lk978
" I don't think there are many agencies in Oz that want people to jump into the path of a fire with a rake hoe & chainsaw"
I understand this comment but why not? .... I believe they are only attacking small fires that hasnt formed a front.
It's partly to do with OH&S. Too many of the crews lost or burnovers experienced have not been from large fires (people get the hint that those are dangerous) but small or benign-seeming fires that have undergone rapid acceleration due to unforeseen changes in local weather. CSIRO research has resulted in SOP that you don't go close to fires without having a refuge area within a specified distance. Whether the issue has been over-done, is not something that I should comment on here... partly due to an ongoing court-case resulting from the Canberra fires a few years ago.
There's also a perception that the Americans are a little more gung-ho than we are, and almost expect to take the occasional casualty. Whether this is true or not, others will know, but you only need to look at the Coronial inquiry into the Linton fire in Vic to understand why managers get nervous about risk.
FarmerPete Would having paid highly trained crews help? (i understand that the volunteers are highly trained, but like the difference between army trained and SAS trained)
It's a little outside my area of expertise, so my comments should not be taken as gospel.. RAFT is a great tool to have available, but must be used with caution. Exactly how much training is required is not for me to say, but the pros - Forestry and NPWS (Sparks and Wildfires
) are pretty good, and also fit. No reason why volunteers cannot achieve the same skill and fitness levels, but few have the time available.
I like a good early attack, as the longer that we leave a fire burning, the more likely it is to come out and bite us on a bad day.... but sometimes it's also more appropriate to just put a ring around it and burn an area out. At least that way we can have good, solid containment lines. A D8 beats a rake-hoe for making firebreaks, every time IMHO.
Regards.... Peter
<edited to add> It's also worth remembering that a severe lightning front can result in a couple of hundred ignitions. That's a lot of crews if you want to deal with them that way.
Pete