Last year fire storms raged across California. Similar conditions could become more likely for Australia.
Giovanni is interested in how meteorological processes operate at multiple spatial and temporal scales to control air pollution events, and how this influence is mediated by topographic variation and characteristics of the urban environment. His current r
Extreme fire risk will overlap with weather patterns to create fire tornadoes more often under climate change.
Emergency services haven’t been able to protect people and properties against increasingly intense bushfires.
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Land-use planning should give more weight to the increasing risks of natural hazards like bushfires as the first step in reducing the impacts.
It’s difficult to recall what you might need as you’re preparing to evacuate, so have your kit ready to go.
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Babies are particularly vulnerable in emergencies, especially in hot weather. Here’s what your emergency kit needs to ensure they stay hydrated if you have to evacuate or you lose power or water.
Modern fire managers can learn much from Aboriginal fire practice.
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Indigenous people used small fires skilfully to prevent larger bushfires. In this time of crisis, we must learn from them.
An estimated 85% of bushfires are lit by humans.
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
Australia devotes countless resources to fighting bushfires, but precious little to examining the main cause - humans.
Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die in a disaster.
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Natural disasters amplify the conditions leading to domestic violence. Yet Australia’s disaster policies are “gender blind”.
‘You have to think that with people like these very experienced, respected voices that the government would have to take the [climate change] debate seriously’, says Michelle Grattan about the calls from ex-fire chiefs for the government to act on climate change.
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Michelle Grattan and Professor Geoff Crisp discuss this week in politics.
Firefighters conduct property protection as a bushfire approaches homes at Woodford NSW, Friday, November 8, 2019. Calls for more controlled burning are common after a major bushfire.
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Despite the hype around hazard reduction burning this week, evidence shows the measure does not necessarily reduce the bushfire risk.
The devastating bushfires are intensifying the pressure on a government already increasingly on the back foot over climate.
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Emergency Leaders for Climate Action have a simple message: we’re in “a new age of unprecedented bushfire danger” due to climate change. But Morrison refuses to acknowledge it as a central issue.
Residents evacuate themselves and their animals to a park in Old Bar, NSW, Saturday, November 9, 2019.
AAP Image/Darren Pateman
During an emergency it’s vital you know what your animals need, where you can take them and what your local rules are. Fortunately, there are plans in place and guidelines to help.
There are no guarantees in bushfires, but you can improve the odds your house survives a blaze.
Photo by Edward Doody, courtesy of Arkin Tilt Architects
Houses built more than 20 years ago are likely to be more vulnerable to bushfires than newer builds. But there are some simple and inexpensive ways to reduce your risk.
Smoke haze from the bushfires in NSW drifted over Sydney on November 12.
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Smoke from the bushfires has impacted air quality in affected and surrounding areas. To minimise any health risks, people with pre-existing medical conditions should take extra care.
Up to 45% of children can experience depression after a natural disaster.
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Most kids bounce back quickly after a disaster and there are several strategies you can use to help.
While Australian fiction of the 19th century portrayed bushfires as isolated events. This week, more than 50 fires burned in NSW.
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Tales of heroic rescues and bush Christmases in Australian fiction of the 19th century describe a time when the fire season was confined to summer.
A firestorm on Mirror Plateaun Yellowstone Park, 1988.
Jim Peaco/US National Park Service
Large, intense bushfires can pump so much heat into the atmosphere they form their own thunderstorm system. And that can make the weather on the ground even more dangerously unpredictable.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison inspecting a burnt-out property in the Gold Coast hinterland in September 2019. Mr Morrison has offered “thoughts and prayers” to those affected by the fires.
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Fire officials warn that this week’s catastrophic fire conditions are “where people die”. Climate change has arrived, and politicians should drop the meaningless rhetoric.
Multiple large, intense fires are stretching from Australia’s coast to the tablelands and parts of the interior.
AAP Image/Supplied, JPSS
They escaped to the coast for the quiet life, but now sea-changers are in the path of monster fires.
Australia will probably see fewer tropical cyclones reaching land this season.
AAP Image/Bureau of Meteorology
Southern and eastern Australia need to prepare for heatwaves and increased fire risk this summer, as forecasts predict hot, dry weather.
Firefighters battle bushfires in Angourie, northern New South Wales, on September 10 this year, marking another early start to the season.
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Bureau of Meteorology researchers painstakingly analysed more than 40 years of data to work out exactly what is causing Australia’s spring bushfire phenomenon.
Fires are burning across Queensland and New South Wales.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
Climate change makes every risk factor for major bushfires worse, which means massive, intense fires will only become more likely.