped the major Highway that links South West of Western Australia to the city of Perth. Trees along that highway were just sticks for such a long time. You got a reminder of the devastion every time you went through. Then 12 months ago, a property of my husband's employer caught on fire from lightening strikes. They lost almost everything, although they managed to safe the livestock and a home. My husband has helped replace 20 km or about 12.5 miles of perimeter fencing around the property. It was covered with one of the most beautiful timbers the world has to offer, Jarrah trees. They are a hard wood tree, that takes a long time to grow and it was so sad that they were burnt. Oh and the smell after the fires was full on. For the next 6 months my hubby worked with many volunteers to rebuild fencing. A volunteer group called Blaze Aid helped towards the end. As well as being exhausted, he came home looking and smelling like the fire had engulfed him. I had to scrub him clean.....many a time, and it is not that he can't do it himself, but that it was so thick it literally took a lot of effort to remove it. There have been so many large fires over East. What worries me is that a lot of their homes are smack bang in the middle of the bush. Thanks to all of the Fire brigades, the volunteer fire fighters, and those who operate the helicopters and planes to fight the fires and keep everyone safe. ❤❤❤

[@ScreamerXremaercS]

I'm never going to forget that one, my family evacuated Yarloop just a few hours before it hit, the housees on the other side of my street were lost, never been so scared in my life, Now every burn off no matter the season, especially in summer is met with a new wave of fear. Bless all fireies

[@garykelley5075]

I've been a volunteer member of Queensland Rural Fire Service for 20 years and this is a good video for basic information

[@ForTheBirbs]

42 years and "retired" as a volunteer in NSW RFS for me....

[@carlamullenberg1029]

Thank you so much for your contribution to our Rural Fire Service.

[@smalltime0]

6:40 don't build a hill on top of a house in Australia I think that wisdom applies everywhere Ryan

[@wilsonperez2668]

Well, we are the land down under...

[@shaneb4612]

I was under the impression that Coober Pedy was hills built on top of houses.

[@jacqf3583]

Tbh they'd be safer from fires...(with a protected air supply of course)

[@catprog]

@@shaneb4612 I think that is more houses built under the hills.

[@donnaaussiedch8040]

Sure, build at the bottom of the hill so you can go underwater every time it floods.

[@malalexander3515]

Good information. 40 years as a bush fire fighter / volunteer here.

[@donnajohnson9324]

Thanks for your work you do ❤

[@galaxygamer3322]

In the state where I live (Tasmania, which is about the same size as West Virginia) we had a major bushfire known as Black Tuesday on the 7th of February 1967. On Tuesday 7 February 1967, known now as Black Tuesday, 110 separate fires ravaged southern Tasmania. Conditions were particularly conducive to fire; an abundance of forest litter, northerly winds of up to 110 kilometres (68.35 miles) per hour, and extremely hot air. Sixty-two people lost their lives, 900 were injured, and 7,000 left homeless. The fires came within two kilometres (1.24 miles) of the central business district of Hobart. The economic impact of Black Tuesday was also significant. The fires destroyed 1,293 homes, burning through 264 270 hectares in the state's south within five hours. Agriculture was affected as thousands of chickens and sheep were killed, among other livestock. A subsequent Royal Commission found that 110 fires were burning within a 56 kilometre (34.79 mile) radius of Hobart. The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the 1967 damage at $14 million, with the 2012 estimated normalised cost of $610 million. My paternal grandparents were living about 2 kilometres from Hobart in Cascades (now known as part of South Hobart) in the bush (they had built a house up there about 3 years prior) when the bushfires went through, my grandparents had to crawl under their house and cover themselves with mud, after the fire passed over (almost completely destroying their house) they made a run for it down the road and sheltered in a culvert that thankfully still had water in it, where they were found and taken to the safe place (a place away from the fire that those evacuated can go until it is safe) until my grandfather died (in 1990), his nightmares were always of the 1967 bushfires (rather than what he saw during World War Two)

[@justjj4319]

My husband and I had just moved from Hobart to Texas when that fire went through ... it was on our evening news ... the only time wwe saw Australia mentioned ... no internet and couldn't afford phone calls for information ... a lifetime away

[@ianmcnab9534]

I remember when the yarloop fires happened. The actual fire grounds(area burnt) was massive. It started miles north of yarloop and stretched down almost to Bunbury. Bunbury was under an ember attack warning as well.

[@suemontague3151]

I'll never forget the Ash Wednesday fire's in 1983 😢

[@justjj4319]

Nor I, in Kalangadoo, SA ... kids on school bus ...

[@stephaniebell4272]

I was in The Basin during that fire, with a baby and a toddler . Terrifying. We dodged a bullet , thank goodness

[@markfryer9880]

I had wandered in to the CFA station at Lorne during my summer holidays and I asked the guy in duty how he thought that things would go that summer? We're going to burn! Was his reply. He was right. The West Coast had various fires threatening towns and half of Anglesea was wiped out. Tea tree is a very dangerous tree to have around. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@_BangDroid_]

You probably will once you leave this world. People always say never forget this and that, but major and massive tragedies have happened long long ago that almost no one remembers.

[@justjj4319]

laughing here ... that's deep :)@@_BangDroid_

[@julesmarwell8023]

17.10 hrs. feb 23 2004. Big fires on at moment west of Baalarat. town evacuated. Beauford. few houses burnt. no one hurt. its not even hot. 33c. but windy. fire not under control. have a good day matey. CHEERS.

[@markfryer9880]

Ah its Feb 23, 2024! You lost twenty years.

[@SharonSmithAus]

This is Australia, fire is our friend. We just respect it.

[@janetfletcher8766]

ABSOLUTELY!!!

[@stevemurrell6167]

Sometimes trying to sound like a tough Aussie just ends up sounding like a dickhead. I'm Australian mate, I live in the bush and yes, I respect fire but seriously.....when tearing towards your house, it's NO ONE's 'friend'!

[@SharonSmithAus]

@stevemurrell6167 it's not about being tough. You live here we have to respect fire it doesn't mean we don't defend against it etc. A lot of our bush is regenerated by fire. That is respecting it and understanding its place. Bushfire is a terror but we don't go around not building homes etc because one day there may be fire.

[@stevemurrell6167]

@@SharonSmithAus I said I respect it....and I agree your reply, I'm just saying it's never our 'friend'. You said in your first comment 'fire is our friend'.....and I disageed. Or maybe it wasn't you, I see that 'friend' comment has been removed now. Whatever.

[@Robert-v5h]

It's a strange country Victoria is burning up NTH in Queensland it hasn't stopped raining for weeks and l mean proper inches a day rain best of luck to those down south stay safe

[@JB-zs1oq]

That seems to be what we signed up for as citizens of this wonderful country which likes to test us in so many different ways.

[@Pushing_Pixels]

The road distance from the northern border of Victoria to the southern border of Queensland, through New South Wales, is similar to the road distance between Tallahassee, FL and Dallas, TX. (or about 75km further than the road distance between Madrid and Paris, if you're European). The straight-line distance from the southern border of Queensland to its northern tip is about one and a half times that again (e.g. Orlando FL to Boston MA by road). The drive from Victoria's northern border to its capitol, Melbourne in the south is about 15 miles shorter than NYC to Boston. Add all that up and you have the east coast of Australia. Australia is about the same land size as the Lower 48, so like the States we can have it all happening at once in different areas (except snowstorms, we don't get those).

[@_BangDroid_]

People still want to argue that climate change isn't real

[@janetfletcher8766]

WE WILL FROM ADELAIDE THANK YOU MATE

[@56music64]

Some say we need to manage our lands as the Aborigines did before us, with regular burning of grasses, and strategic clearing. They should be experts as they have managed our country for thousands of years. I believe we need their expertise.

[@vtbn53]

We know what to do but the Greenies won't let us do it, such a small party, such alarming power!

[@FionaEm]

​@vtbn53 Do you really need to politicise this issue?

[@vtbn53]

@@FionaEm Yes! I really, really, REALLY do! I nearly lost my home as a result of that party's policies, how am I supposed to react?

[@overworlder]

problem is we aren't wandering the landscape every day setting small burns. everyone says 'do more burns' and fire services always say 'we do as much as we can but there's only a few windows'.

[@vtbn53]

I should add though, that it is NOT just that party's policies, it is the policies of the general "green" community.

[@emilyprice178]

3:02 "Don't build a hill on top of a house in Australia" The residents of Coober Pedy disagree. 😂

[@Ash05771]

😂

[@octopusman1341]

When he called abc news "a small and upcoming youtuber, go check them out" I cracked up

[@sheilbwright7649]

2 things volunteers and regrowth. Most bushfires fighters are volunteers that have a normal job they risk their oives for free. In rural and regional Australia even towns and villages that don't have a pub have a bushfire station. If you are ever in a pub in R & R it is considered extremely poor form not buy a bunch of tickets in Friday night meat raffle. Whilst there is a fair amount of academic debate on the details it is clear some native plants regenerate with fires and some level of bushfires are needed for a healthy bush.A year or so after a fire you can drive through an area with black trees from base to top with green shooting branches all over.

[@mehere8038]

There's books out there such as "the biggest estate" that discuss exactly how fires have been used traditionally to manage the land & the impact they have. It's not just a case of some plants needing fire, different plant seeds germinate at different temperature fires & what we do today actually results in repeated "hot fires", which means the germination of the fire loving plants that intentionally increase the fires to germinate their offspring, while the trees that don't like hot fires & actively suppress hot fires are no longer being germinated, due to a lack of "cool fires" being set. In traditional management, a few months after a hot fire, they would burn the same area again with a cool one, so as to take out most of the seedlings & stimulate the cooler ones to germinate

[@caroljoyce8251]

Deliberately lit fires are usually close to services, so they are usually quickly dealt with. The worst fires are started in very remote areas. Our place was hit by the Australian Black Summer bushfires on New Year's 6 2019. Where I live 3 lives and over 120 houses were lost that day. It was windy, tinder dry, and over 40 degrees. The rebuild here is still going on. Our next door neighbours lost their house which was on top of the hill. Our fire, at Lake Conjola, was the hottest fire ever recorded by NASA satellite imaging. There is documentary made by a local filmmaker called We are Conjola. My husband lost his pottery workshop and gallery. Even his kilns bent in the heat.

[@Darryl_Frost]

"Don't build a hill on top of a house guys,,," That's some very sound advice if I ever head it.. 🤣🤣😂

[@megbond]

But when you think about it, an underground house covered in soil would be safe from bushfires, so not so dumb really...

[@alans9806]

Indeed. The current issue of Renew magazine has an article about this for fire protection. It's also a good way of keeping cool in summer@@megbond

[@catprog]

@@megbond that is building the house under the hill.

[@stevenbeck5746]

DIdn't they build a hill on top of the parliament house in Canberra?

[@1legend517]

I often think about building a hill on top of the house.

[@overworlder]

didn't get into fire tornadoes either. Like the smoke-made lightning storm, large fires create weather phenomena, sucking in fresh air at gale-force speeds to replace the huge updrafts of flame and hot air over the fire ground, which can then become a fire tornado

[@threestumps7560]

Happy arvo Ryan, iff you have a spare two hours there is a doco on youtube about the Black Saturday bushfire of 2009. Watched it a few weeks ago. The fire going up hill immediately thought of Kings Cross tube station fire in London where a huge fire was created after a cigarette butt was dropped by a commuter and slipped through the escalator. Seconds from Disaster is a good series to watch, even if a little old now. There is another case of a big fire in a sloping train tunnel at an Austrian ski resort about 20 years or so ago. The station at the top was a disaster while the only survivors were those that could escape the train and went downhill.

[@Aquarium-Downunder]

On new years eve 2019 Nowra NSW about 3pm. The fires left a trail over 1000km long before it got to my town, we were lucky and stopped the fires heading north at the Shoalhaven River. But other fires from way up in Queensland were heading south. In total the fire fronts on the east coast of Australia were over 2,500km long The smoke blocked the sun out and it was black, when it rained it was full of ash, like black mud. we did not see the sun again till 7am the next day (sunset was at 8:30pm) We went from the fires from hell to Covid-19 and then we had floods.

[@cydery]

in the 1996 NSW bush-fires, live embers and ash was falling on New Zealand, just shows how far embers can travel and potentially start more fires

[@ChannelReuploads9451]

I think the reference to fires traveling faster up a slope, comes from the effect that they found at the Kings Cross Tube station fire in London. Where at a slope of a certain angle, the fire actually lays down ahead of itself, and preheats the area ahead of itself, Preheating more gases ahead of itself, perpetually fueling itself. Check out the Investigation, "Seconds from Disaster - Kings Cross". The flames defy gravity, lie down, and preheat the fuel and air ahead of it, coupled with the slope, it accelerates. They actually termed it "The Trench Effect".

[@carolynrose9522]

Yes. I learnt about it during warden training. Fire and smoke will travel up hill/slopes. If in a tunnel head downwards. So many lives lost there from decisions to head upwards.

[@mehere8038]

@@carolynrose9522 but in a bushfire, head for the slope where the fire will be moving upwards, as it will pass over you much quicker than if you are on the slope the fires going down

[@ComaDave]

I took a panorama photo yesterday arvo out in the 39C Geelong heat, of the smoke from the Ararat fires rising and condensing into cloud as it all drifted over my house, about 170km to the SE.

[@Ninchi_TrueCrime]

Clear skies so far here at Bendigo…

[@kathydurow6814]

Travelled from Horsham to Ballarat that morning with family for a medical appointment. Saw some smouldering spots around Dadswells Bridge from the fires 2 weeks ago. Then had to take the scenic route back via Avoca & St Arnaud due to the Bayindeen fire near Beaufort...weird to think they were evacuating when we'd made a comfort stop there in the morning. Saw the big pyro-culumlus cloud all the way to Avoca. On hot & windy days it's usually not IF there's a bushfire; it's WHEN it happens & the variable is only where.

[@tralee2006]

Several bush fires on East NSW coast a few yrs ago. Cut off the highways and trapped 1 of the coastal towns in (1 fire was lit on purpose). That yr my uncle was water bombing from his helicopter and his Son-in-law was the spotter (very smoky up there) further up the coast

[@carolynrose9522]

And Mallacoota in Vic got trapped. The navy had to evacuate people by sea as the only way out

[@coraliemoller3896]

I think fire goes faster up a hill because the heat of the fire preheats the grass and foliage on the hill, so the fire already has usable fuel to consume. Downhill, the fuel is further away from the flames, so the fire heats and consumes the grass and foliage a bit at a time.

[@melindamullen6335]

Simple explanation, heat rises.

[@Joanne-t6j]

California probably wouldn’t have such a fire problem if Australian eucalyptus trees, which have a tendency to explode in a fire due to their oil content, had not been introduced there. Maybe it’s time to remove them, though it is probably way too late to do that now. America is not the only country having problems with our eucalypts; Thailand planted them because they grow very fast and straight, and so are great for building. Unfortunately, they didn’t figure on them getting loose in their jungles. I love seeing our eucalypts here but it makes me sad to see them causing problems where they are not supposed to be.

[@markfryer9880]

Brazil has the same problems with introduced eucalypt trees.

[@ruthbentley2090]

Same in Spain

[@boostabuse]

Just sitting here enjoying your vid from my hill on top of my house 🤔😵‍💫👍

[@pamelabaars6896]

hahahahaha

[@annaspanna2642]

Oh believe me, Aussies can get very argumentative when it comes to the politics of bushfires. Not surprised that ABC turned off the comments

[@mehere8038]

In reality it relates to legislation about the website being responsible for what's said by others on it

[@_BangDroid_]

@@mehere8038 I don't necessarily think it's legislation, if the website is responsible, why does ABC care about turning comments off? They sometimes have comments enabled. Mostly they're off. On Facebook, most government organizations, especially ABC, have comments enabled for a few hours then turn them off, but not always. It's less about minimizing heated political discourse, and more about controlling the narrative.

[@mehere8038]

@@_BangDroid_ on for a few hours is consistent with what I am saying. They only have them on if they have a person there monitoring & removing any comment that could cause them any legal issues

[@Nathan-ry3yu]

Lol. It's always turned off because they don't want feedback from real people opinions. When they give out phony polls. Or blabbering shit and claims Australia is in support of it.

[@MichaelHarper-o9o]

I lost everything in the 2019/20 fire. I live near a small Victorian town called Buchan, on a property of about 250 acres. It is four years on and I still find it difficult to watch this sort of program as it brings everything back. I have only recently moved into the new house and after four very hard years it is so good to be home. Fire storms leave huge scars on the landscape and in the heart. Fire is something that we live with and forest management is something that is sadly lacking. Kind regards Mick.

[@c.r.mcleod8959]

In the Northern Territory the firies do controlled burns every dry season and if a bush fire starts up that way, it doesn't have the catastrophic results like the southern states, plus rural properties up in the N.T. must have fire breaks.

[@mehere8038]

and up there the fires beyond controlled burns are lit by arsonist birds! literally!

[@stopbunsen]

I think we all grow up with fire here in Australia. I remember the Ash Wednesday bushfires in the 80s. I grew up not far from the Great Ocean Road which was heavily impacted by that fire. I was only 5 years old but remember learning then that fire races up a hill as opposed to down it. And I remember the smoke in our small town which was super scary as a kid. But, it was also beautiful to see the forests regenerate after the fire.

[@Nathan-ry3yu]

I thought fire went wherever the wind was blowing towards. Up or down. It doesn't matter

[@stopbunsen]

@@Nathan-ry3yu Of course the wind is a big factor in fire movement. But, on an upward slope, the fire pre-heats the fuel ahead of it much more than on a downward slope, making it easier for it to ignite. With the wind behind it, it moves even faster

[@rickpratchett2986]

Your west coast fires are getting worse partly because someone planted Aussie eucalypt trees in California! Those trees are full of flammable oil, which make their burning very intense.

[@tonyabrown7796]

There is some amazing footage from the RFS of the Canberra fires. In the middle of the day, within about a minute, the sky goes completely black from smoke before they were overrun by fire.

[@melindamullen6335]

January 2003, was down there the Aust. Day weekend afterwards the locals were still a bit shell shocked and it was scrambling for jumpers in 30C heat but after 40C the day before the 10C temperature difference was noticeable.

[@mrsb6839]

I remember the start of every summer dad rounding us all up as a family and we all made to get the house summer ready , we lived in front of a creek and big trees all around so cleaning out gutters and other areas on the roof filled with leaves and sticks that could start a fire was a must. We always sweeeped the backyard for chores every weekend but us younger kids were made to do a deep deep clean for leaves and other things we would set up the giat hose running from the laundry so water from the washing machine would come out onto the lawns front yard and was regularly moved around so it was always watered and nothing was dry without using excess water to do so Even the local council were i am back burns before the season hits too

[@leannewells1350]

Fire needs air to gain strength, air is mostly available high on hills etc. hence the read we are advised to get down low and go go go in a fire.

[@Flirkann]

Accidental also covers folks working, grinding and welding without sufficient precautions is a big one, and having rogue sparks or heat build up ignite the available fuel

[@mehere8038]

and cigarette butts. Another major cause is electrical wires in the wind, that wasn't mentioned, so no idea what category they're putting that into. I think from memory that's the second biggest cause after lightning

[@leemasters3592]

Growing up if there was welding or grinding happening on the property it was my job to stand by with the fire knapsack putting out the spot fires.

[@matthewbrown6163]

Helped a mate fire protect his farm we burned 1m either side of the paddock fences - we use a drip burner & water truck. It saved the farm as a bushfire came up to the fences but could not burn them down. He was able to keep his animals & then have space for the lost animals brought to his farm.

[@ylass8884]

Advice - Bushfire - Stay Informed Take note of the names of places CloseClose popup Issued Today at 4:22 PM. Friday Feb 23 20224 This Advice message is being issued for Amherst, Amphitheatre, Avoca, Beaufort, Brewster, Bung Bong, Burnbank, Caralulup, Chute, Crowlands, Ercildoune, Eurambeen, Evansford, Frenchmans, Glenbrae, Glenlofty, Homebush, Lamplough, Landsborough, Langi Kal Kal, Lexton, Lillicur, Middle Creek, Mount Lonarch, Percydale, Raglan, Rathscar West, Riversdale, Rosyth, Stony Creek, Talbot, Tanwood, Trawalla, Warrenmang, Waterloo, Waubra.

[@anneloving8405]

I remember in the 70s,burnibg off was done a lot more by local councils than now.

[@mehere8038]

actually, the stats on land areas burn off are much higher today than they were in the 70's, I think it was just less people involved back then, so they were burning tiny areas every weekend for months, whereas nowadays they burn an area the size they burnt in 3 months in the 70's in a single day when conditions are right. They also used to burn the same areas over & over back then & miss a lot of critical areas that were lower profile, nowadays it's more systematic (but still not where it needs to be)

[@thepaedophileprofit3062]

That is why there is far higher risk of "severe" bushfires now then in the past, fuel reduction is the only method to lower risk of severe fire, but they will tell you that climate change is the problem because it suits their agenda. Management of bush fire risks has been abandoned.

[@mehere8038]

That's been debunked ad nauseam, to the point that in 2023, it is simply impossible to make that claim in good faith! You could make other claims about the reason for increasing severity, but reduced burning off is simply impossible to claim in good faith

[@chezneychezney]

hill on top of a house would be great bushfire protection!

[@pipmoon572]

Where I live, I regularly see helicopters going over with water buckets attached to fight fires, I myself have fought them as a country person not a fire fighter, it's hot, its sooty, it's dirty, it's dangerous, it's hard to breathe sometimes, that's when you know to back off. In Australia to light a bonfire on your property you need a licence, and to actually have it happen, you have a fire rep out to say yay or nay, once you have met their conditions for one. Even then it's up to wind speed on that day to light it. A lot of people in Australia just don't go through the tape and dont understand what fire means if you get it the fuck wrong and ignore the safety in place.

[@Brisketbrisket9111]

In my house theres fires 20km away and i have flooded everything so i dont die

[@susan5822]

We have bushfires here in Victoria at the moment. The Black Saturday fires covered the whole,e state. Hundreds of homes gone and many lives lost

[@markfryer9880]

Black Saturday the winds were very hot and dry and they were literally howling through the trees and power lines in Heidelberg Heights, so places like Gembrook, Cockatoo, Coldstream, and Kinglake must have been absolute Hell. There were reports from a CFA Fire Crew that they were doing 100 kph down a road and the fire overtook them! Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@susan5822]

@@markfryer9880 absolutely. I could hardly stand up and I’m in the suburbs

[@katedutschke5030]

I grew up in the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Most of the grass fires we ever saw were lit by people throwing cigarette butts out the car window - that would inevitably end up in dry grass. People who did this are usually assumed to be non-locals (city folk/ tourists) and were often never found. Luckily we have an amazing CFS who were always super responsive to save all the vineyards.

[@perryschafer5996]

There are 2 or 3 bird species that will spread grass fires by dropping burning twigs into grass to make animals run from it who then become lunch.

[@sapinta]

Just like human hunters. But seriously, nature is savage and merciless, many plants and trees have evolved to catch and spread fires better and quicker, to destroy everything and kill all the rival plants and trees that are not well adapted like them.

[@firebrand2619]

Ryan, the Australian Fire-hawk the only other animal on earth other than man that uses fire as a tool. you might find this interesting.

[@_BangDroid_]

Rhinos will stomp out small fires. I don't know if that's using as a tool, but it's still cool

[@SoundOfOceanBlue]

I have a BA in Soc & Anthrop specialising in Indigenous studies in association with the Indigenous school KURONGKURL KATITJIN at Edith Cowan university and we learned the ways that Indigenous peoples took care of the land through strategic burning.

[@venderstrat]

I'm sure California is happy that they got onto our eucalypts.

[@outspoken_Survivor]

G'Day Ryan. These wild fires had most of our country was on fire 87 where our to of control & lasted 7 months. What most don't know most were crown fires. Sadly our Koala's climb up when scared which most those fires where doing & traveling 100km an hour. Those firefighters in the truck one trucks break in lines melted making it a dead stick they had to put all their gear on and put the blankets up at the windows as they experienced flashover. The crew ahead couldn't turn back to help. In the end they walked put

[@Zeus-rq5wn]

That flaming twig has thousands of little friends all landing on the roof at once. It literally rains embers.

[@WoodzyGaming]

The 2015 Pinery Bushfire in South Australia will remain a day that i will never forget.

[@doubledee9675]

Ryan, you were talking at the time the commentator mentioned most fire fighters are volunteers. If you're the living on a country property, it's expected that you'll join the local bush fire brigade. If your age or health would prevent active fire-fighting, you should be carrying out some supporting task - running the radio, filling water tanks, or even just making sure there's plenty of boiling water for cups of tea.

[@Danger_Mouse3619]

Some people who deliberately light fires are ones who work in the bush fire brigade and they get their kicks or whatever out of it.

[@ruthbentley2090]

That’s true!

[@judithstrachan9399]

Then they can feel like a hero, instead of the garbage they are.

[@hammer8809]

Yeah Ryan, I did that once (built a hill on top of my house) the only problem was I had to have a tunnel bored to get to my house 🤣🤣.

[@beyondthegoats6048]

Same as California, the greenies managed to stop parks and private land owners from clearing undergrowth. So fire have become more intense when they happen. Local councils also stopped clearing roadside bush so escape routes become unusable...

[@Tbhsixty5]

Fires get that hot that canopies of trees explode into flame before the fire gets there and that sucks in more air to fire the fire

[@geraldblaney9764]

The thought of fire uphill compared to downhill .is relatively simple .fire produces heat,hot air rises .which in turn makes the air hottoer as it rises up the hill .so as you would expect the fire will ignite new fuel faster .

[@mikeparkes7922]

“Don’t build a hill on top of a house” PMSL! EASILY the funniest thing you’ve ever said on video. Thank you. Seriously. I burst out laughing. Cheers, Ryan.

[@mikeparkes7922]

Living in Port Macquarie NSW, memories of the nonstop fires from June of 2019 through to just prior to Easter of 2020 still loom. Moreso by the fact that everywhere around me (encircling my property and house) has grown back 2-3 times more (and higher) than what was here before the fires started.

[@Pushing_Pixels]

The fires we had a few years ago were devastating. The volunteer firefighters were pushed to the absolute limits, as there were fires everywhere and they just kept going and going, on and on. All they could do was try to protect the towns, as the areas affected were just huge and couldn't be contained. I remember in the early 2000's we had some pretty big bushfires surrounding Sydney. I was near the city centre on Christmas Day, as I was going to visit my mother. Walking down a normally busy street here was no one around. The sky was dark in the middle of the day while burnt leaves and ash were falling from the sky. It was surreal.

[@judithstrachan9399]

I remember, volunteers would put out fires in one place, then go off to ANOTHER STATE to help there! Mateship at its best.

[@NickJewlachow-of3yh]

Some fires are deliberately lit. Sometimes , unfortunately, by a volunteer themselves. Forensic fire investigation is a growing field

[@darkshine5]

Wow ok comment hidden lol. I agreed however this is heavily frowned upon in the volunteer community. .... Abit more PC

[@tonyabrown7796]

I remember one very busy year for us in my town of 76000. From memory I think there was 390 deliberately lit fires. Because of the way they were lit, I always wondered if one of my fellow volunteers was the culprit.

[@adamharvey3564]

One lady was charged with lighting 7 fires this summer in a town south of Perth. (Near Yarloop mentioned in the video).

[@kennethdodemaide8678]

"Don't build a hill on top of a house" lol. Been a long day mate?

[@resputant8173]

Lol thats what happens when you have a little bubs, long day AND long nights lol

[@smalltime0]

He specified in Australia, so presumably its fine to have a hill on top of your house elsewhere.

[@resputant8173]

it is, the shire in middle earth comes to mind lol@@smalltime0

[@kennethdodemaide8678]

@@resputant8173 So true.

[@caitlinprice-n4p]

thanks for your time and effort all love from australia

[@ruthbentley2090]

Ryan, I hope you aren’t turned of coming to visit or live in Australia!

[@janhegarty5268]

Primary Schools students used to learn that a certain area around a house particularly in the bush would be required. Nowadays people want to live with all the bushland around their homes 6:51

[@linmonash1244]

Tassie is battling some fires currently - and these are bad enough - but not anywhere near as bad as previous fires or what were seeing in other States. But the ground down here is brittle dry, with a very dry winter and spring, and more fuel load currently on the ground than pre-the devastating '67 fires, so folks are watchful and nervous, and ANGRY. Current fires were deliberately started by 'bleep' arsonists up in the Lakes District. Arsonists are MURDERERS, and should be treated as such. They set fires that kill: { burn to death - either immediately or die slowly, hours or days later, in great agony }: Wildlife, Livestock, Pets, People, Fire fighters etc. They destroy; vital endangered species habitat, farm land, old growth forests, pollute rural & metro dependant essential water reserves { dams / reservoirs / water tanks } etc filling these up -making them undrinkable - with ash deposits and mud run off. Fires destroy kilometres of essential fencing, powerlines / infrastructure, and so much more. Many with respiratory conditions ( asthmatics etc. } suffer from the poor air quality, some wind up in hospital, and some die later. New laws and FAR harsher penalties should be brought in for those who set fires.

[@jenniferharrison8915]

Yes, ignorance is no excuse, there should definitely be higher penalties and rewards for information from locals! The devastation to nature may never be healed and food/water are an essential resource! I have asthma and bushfires are deadly to me!

[@BigAl53750]

Some facts about the Black Saturday Fires around Kinglake on Febraury 7th 2009, preceded by some facts about the effects of slope on fires and the speed they can travel. The fact is that heat travels UP and of course, any wind that hits a slope, will also travel UP. The heat of the fire travels ahead of the actual flames, drying and preheating the ground and all fuel materials so that combustion will take place sooner and therefore faster, which creates another wind of its own, because as the flames consume oxygen, more air will rush in to fill the semi-vacuum that the fire has created through its consumption of oxygen. The fresh oxygen also increases the heat of the flames, resulting in more oxygen being used up more quickly, which increases the vacuum, which in turn increases the speed of the air rushing in to replace the spent oxygen, and so on. This creates an ever increasing effect across the board and this is exacerbated by high winds when they come to a hillside, because the horizontal distance travelled across level ground is longer than the same distance traveled over rising ground, effectively increasing the speed of the wind relative to the ground it is passing over. So, even if there is no fire, air that hits an upward slope will travel faster up the slope, because every unit of distance the air travels horizontally, means the air travels over a LONGER distance uphill. (think of the original level ground as one side of a triangle, and the slope that is now slowly diverging from that level, as the side of a right angle triangle, aka; the hypotenuse, which is always longer than the bottom side of such a triangle) The air is still moving at the same realtive groundspeed, yet has to cover a greater distance, so it has to travel faster up the hill, relative to the actual ground it’s passing over. The Australian Academy of Science says that every 10 degree increase in slope will usually result in a DOUBLING of the speed of a fire, meaning that on a 20 degree slope, fire will travel FOUR TIMES as fast as it will across level ground. On days such as Saturday February 7th, 2009, in central Victoria, Australia, the wind speeds of 100kph (62mph) and the exteremly high temperatures of 46.4 deg. Celsius (115.5 Fahrenheit) formed a lethal combination rarely seen before or since. The degree of slope of the land to the northeast of the top of the ranges where the highest loss of life occurred, is certainly at least 20 degrees and in places significantly more than that, but as we have said, 20 degrees of slope will increase the speed of the fire by a factor of FOUR. The wind speed was an average of 100kph, or 62mph, which means that the speed of that fire as it went up the hillside was around 400kph, or 248mph. This is probably not the actual fire speed, as the flames will travel somewhat slower than the wind that fans them, but the fact is that the flames were over 100 metres high and there is evidence that temperatures reached as high as 2000 degrees C and beyond. There was evidence of car and truck engines so thoroughly heated that the crankshafts melted.

[@ruthbentley2090]

Great info, but it’d be better if you paragraphed your writing to make it easier to read. Thanks 🙏🏾

[@thepaedophileprofit3062]

My mum was killed 7 Feb '74 at Dixons Creek, in car crash 100m metre from our home, I was an infant, The Dixons Creek Boarding Kennels was my mums business on the Melba Hwy but at that time simply Yea Rd, very near the bottom of the hill from Kinglake, its still a business today though she had only just finished setting it up when she passed. Black Saturday hit me hard when it happened due to it being the 35yr anniversary of her passing and knew that the fires were in that very same area. I have no memories of living down there, my dad moved us to Qld by the time I was 2.

[@johnneeder9634]

A hot ember, regardless of what it might have been, can easily start a new blaze when the temperature is above 40 degrees celsius, or about 110 degrees fahrenheit

[@sammychicken4290]

Our property suffered damage in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires in South Australia 🇦🇺. Victoria was dealing with their own horrific bush fires as well.

[@RodneyMcMinge]

This week in Oz, we still have a lot of rain leftover from the last developing cyclone, plus a newer one off the west coast. However in Victoria we have a bushfire that's being very difficult to deal with. All this rain and yet a bushfire still occurs.

[@Arcticstar0]

Reminder that fire is a chemical reaction that just happens to produce a light we can see. The heat of one fire reaction starts the next fire reaction and so on. So an ember during a bushfire, where everything is hot & dry, is far more likely to cause other material to alight than when starting a campfire with cooler logs, even if those logs are also dry. Also since hot air is less dense than cool air, it naturally wants to travel uphill. This is the same reason a match will go out if you hold it upright, the flame can no longer heat up the fuel enough to burn. And with wind: more wind ⇒ more air pressure against flammable surfaces ⇒ heat energy is more easily transferred ⇒ fire easily spreads.

[@mccnshyyne]

I remember the fire in yarloop, driving through there afterwards was insane. Just acres of burnt, dead trees

[@sandgroper1970]

These bush fires can burn really hot, I remember vision from a news crew from a bushfire, that did impact property as in burn them down, in Western Australia. The vision showed an engine block from a care completely melted down

[@tanyabrown9839]

fires can also create "fire tornados". On youtube somewhere I saw in the past a video of a fire tornado from a bushfire in my state of SA (the video was taken during one of the kangaroo island bushfires.. when about a third of that place went up in flames or was in extreme danger). Fire tornados have been known to actually flip over fire trucks.

[@gaijininja]

Our magpies and ravens also pick up burning twigs and drop them off in other locations to scare out prey hiding from the main fire fronts.

[@archiebald4717]

There are trees in Australia and North America that have adapted to wildfire over millions of years.

[@Alicia-ij6gt]

In Australia, blown flaming twigs and leaves will be eucalytus and thus full of resin that sustains an ember longer.

[@jared2178]

You should look up the King Lake Fires in Victoria, Melbourne & watch when they rebuilt the town after the devastating fires.

[@franklutton7149]

a full on bushfire creates its own climate...... the way, the strength of the wind is governed by the fire

[@rachelroberson6871]

Hey Ryan, i just want to comment on something you said near the end there..... We do our best to not "build a hill on top of a house". 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Thanks for the laugh

[@carolynrose9522]

Two days ago while outside the sun cast an orange glow on the dying grass. I just knew this as a tell take sign a bushfire was happening. Sure enough, the fires up near Ballarat and The Grampians were happening.

[@timglennon6814]

It take one tree to make a thousand matches, but it only takes one match to burn a thousand trees. A song lyrics from a song by the Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Pop band, The Stereophonics.

[@alyciasmith1964]

Some Australian birds are capable of lightning fires too

[@malalexander3515]

Thunderstorms and dry lightning caused by pyrocumulus clouds.

[@TJdirect]

OK I’ll remember that, that’s great advice. “ I will never build a hill on top of a house!” 😂😂😂

[@justjj4319]

South Australia has a well established team who watch for firebugs in the Adelaide Hills at least... some known (yes!) are kept under surveillance for the day. I imagine other States have similar. The person who lit the Cherry Gardens fire 3 years ago, from which our community is still recovering, was caught & court hearing recently heard kids' & gkids' testimony as to the lasting effects on them. 3 Years ago the che

[@christophermarshall527]

If you did build a hill on top of your house at least it'd be less likely to be effected by bush fires.

[@EKSBEntertainment]

After the 2009 black sat fires I was working as a body recovery person (I still remember the sights of people who melted) and the fire near kilmore was lit by an arsonist and police had to protect him because if the locals got there hands on him you can imagen what. It was the worst effected area due to the death toll. Oh and the trees we have here explode sometimes due to the build up of eucalyptus oil.

[@kathyferguson255]

They never rebuilt Yarloop. Also a fantastic Museum was lost as well.

[@glenngrant7778]

You should read My Country by Dorothy Mackellar it explains a lot.

[@tanyabrown9839]

1983 Bush Wednesday I was a teen at the time and holes were burnt in my trampoline that day while I was outside jumping on it, it was like snowing still burning ash and I will never forget that totally red sky like out of a Doomsday movie. One of my best friends at school also lost her house and her father died in the ash wednesday fires. My uncle burnt to death in a bush fire a few years ago (his house also burnt done and the fire got all the sheep too) I also had another scary fire experience one time when I travelled interstate. On my journey I ended up driving into a closed bush fire zone without being aware of it. I wondered why I was seeing no one coming the other direction on the highway, it turned out that the road had been blocked due to a bushfire (and I must have been the last person on the way I was travelling to drive into the road from that other end. I ended up coming across parts of trees still burning along the side of the road and I was too scared to turn back as I didn't know if the fire had already circled around me so I just floored the excellator for a bit and hoped to get out of that area soon while wondering how hot the road was and if my tires were going to melt. I ended up driving through extremely thick smoke that I could hardly see so I then had to slow right down. I was so so scared. I finally reached the road block on the other side of the area and people clapped as I came out of that area.

[@eileengreen108]

You said it twice….. Don’t build a hill on a house….! Sooo funny 😂❤

[@thepaedophileprofit3062]

But seriously, assuming the house was designed and engineered for the purpose, Building a hill, or rather burying the house would be a very safe house for Bush fires, A bunker home... It would probably be mush easier to dig a hole at the desired house site, building the house in the whole then putting a little bit of earth over to fill the whole back to the top, than it would be to bury the house/build a hill above it. it did sound funny when he said it but the idea, not that I think he had "any" when the words came out of his mouth lol he went NFI, no friggin idea, as he saidd it haha but basically having a barrier of dirt between a house and any fire is very close to the fire proofing perfection you could hope to make any house or thing, with the only possibly better level fireproofing might be an underwater house

[@bethmetcalf3447]

3:06 Good advice Ryan! 😂

[@Soundmaster91]

Its worth noting that NSW alone has more volunteer fire fighters than Australian's entire active defence force personal from the army, navy and air force. Thats how serious it is.

[@andrewjgrimm]

1:59 In the US’s case, the accidental fires include gender reveal pyrotechnics. 3:05 Building a hill on top of a house would be Parliament House in Canberra, which is inside of a hill.

[@janetpendlebury6808]

Comments were turned off in that video you were watching because it was an ABC news one, no comments ever.

[@BeatWittwer-x8p]

The uphill behaviour is simple to explain. It's called convection ( hot air rises) . The base of the flames sucks in oxygen at ground level. The flames give off hot air that rises so you have a cyclical air movement .... cold air in the bottom, hot air out the top ........ a hill simply creates a chimney effect as it accelorates the entire process. As for the thunderstorm creation .... again the principle is straight forward. Rain/clouds are formed when water vapour uses dust/soot etc. as its point of forming a drop. With these large fires the hot air generated rises high ( 14 km in the example shown) carrying with it dust/soot .... the water vapour at that altitude form drops then clouds around those particles AND the rapid/large air movements ( as the hot air rises and the cooler air feeds into the fire) generate a thunderstorm in the unstable atmosphere. That the good thing about fires and being a fire fighter ..... MOST fire behaviour is predictable.