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Bushfires are an unfortunate reality and fact of life in south eastern Australia. A combination of severe weather such as occurred on the 7th of February, 2009, with temperatures in the mid to high 40s celsius, strong and gusty hot northerly winds, our 12 year drought and lack of responsible land management by individuals and government departments, creates the ideal environments for bushfires such as we are now experiencing in Victoria. The effects are loss of life, loss of homes and property, degradation of land and environment, loss of stock and wildlife. Once an area has been burned out and denuded of vegetation, there is little left to hold the soil together, and any significant wind or hopefully, rain, will erode or wash away whatever is left. The Victorian bushfires to date (17-Feb-2009) killed over 200 people and destroyed over 1800 homes. Several towns were wiped off the map, 400,000 hectares of land burned out, an unknown number of stock, vehicles, miscellaneous buildings, Fencing, communications infrastructure, power lines, etc. were also destroyed. The effects of the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires are still visible around Mount Macedon if you look carefully. The effects of these current bushfires will continue well into the future.

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15y ago

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