In the path of disaster: The big causes of bushfires that most of us are missing
November 17, 2019A decade after the deadly Black Saturday bushfires devastated Kinglake, razing entire streets of the rural township north-east of Melbourne, population density in some of the worst-hit areas is now much higher than before the firestorm hit.
Despite the royal commission into the 2009 fires - which claimed the lives of 173 people - recommending against rebuilding in some of the most fire-prone areas, many more residents now live there ...
Kinglake's population fell after the fires, as people left. But new housing estates in the tree-covered mountains are drawing newcomers. Half the town's population are newcomers, real estate agents estimate. There are now almost as many people as the town's 2008 peak - and about 20 per cent more houses.
Bushfires in Australia will cause more and more harm as greater numbers of people choose to live in the path of disaster, experts say.
Despite repeated warnings, we keep building houses in places that will burn, putting increasing numbers of people at risk.
The continuing expansion of our cities into the urban fringe is exposing more and more people to bushfires.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/in-the-path-of-disaster-the-big-causes-of-bushfires-that-most-of-us-are-missing-20191115-p53b0b.html
