Category: bushfires

Communities Set to Make Safe Homes Among the Gumtrees

Under a towering canopy of eucalyptus trees, families splash in the Yarra River. Others meditate in the shade, and some plunge into the cool, calm water to be baptised. The bushland around Millgrove is a sanctuary for many in the rural Victorian community, but a sense of dread lingers in the air. “We live in…


Australia Braces for Severe Heatwaves Following Widespread Bushfires

Aussies need to brace for more heatwaves over the coming days following widespread bushfires, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Bushfires have swept South Australia—with authorities reporting 143 hectares of scrub burnt—where homes and industrial buildings in Port Lincoln were damaged. “Numerous fires remain ongoing across eastern Australia, in particular, across Queensland’s Western Downs, where…


Drones Plant Millions of Trees in Australia’s Biggest Botanical Garden

Australia’s largest botanic garden has been using drones to accelerate the planting of trees and restore native Australian species, particularly after weed invasions, bushfires, and droughts left their garden in bad shape. More than 52 million hectares of Australia’s land are now considered degraded. Australian Botanic Garden’s Curator Manager Michael Elgey said they had cleared…


Stalagmite Reveals More Intense Bushfires in Australia Since 1890’s

A stalagmite from a Western Australian (WA) cave has revealed that prior to European settlement in the state, low-intensity bushfires were quite frequent, whereas, from the late 1800’s infrequent but high-intensity bushfires have become common. The stalagmite studied was extracted from Yonderup Cave in WA, and preserved a record of climate conditions and fires, enabling…


Australia’s Rare Potoroos Bouncing Back After Bushfires

An increased number of potoroos—a rabbit-sized kangaroo—has been detected in the Barry Mountains, a bushfire impacted area in Victoria, as the endangered marsupial shows signs of recovery after the Black Summer bushfires destroyed over 70 percent of its habitat. In Dec. 2021, a remote camera monitoring survey conducted in the area by the government’s Bushfire…


Australia Given Dire Warning of Climate Change While Fears of Alarmism Grow

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned Australians they will need to brace for an increase in hot days, heatwaves, bushfires, droughts, sea-level rise, ocean warming, ocean acidification, and other extreme events, while others fear the conclusion is alarmist, irresponsible, and misleading. Part two of IPCC’s sixth assessment report (pdf) predicted…


Australia’s West Coast Faces Bushfire Emergency Again

Months after bushfires destroyed houses in the regions around Perth Western Australia, residents in the Perth Hills are again facing the threat of losing their homes and potentially their lives as two destructive bushfires rage across the region as searing temperatures continue to affect Western Australia. Firefighters in the Perth hills are currently battling to…


Australia’s Unique Wildlife On Kangaroo Island Bouncing Back After 2020 Bushfires

Two years after being ravaged by Australia’s record bushfires, Kangaroo Island’s endangered wildlife are finally starting to bounce back thanks to a fenced safe haven. The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were the worst in Kangaroo Island’s history, destroying almost half of its vegetation and threatening the survival of species such as the mouse-like dunnart….


Australia Funds 5G Autonomous Firefighting Tanks

The Australian government is bankrolling the research and development of an autonomous tank equipped with 5G technology to help fight the nation’s bushfires. Dubbed the “fire tank,” the machine will be tasked with traversing highly treacherous terrains to support missions involving firefighting, path clearing, and rescue. The federal government awarded the $1.5 million (US$1.1 million)…


Australian Space Taxi Can Detect Bushfires Within Three Minutes

Three Australian space companies have united to launch a bushfire satellite into space inside a space taxi with the key mission to detect and track bushfires. The technology, which is the work of Queensland-based company Fireball International, can detect and report on bushfires less than three minutes after they start. It provides automated bushfire detection…