More hazard-reduction burns not the answer, experts warn

Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to see more action on land clearing and hazard-reduction burns, but experts warn burns are ineffective against extreme fires such as the destructive blazes seen this summer.

National Parks and Wildlife Service staff burning containment
 lines ahead of the fire front at Burrill Lake on Sunday.

They also say Australia is carrying out more prescribed burning than in previous decades and to do much more would lead to heavy smoke affecting communities throughout winter.

Speaking at the weekend about the need to reduce fuel loads in forests, Mr Morrison said there was time before the next scheduled meeting of the Council of Australian Governments "to bring forward some immediate steps and for those to be considered by premiers before moving to broader-scale reviews".

"You've got to deal with hazard management in national parks ... this, of course, will be one of the things that we will consider when premiers come together after they've been dealing with the fires," he said.

Read the story from The Age by Mike Foley - “More hazard-reduction burns not the answer, experts warn.”

California fires bear down on exclusive Los Angeles suburbs

Los Angeles: At least six homes in one of Los Angeles wealthiest suburbs - the iconic Bel Air - have been destroyed and a winery owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch is under threat as a firestorm in California burns out of control.

A wildfire threatens a home in Ventura, California.

Part of Murdoch's Moraga Bel Air vineyard, where the 86-year-old Australian has a home, has been destroyed by fire, and it is one of a number of properties affected by a mandatory evacuation order, issued by emergency services today.

The fires have also closed one of America's busiest freeways - the traffic-choked 405 - with video emerging of one of the four fires reaching the edge of the freeway.

The pre-dawn sky of Los Angeles was lit bright orange with fire as traffic moved at a slow, silent crawl past the inferno until police made the decision to close a 15km stretch of the freeway because of the risk.

Read Michael Idato’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “California fires bear down on exclusive Los Angeles suburbs.”