An All Consuming Fire

Anyone who has ever been to, or knows even a little about Australia knows that bush fires are an unfortunately regular occurrence. It is not uncommon when driving around outside of the major metropolitan areas to see these signs:
My grandfather was a forester and an emergency fire fighter in Florida. He was all too well acquainted with the damage an unchecked blaze could do to population. Florida has seen plenty of forest fires, as has California even as recently as last year. People like my grandfather knew (as surely any sensible Australian knows) that firebreaks are crucial to preventing widespread damage from fires. What are fire breaks? Stretches of land cleared down to the dirt. To saves lives, trees have to be cut down. My grandfather also knew that controlled burns to removed undergrowth were vital. To save lives, grass and shrubs must be burned off. Apparently though, environmentalists do not possess the common sense my grandfather did (but of course.)

If you have been watching the news at all this week you know that Victoria, Australia has been turned into hell on earth. The worst bush fires in the history of the continent have scorched Oz and killed lots of people, injured more, ruined property, and just generally destroyed lives (not to mention the millions of dead Roos and the like.) There were fears that the fires might have been started deliberately by Islamic terrorist who have called for "forest jihad", or basically large scale arson. However the fires started, the quick escalation seems to be due to pigheaded ignorance by the no doubt Al Gore influenced Victorian government and its stupid "green" policy. For "environmental" reasons the local governments in Victoria forbid the cutting down of trees or mowing of grass in public lands. A man who lost two members of his family summed up the issue:

"We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down."