STOP BUSHFIRES - WHAT BUSHFIRE VICTIMS NEED TO KNOW
Christmas on the dole, 2012: me on a thick layer of dead leaves at Port Stephens - at least it was comfortable measuring extreme fuel loads. The RFS claimed the area's bushfire risk was "insignificant" & refused to reduce fuel loads. As well as endangering koalas & squirrel gliders, two streets flank this danger zone - homes are 35-50m away. Sadly koalas & squirrel gliders are rapidly disappearing here. They are not the only victims, the bushfire paid hierarchy controls bushfire research money so unwittingly as I strove for lifesaving facts, I showed up government corruption. For the paid bushfire hierarchy, there's big money in big fires and very little in bushfire prevention. I soon learnt it is rare for whisleblowers to get work of any kind - inside or outside their field. Little did I know that by establishing research validity I would be vilified at university & a welfare dependent whistleblower.
WILDLIFE rescuers say they search for day after day, rarely finding survivors... After one of the most painful deaths possible, apocalyptic fuel loads vaporise colonies of native animals... entire ecosystems wiped... no food for survivors.
Scandals ago (- before Climategate[i]; our weather bureau abandoning the ancient scientific research tradition of graphing raw data, which embarassingly sloped downwards showing it was getting colder, our weather bureau made the graph slope upwards to make it look like it just got about two degrees hotter in a new process called homogenisation [ii]; the Green polar sea ice swindle[iii]; pollies taking paperbags of developers' money [iv ]etc... etc..) - in the 1920s, public officials began to enrich themselves by worsening bushfires. To read more on the $billion industry's growth please click:
https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/bushire-services-power-bases
Offering public officials a lifetime of shepherd's pie, no frills holidays and possibly even the dole, my evidence has been treated with disinterest. I show conclusively that our bushfire crisis - that is diabolically bad for the environment and the nation - can be fixed for peanuts. My research is based on a large body of evidence, and never disproven, so predictably, the toll of death and injuries keeps growing. Green public officials too are enriching themselves with frightening misinformation about climate change. Currently, backed by the Greens, Australia's bushfire industry is driving preventable climate change. To read a summary of what I uncovered, please click:
https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/firestorms-green-self-fulfilling-propheciess
Not surprisingly, the effects of bushfires gain few research $s. Recipients for funding seem to be carefully vetted to produce findings that do not match their data. A Victorian bushfire service set up the nation's first bushfire research centre in 2001. Richard Alder, on secondment from the Country Fire Authority, located the nation's research HQ on the 5th floor, 340 Albert, St, East Melbourne. The research centre shares administrative services with its neighbours on the same floor - two public companies set up by two former bushfire commissioners. NAFC, one of these companies got $14million federal funding in 2014 for 'coordinating' the nation's aerial bushfirefighting.
Funding to our nation's bushfire research centre grows with worsening fires as do the numbers of academics, CSIRO researchers and university departments the centre controls. For me & others a bastardised career death followed after showing cheap effective solution - so fires have worsened.
Tragically, sprawling power bases are responsible. Bushfire services weevil out of responsibility for catastrophic fuel loads by harping about evacuation plans, climate change and big helicopters.
Arriving once the fires are too hot to extinguish, skycrane helicopters are no guardian angels. And, according to Australian civil air safety law, helicopters are too unstable and their frames too fragile to go near bad fires.
But routinely there is dramatic footage of helicopters in bad fires. Don't be fooled by claims we are safe because of them, helicopters like Elvis have been here since 2001 to no avail.
Bushfire services claim the firestorm crisis is out of their control. Their answer is more helicopters, trucks and more dollars for their empire. This sidesteps the key issue of catastrophic fuel loadings. To read how the bushfire crisis can be fixed for peanuts please click:
https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/plan-that-would-save-over-90-of-costs
NSW is a classic example where a tiny (approx) 0.06% of bushfire prone land is hazard reduced a year. Announcements of increasing hazard reduction by 45% by 2016 were smokescreens. 45% of almost zero is almost zero. If you defy authorities & cool burn or graze bush without authority, you face jail & penalties up to $2,100,000[v]. Curiously, environmental & conservation authorities impose hefty fines for illegal burnoffs - you risk up to 7 years in prison or up to a $1million fine from NSW's EPA- if it can be proved the burnoff was intentional... and $1,100,000 from the Office of Environment & Heritage. Maximum fines for a negligent illegal burnoff are less but still in the $millions or prison if you can't pay the fine[vi].
Brilliant bushfire scientist, David Packham says bushfire service & environmental agencies' red tape causes the catastrophic fuel loads. He calculates mosaic cool burning 15% of bushfire prone land a year will fix things in about seven years. About 5% a year after that will maintain the bush. to read more please click:
These beautiful koalas were luckier than many. They're alive and were able to go back to the bush when their burns healed, but I'm sure they would disagree about being judged lucky....
PRESS RELEASE
My name is Christine Finlay and I have a PhD in bushfire management. My research shows that operations geared to worsen fires are the basis for the continual growth of bushfire service power bases. To read about life as a whistleblower, please click https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/about-dr-christine-finlay and https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/methodologies .
The bushfire crisis worsens despite[vii]:
- Bulging dossiers that show bushfire service operations worsen fires.
- Parliamentary and coronial inquiries' scathing criticism of bushfire operations.
- Politicians' pre-election commitments.
- Two Royal Commissions finding the causes are catastrophic fuel loads and bushfire operations imposed by bushfire service bosses.
- Court case after court case.
- Firestorms belching over 1/3 of our carbon emissions without filters to extract pollution. Firestorm clouds reaching up to 15km into the stratosphere, pumping ozone destroying aerosols.
- Firestorms causing record heatwaves. Then their carbon and aerosol loaded clouds make it cooler and more prone to dangerous weather. Green tape makes it almost impossible to burnoff adequately, so firestorms are a Green self-fulfilling prophecy because they are Australia's only evidenced source of preventable climate change.
So, I would value the chance to get together with those motivated to solve a problem that can be fixed for peanuts. To read how $billions can be saved to make Australia safe please click:
https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/plan-that-would-save-over-90-of-costs
Protest rallies will get the facts out to the bulk of the population in the cities. (To read about past protest rallies please click https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/barricading-parks .) City folk need to know what is behind the scenes so that bushfire prevention becomes political. Currently, firestorms are grinding rural folk into the dirt financially and psychologically. (To read how and why, please click the remaining items on the lefthand menu bar.) There is no sign the problem is being fixed, even though solutions cost about 90% less than current budgets and damages bills.
Country people are about 5% of the population so their evidence the bushfire problem can be solved cheaply is being ignored. Cattle, sheep and our native wildlife can't vote, so their fate is even less important. Koalas and other gorgeous little fluffy natives are increasingly being vaporised over 1,000s of square kilometres.
For humans, getting over trauma and surviving financially are the stumbling blocks.
The Coonabarabran 2015Coronial Inquiry:
· Scathing of bushfire operations.
The Coonabarabran Public Inquiry was as follows:
· Recommendations reached March 2015, but no sign of acting on these welcome and honest findings.
I understand that you may be a volunteer firefighter so you can't go in protest rallies because you face retribution such as expulsion or other disciplinary action from your bushfire service.
However, if fires have not left people in your area too traumatised or in financial hardship they may be able to participate. Embarassing the government into fixing the crisis is a way ahead - or fires will worsen until there is nothing left to burn.
Dr Christine Finlay has recently released her patent pending Laminated Lower Leaf
Litter Leveller' or ‘6L’ bushfire fuel monitoring device to widespread acclaim...
Apocalyptic fuel loads below in koala country Port Stephens - Photo & story Geoff Walker
Fire Field Marshall Appoco Lyptic (RFS Media Phalanx)
“ The RFS knew that there was something missing in our war chest of firefighting equipment. This little
doozy ticks all the boxes. We are happy to supply Dr Finlay with our monogrammed measurer to assist in the product development.”
“The good old days of cowboy firefighting are well and truly gone. Ripping into the scrub with blazing drip torches in winter is just so past tense. What we need is tertiary trained professionals such as our Christine.”
“Should she care to join our happy brotherhood, I will provide her with a new 4WD and a team of like minded RFS career oriented people to travel the state spreading the good word. Fitted out in one of our short, tight fitting skirts, a revealing canary yellow blouse and an under-wired red bra with matching thermal underwear she will make a great image projector on TV… particularly after a bit of cosmetic enhancing."
FRED BLOGGS (CAPTAIN ARAWANKER RFS):
“When Christine sent us one of them gizmos, we thought it was a frizbee and chucked it around at our BBQ. We remember her and that bloody lemon cake what made us crook and how she didn’t like snags and threesomes. Anyhow, one of the sheilas found it on Youtube and we now chuck it in the scrub and read the ruler and burn the crapper outer the bush. If the Fire Controller gets excited we say that Christine made us do it! Go Dr Blaze!”
Tom Foolery (Climate change specialist):
“Dr Finlay’s stainless steel version has made maritime monitoring a dream come true.
Sadly, when dropped into the sea grass, global warming has actually INCREASED the measured height of the marine growth ! This has provided more habitat and extra food for dugongs and crabs and an explosion in the food chain! I will be making a public apology for my misguided theories…..all because of this enlightened young lady.”
. NB Apart from Dr Finlay and Mr Walker, the characters in this press release are fictitious. Any resemblance to real life people is coincidental. The DSE fuel load guide for the above gauge is enclosed - if you too want to thrill at going toe to toe with vast powerbases with everything to lose if you win - just click the link:
VICTORIAN COURT CASES BRING A LITTLE JUSTICE
2009 Bushfires Class Action This is Australia's biggest class action for personal injury and property loss with defendants agreeing to pay just under half a $billion compensation.
The plaintiffs and the defendants have reached an agreement for:
SPI Electricity Pty Ltd to pay $378,574,121
The Secretary, Dept Environment & Primary Industries, the Country Fire Authority & the State of Victoria to pay $103,592,546
Utility Asset Management Pty Ltd ACN 060674580 to pay $12,500,000
To read more please click:
THIS WAS FOR THE KILMORE EAST/KINGLAKE AREA ALONE - MORE CLASS ACTIONS TO COME.... STAY TUNED
NSW COURT ACTIONS
Occasionally, people get new driveways and some compensation, but it is hit and miss. Many victims slowly go down hill psychologically, physically and financially. After the desolation of being burnt out, all of those I spoke to told me how their health, happiness and finances deteriorated. Section 128 of the Rural Fires Act says it removes bushfire service liability for any act or omission done in 'good faith' whatever that vague term means. To read how this RFS 'good faith' is devastating NSW citizens, please click:
https://sites.google.com/site/stopbushfires/judge-finds-negligence-reasonable
Regards
Christine Finlay (PhD, Bushfire Management, UNSW; BA Hons, Disaster Management, JCUNQ; BA UNSW)
mob 0416677492
[i] See Climategate: Are IPCC scientists guilty of willful deceit? Retrieved January 25 2016 from http://www.hirhome.com/climate_change/global_warming05.htm HIR Historical & Investigative Research
[ii] Whatever happened to the ancient scientific tradition of untampered raw data? See the results of "homogenising" raw data retrieved January 25 2016 from http://iceagenow.info/australian-weather-bureau-admits-homogenising-temperature-records/
Australian weather bureau admits to homogenising temperature records from ice Age Now Not by Fire but by Ice
[iii] Frightening & prolific reports of melting polar caps prove to be false and funding driven - See USA Today (2016) US to rescue Australian researchers trapped by blizzard. Retrieved March 7 2016 from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/25/us-rescue-antarctic-researchers-trapped-blizzard/80930714/ & NBC World News Jan 8 2014 Trapped research ship rescue vessel break free. Retrieved March 7 2016 from http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/08/22222323-trapped-research-ship-rescue-vessel-break-free-of-antarctic-ice & Bolt, Andrew (2010) Another polar rescue must send chills down spine of alarmists. Retrieved March 7 2016 from
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/another-polar-rescue-must-send/story-e6frfhqf-1225856131380.
[iv] See Wikipedia (2022) Retrieved November 29 2022 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWU_affair ; Wikipedia (2022) Retrieved November 29 2022 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cornwell ; Wikipedia 2022 Retrieved November 29 2022 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Gallacher ; McClymont, Kate & Besser Linton (2014) in The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sartor-did-not-want-obeid-to-own-him-20121113-29ail.html , & Withers, Rachel (2021) in The Monthly 'The First Scalp' Retrieved from https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/rachel-withers/2021/31/2021/1617166681/first-scalp
[v] See NSW Department of Environment & Heritage (2015) Retrieved January 8 2015 from http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/vegetation/nvcestrategy.htm ; ABC Newcastle (2014) Rutherford company hit with a fine for water pollution November 14 2014 Retrieved January 8 2015 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-14/rutherford-company-hit-with-a-fine-for-water-pollution-incident/5892138/?site=newcastle & Carter, Bob (2010) Bush burial October 28 Quadrant online retrieved January 8 2015 from http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2010/10/bob-carter-bush/
[vi] See Environment Protection Authority NSW Section titled Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 Retrieved January 11 2015 from http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/legislation/Actsummaries.htm
[vii] See McArthy, GJ; Tolhurst, KG & Chatto, K (1999) Overall Fuel Hazard Guide 3rd edn Natural Resources and Environment page 13; Gould, JS, McCaw, WL, Cheney, NP, Ellis, PF & Matthews, S (2007) Field Guide Fuel Assessment and Fire Behaviour Prediction in Dry Eucalypt Forest Australia: Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Department of Environment & Conservation, Western Australia; CSIRO (2003) submission to A Nation Charred: Inquiry into the Recent Australian Bushfires Canberra: Parliament of Australia; Cheney, Phil & Sullivan, Andrew (2008) GRASSFIRES Fuel, weather and fire behaviour 2n edn. China; CSIRO Publishing & Gould, JS; McCaw, Wl; Cheney, N, Peter; Ellis, PF; Knight, IK & Sullivan, Andrew, L (2008) Project Vesta Fire in Dry Forest Fuel Structure Fuel Dynamics and Fire Behaviour CSIRO Publishing Retrieved January 31 2014 from http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/5993.htm & Fromm, Michael; Lindsey, Daniel T; René Servranckx; Yeo Glenn; Trickl, Thomas L; Sica, Rober T; Douce Paul T & Godin-Beekmann, Sophie (2010) THE UNTOLD STORY OF PYROCUMULONIMBUS American Meteorological Society Sept pages 1193-1209.