Adjusting to more frequent and severe fires - 360
Suzannah Lyons, James Goldie
Published on December 6, 2023
Fires are worse than ever. What can communities and governments do to cope with the increasing impacts?
It’s only the start of summer in Australia, but already fires have destroyed over 70 homes in Queensland and Western Australia.
With the return of El Niño, it promises to be a long, hot and dry season ahead.
Today’s fire seasons are also longer and more intense thanks to climate change. The effort of fighting fiercer fires for longer puts strain on firefighters with now less time to prepare outside of the fire season.
And Australian fireys can no longer rely on backup from less affected countries, as northern and southern hemisphere fire seasons begin to overlap. Indeed Canadians and Americans are still recovering from the impacts of summer wildfires there.
As the world’s leaders gather in Dubai for COP28 to work on reducing greenhouse gases, communities and governments are looking at what else they can do to better live with fire.
The solutions reach across every part of society, from the way homes are built to how we keep our firefighters cool and the very words people use to talk about fire.