They overlook a vast body of evidence that crown fire – the most extreme type of fire behaviour in which tree canopies burn - is more likely in logged native forests.
We should stop developing into high-risk areas, as the associated land clearing is too significant to our ecosystems and may still result in houses being lost.
“Will it grow back Mum?” Younger family members want reassurance at Colo Heights, among the blackened trees and loose soil.
Indigenous kinship networks link each plant to the next and connect us to Country. Honouring this way of being and engaging in fair collaboration might give power to our heartbreak.
‘In Australia, beds are burning. So are entire towns, irreplaceable forests and endangered and precious animal species such as the koala.’
State Government Of Victoria Handout/EPA
I am a climate scientist on holiday in the Blue Mountains, watching climate change in action.
A targeted, coordinated online campaign has tried to mislead the public. While the myths have been debunked, the culpable parties remain unknown.
SEAN DAVEY/AAP
By understanding how bushfire maps are created, and what their features represent, you can get better at spotting fake ones.
Comedian Celeste Barber’s fundraising efforts have gained monumental support. But we need to think of long-term engagement in climate action too.
Facebook
Celeste Barber’s $45 million fundraiser is amazing, but battling Australia’s fires should be an ongoing effort. With the help of social media, it can be.
A firefighting helicopter tackles a bushfire near Bairnsdale in Victoria’s East Gippsland region, Australia.
State Government of Victoria
We don’t need to send in the army every time there’s a natural disaster, or create a national fire fighting force. We need to think practically about working together in emergencies.
Morrison has refused to meet calls for a national summit or a COAG meeting on the fire effort.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Fuming, burnt out, drained. Can our smoky cities spark a change in the political atmosphere?
‘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.
DARREN PATEMAN/AAP
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.
In many countries including America, computer models are being used to predict how a fire will burn.
The convergence of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality may offer hope for the way we manage future bushfire disasters.
As bushfires continue to burn across NSW and Queensland, the Prime Minister and Opposition leader have said policy arguments should be avoided until the immediate crisis has passed, but many disagree.
Dan Peled/AAP
Minister David Littleproud on bushfires, drought, and the Nationals.
The Conversation, CC BY49.3 MB(download)
In this podcast, David Littleproud says "as elected officials, we've got a responsibility" to wait for the right time to talk about the link between climate change and the ongoing bushfires.
Smoke haze from the bushfires in NSW drifted over Sydney on November 12.
Paul Braven/AAP
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.
Dan Peled/AAP
Service outages, network congestion and infrastructure at risk of being destroyed by fire are some of the issues worsening an already devastating situation.
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.
Research Leader in Respiratory cellular and molecular biology at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and Professor, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney