Living With the Bush

IN MEDICINE, prevention is always better than cure. Surely the same applies to bushfires. The royal commission should be putting as much effort into investigating fire prevention as it has into fire mitigation.
 

I have been interested in bushfires and their causes for more than 40 years. Many are caused by lightning. These are unpreventable. Some are caused by electrical supply faults, which should be preventable with improved supply standards and delivery techniques.

Arsonists cause many fires: some could be prevented by better intelligence, including within the CFA, and upgraded surveillance in fire-prone areas.

Some are caused by machinery operators. For example, farmers often use tractors to slash long grass in the fire season, ironically as a fire protection measure, even in periods of extreme fire danger. All these causes were apparent in the February bushfires.

Philip Kennon, QC, co-ordinator, Victorian Bar Bushfire Victims Assistance Scheme, Melbourne

Letters to the Editor, The Age, 4th September 2009.