Last summer’s fires burnt through communities right along the east coast of Australia and across large sections of the High Country. The sheer scale and ferocity of the firestorms made many individual fires unfightable. Many covered long distances in short periods of time, racing across the country. In some instances, like at Mallacoota in Victoria’s far east, they literally pushed communities to the beaches and into the water.
The fact is that these are the fires of the ‘present future’ – the climate change fuelled era that we are already passing into. This means ever worse fire seasons which, in turns means greater impacts on the people, businesses and communities that live or rely on increasingly fire prone landscapes. As noted by fire historian Stephen J Pyne, we now live in the ‘pyrocene’ – the age dominated by fire.
As was shown by last summer, the economic costs of fire seasons can be devastating. But there is something else going on that is obvious – on a personal and emotional, even spiritual, level. Many people are struggling with post traumatic shock, and many now hold a deep unease about the places they call home. Many people now openly express fear of the bush, and the fires that will come, summer after summer.
Continue reading “Living with the Fear”
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