Climate change modeling ‘is not going to do anything to stop bushfires’

Hazard reduction burning, rather than investing in climate modelling, will be the key to stopping catastrophic bushfires, according to Sky News host James Morrow. Hazard reduction burns and land clearing should be drastically increased in NSW according to an inquiry examining the state's catastrophic summer bushfire crisis. More than 3,000 homes were destroyed and 34 people were killed during five months of bushfires from October last year to February this year. There were 76 recommendations handed down, including increasing the number of prescribed burns carried out near at-risk communities. The report found some burns were not conducted near town centres because smoke haze was thought too much of an inconvenience. Mr Morrow said while the inquiry's recommendations surrounding hazard reduction should be welcomed, climate modelling is a waste of time. "Modelling of future climate change is not going to save one house,it's not going to save one life, it's not going to do anything to prevent bushfires" he said. We need to get rid of the green obsession with not doing hazard reduction burns and the other bit of it has to be that people need to be allowed to clear bush and brush outside their own homes to create their own firebreaks." Read More Our Apps