"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
songbird wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:

After two years of La Nina and plenty of rain we haven't had
significant rain in three months. But clever people still want to
burn their pasture ... sigh.

we get knuckleheads like that around here too.
they'll pick the windiest days to burn ditches
or leaves or trash...

i'll even believe a fire started by lightning
here or there too, but some are started by cigarettes
tossed out windows of cars in passing and that's
someone being just plain brainless during a drought.


Let's have a big round of applause for the (all volunteer) Rural
Fire Service who have to deal with such nonsense on the ground.

do they let some of the fires burn freely if
they don't threaten houses or are all fires
suppressed?



Their activity is pretty well proportional to the risk of damage to
property or loss of life.

Supposedly. But look what happened as a result of that policy when 500
houses burned in Canberra.

In some cases the terrain is so difficult there is no
access so they cannot do anything on the ground anyway. Such areas do not
have much in the way of property or people but if (say) a wind comes up
and threatens to blow the fire towards a town they will water-bomb the
forest to try to save the town.

I notice the qualifier added in there.

These people are not only unpaid but they can be away
from work for days losing pay. An employer who didn't let them go would
probably be lynched.

Yup.