For weeks, people in Australia have been rushing to join firefighting teams in record numbers, as forest fires continue in large areas of the country, registering the number of volunteers five times the usual annual number of applicants expressing interest in joining the rural firefighting service in New County. South Wales ».
The surge in demand for volunteering in this dangerous area comes at a time when five volunteer firefighters in New South Wales and Victoria died in the same period.
Meanwhile, Community Cooperation Officer Anthony Bradstreet confirms that within two and a half months of the start of the fire season, his administration has received more than 25,000 inquiries about joining, compared to an average annual demand of about 4,000, explaining “the sheer number of inquiries was likely "By default, there are already a large number of people who want to support firefighting teams, and we will respond to these requests." "After the huge fires, we see an increase in inquiries. Obviously, when people see forest fires threatening their homes and hearing their news, they are keen to participate in the efforts," the official added.
The "rural fire fighting" is the largest volunteer fire service in the world, with more than 70 thousand members in more than 2000 local battalions. Australia has seen a "significant increase" in citizens' interest in volunteering, in the aftermath of the horrific fires that struck eastern Gibsland County last summer, but the authorities have been unable to provide an accurate figure.
In southern Australia, the Rural Fire Service said it had received 1,545 membership inquiries in the first 10 days of this year. In the last two months of 2019, 1622 received a message expressing interest in volunteering.
Lack of funding
However, the increasing inquiries about joining fire services raise questions about firefighting teams in Australia getting enough financial support to respond to the huge number of volunteers. He said he asked for funding to buy a large water transport tank, to no avail, five years ago, explaining, "I have been asking for this for five years, and endeavors have stalled constantly because funding is not available."
In December, a Canberra man, Louis Hodgman, shared a post on Facebook that explains how his 23-year-old volunteer brother asked firefighters to provide him with a “better firefighting helmet” at Christmas because the helmet What was given to him was "old and without a protective edge."
Temperatures rose to high levels that scientists had not expected to see for decades. The natural areas that usually contribute to resisting fires, including rainforests, are vulnerable to fire, and fires have become so large that they generate hellish weather.
Fire hurricanes, which form when swirling winds generate massive columns of fire, ash, steam, and debris, are impossible to control. A volunteer firefighter was killed in New South Wales on December 30 when one of these typhoons overturned his truck.
Violent winds
"Jammer attacks" occur when violent winds, around forest fires, collect pieces of burning debris and carry them high, causing them to fall in flammable places, where they start another fire.
To this, witnesses reported "short-lived fire tornadoes" of flame, ash and dust, which occur rarely, and it is a large whirlwind of flame that occurs when the movement of wind is in the form of swirls with the presence of flames on the ground, so that a vertical fire vortex is formed, while Some call this phenomenon "fire demons." These hurricanes can contribute to the formation of "coal attacks".
The heat produced by Australia's fires produced what are known as cumulusolonimbus clouds, which are mushroom-like and function like chimneys, emitting heat and sucking surrounding air, to condense fires, making it difficult to predict their behavior or stop them.
University of Nevada meteorologist Neil Laro says he has never seen clouds of perchomolonimbus on such a large scale. A meteorological station in New South Wales scored 70 ° C, with cumulative clouds progress. The atmosphere is almost as hot as most "sauna" rooms, although the measurements cannot be verified, because the tools used were not designed to work in such high temperatures.
Little rain
"The fires originated in several areas and produced a lot of coal" in the scorched forests, said William Mumau, a climate scientist at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
In an unprecedented event in the 40 years since the record keeping began, temperatures over Antarctica rose rapidly, and this had consecutive effects on weather patterns, as the western winds blowing across the southern ocean shifted north, and cold fronts moved around Australia, which caused strong winds, but little rain. All of these factors combined to create a really bad situation.
Scientists say that the dramatic events unfolding in Australia illustrate the types of disasters that will face the rest of the world soon. "Australia has just experimented with the future," says Twitter scholar Ed Reading Hawkins, at the University of Reading in England. It appears that the island, which has a unique geography, will be "highly vulnerable" to the impact of climate change. Scientists said that it will not take a lot of warmth to push life there from comfortable living to the point of extinction, which makes it an important thing for a warming world.
Extinction fears
The burning season is still in its early stages, in Victoria, and koalas, birds, and kangaroos face extremely difficult circumstances. Many animals need help to recover from cuts and injuries, while others can be saved by returning them to the remainder of their original habitats, and they are currently under care. The rate of mammal extinction in Australia is one of the highest in the world, and fears are escalating that the current fires will lead to the extinction of several local varieties. It is reported that a third of the island of Kangaroo, a wildlife sanctuary off the state of South Australia, has been completely destroyed, and there are fears of the extinction of some types of animals that live only in this region.
1545
Inquiries regarding membership, received by the fire service in the first 10 days of this year.
70
° C, recorded in New South Wales.
Flame warriors
The fire was going crazy, last week, and Doug Schutz and his team needed to make a quick decision; so they moved a bulldozer from elsewhere and used it to expand a barrier in front of the fire, and that probably helped prevent the burning of hundreds of homes.
Schutz started volunteering with the rural fire extinguishing service in New South Wales state in Australia about 53 years ago, when he was 13 years old, and is now a battalion commander. It was a veteran firefighter in the face of forest fires that have destroyed parts of Australia since September with thousands of other volunteers. At least 26 people were killed by the fires, including three volunteer firefighters.
“I have lived here all my life and watched a lot of fires,” Schutz says. “This fire has its own agenda. In some ways, I think it has reached its peak, and when you think you have dealt with it, you will slip through the back door and will spoil you from "Where do you expect?"
For people in rural areas across the country, people like Schutz are "heroes." In the affected areas, many families hung signs on their homes, thanking people who call them "flame fighters." In contrast, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was widely ridiculed for his disappointing response.
Women at the ready
Women did not drop out on volunteer teams, including 24-year-old Emmy Baker, an environmental fire fighter researcher in Port Macquarie, on the northeast coast of New South Wales.
And Catherine Robinson, who fights flames in Tarry, uses the Australian woman, who is pregnant in her 13th week, "Instagram" to defend her decision to fight fires, saying that she "refuses to stay" at home, while fires continue to destroy forests and property; "to all Women in Forests, NSW, Now; Stand Together Proudly! ”She wrote,“ I am a firefighter, and I am not a man. Yes, I am a pregnant woman. Yes, I am going to fires, and I will be fine. ”
"I love my country and my colleagues," said Robinson. "If this means that support is needed on the ground, I will always be ready."
In the same vein, Angel Newcombe has worked as a volunteer firefighter, in the service of rural firefighting, for 13 years, and says this is "one of the best and most successful things I do." She is currently working in a battalion, serving families in the Lithgow area. Kelly Michelle also volunteered for the firefighting service, in Heathcote, south Sydney, and posted a photo in her uniform on social networking sites and commented: "We are ready if we are needed!"