Yes, we are all bushfired out, but this is a bit different.
The lesson from the bushfires is not only on how to cope with future fires. It is also about learning how to learn.
Let’s look beyond fire. We could learn from Darwin. In its rebuilding after the 1974 cyclone, Darwin made a big mistake. It was obsessed and paranoid with its disaster. Everyone who rebuilt had one object in mind: to make their new home absolutely cyclone poof.
They built strong brick houses on cement slabs. The cyclone took nearly all the stilted fibro places with their timber decks, and they were not replaced. Those places, built before air-conditioning was common were suited to the climate. The hot air went up and the breeze came in from under the house. They had a tropical charm. They had an indoor-outdoor interaction that helps residents live in the environment. The new brick and slab bunkers required air-conditioning that cost as much in summer as heating costs in a Canberra winter.
Thirty years later and Darwin has not had another cyclone. Only recently have smart architects attempted to capture the best of the old designs while still making them reasonably cyclone proof.
In all likelihood we will not have another fire like January 18 for 30 years or more. And even if we do we will be better prepared.
So it would be a mistake for people rebuilding to make fire-proofing their only concern. The dwelling and landscaping should be designed for Canberra’s environment – cold, mostly sunny winters. Hot dry summers.
Most of the destroyed houses were in 30 year old suburbs and many of the owners were in their 50s. Before too long, many of them will not be spending most of their day in a workplace heated and cooled at their employer’s expense. Many will leave full-time work. Many will work from home. They are the things to think about. Fire-proofing in a bushfire-prone area is important, but having a well-designed living space is more important.
In Canberra’s dry climate it is better to landscape with dry-climate plants that do not require huge amounts of water – often fast-growing natives. But that will contradict fire advice. But surely it is better to get a low-maintenance gardens going in the fire-affected areas and make sure that in the fire season that gutters and the surrounds of the house are cleared of flammables.
And water brings us to another non-fire lesson from the fires.
The lesson is to anticipate disaster and difficulties and be prepared for them. Here we are in August. Summer is a few months away. Canberra and Canberrans have a huge investment in the garden part of the garden city and the bush part of the bush capital. It is in peril. There is no guarantee it will rain regularly through the summer. Usually it does not. Canberra does not have the water supply to save hundreds of thousands of plants if we have a dry summer.
Googong is our sole source this summer. It can produce just 180 megalitres of water a day –enough for inside use only. Presumably those pumping and filtration plants are working overtime – increasing the strain on them. If they breakdown – unlikely (but still possible) given the maintenance schedules — it could be catastrophic.
Our potential disaster this summer is water, not fire.
Let’s not say in February when the plants are dying, Why weren’t we warned?
It is only one summer. By the following summer we will be okay. So we should be looking at smart temporary measures. Most washing machines and dishwashers have pumps and the waste water could be fairly easily be redirected to the garden in dry times. Perhaps we should set up an advisory service. Redirecting bathroom water might be more difficult.
On the better side of learning, the ACT Government certainly learnt from the 1994 Sydney fires. A report after those fires said, “The natural disaster itself is often followed several weeks later by a severe reaction from the affected community, referred to as the ‘second wave’. . . . The second wave [sometimes] reflected greater community trauma than did the actual disaster and is usually the manifestation of a build-up in community frustration and anger over the perceived slowness of the recovery effort. Often the community simply does not know what is going on and this, coupled with their perception that they are being neglected, is what results in the second wave backlash.”
The speed with which the ACT Government, community and charitable bodies and business set up the ACT Bushfire Recovery Centre where those affected to go and be attended to immediately ensured this did not happen.
Whatever the finger-pointing about events on January 18, there has been a remarkable lack of accusations of under-performance in the recovery. In that regard, no news is good news.