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Speaker 1: And as we heard on Friday last week, Territory Day

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Speaker 1: is now going to be held much later in the year,

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Speaker 1: August twenty nine. Now it's happening on that date to

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Speaker 1: coincide with Freedom Day, which commemorates the Wavehill walk off

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Speaker 1: and Indigenous land rights. But the problem is that August

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Speaker 1: twenty nine is a day which is typically a high

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Speaker 1: fire danger day, potentially catastrophic fire conditions. Now we've had

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Speaker 1: quite a few of you in contact with us about

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Speaker 1: this topic. Peter has sent an email this morning and

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Speaker 1: he said, Morning Mix, Michael Gunner should man up and

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Speaker 1: move crack a night to early next year before the

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Speaker 1: fire risks starts. Personally, I love fireworks, but common sense

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Speaker 1: needs to prevail over Michael Gunner's self obsession and then

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Speaker 1: self interest, says Peter. And like I said, I know

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Speaker 1: that it's something that is concerning quite a few people,

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Speaker 1: given the fact that it is going to be incredibly

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Speaker 1: dry and the potential for fire could be greater. Now

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Speaker 1: joining us on the line to talk more about this

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Speaker 1: is doctor Andrew E. Edwarods, bushfires researcher at Charles Darwin University.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, How are you really well, thank you.

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Speaker 1: Now, Andrew, can you tell us a bit more about

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Speaker 1: the type of fire conditions that we can expect in

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Speaker 1: late August.

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Speaker 2: That's right. Well, I mean we're talking more specifically about

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Speaker 2: the top end than perhaps the bottom half of the NT,

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Speaker 2: but it does relate to that part of the world

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Speaker 2: as well. I mean, as you all know, we haven't

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Speaker 2: had much rain by that time of the year, and

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Speaker 2: in fact very very little. We've had a good wet season,

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Speaker 2: so we've got good fuel built up across the across

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Speaker 2: the landscape and you know, particularly around the Greater Darwin

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Speaker 2: area with gamber grass, we're at the most fire prone

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Speaker 2: time of the year, that period sort of from the

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Speaker 2: end of August through to October before we start to

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Speaker 2: get rain. And you know, it was a colleague of

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Speaker 2: mine at Bushwise in ta once said, those fires that

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Speaker 2: we have in May and June, they're the ones that

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Speaker 2: we light up ourselves to control old fires. Then in

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Speaker 2: July we're fighting fires, and another ones in August and

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Speaker 2: September we've run away from. You know, they're the scary ones.

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Speaker 2: They're the ones that you know, burn down properties and

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Speaker 2: fence lines and potentially could take a life.

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Speaker 1: You know, so taking that into account, I mean, is

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Speaker 1: August and the end of August, is it traditionally a

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Speaker 1: time of the year where we do see and where

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Speaker 1: we have got issues with those bushfires.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Traditionally that time of year is when we're looking

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Speaker 2: at extreme fire weather and fire conditions. Is for fire

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Speaker 2: does occur and it usually leads to a total fire bans,

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Speaker 2: particularly for the top end of the NT. So it'll

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Speaker 2: be highly unlikely that you know, anybody would be able

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Speaker 2: to have a permit of any sort to light a firecracker,

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Speaker 2: any sort of fire, a little alone a firecracker. You know,

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Speaker 2: they're quite dangerous, and I think there'd be a lot

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Speaker 2: of volunteer firefighters out there maybe being shaking in their

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Speaker 2: boots of the thought of us deliberately lighting fires at

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Speaker 2: that come of the year. I think it's just the government,

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Speaker 2: you know, they've tried to do the right thing, bias

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Speaker 2: by you know, it was school holidays when the lockdown came.

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Speaker 2: We all lost firecrack at night in that territory day,

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Speaker 2: so we're all pretty disappointed. I know I was, But

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Speaker 2: you know, maybe just they haven't had enough time to

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Speaker 2: think about you know, it was a very lovely offer.

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Speaker 2: I think to have it on Freedom Day, but I

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Speaker 2: think we just need to talk to a lot more

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Speaker 2: people and think about it a bit more.

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Speaker 1: That's all well, And that is what we're hearing, you know,

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Speaker 1: on the text line and on the email this morning.

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Speaker 1: I've got a message here. It says, morning Katie, it's

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Speaker 1: a shame our Chief Minister refused to listen to the

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Speaker 1: advice of NT fire Services. And I think that that's

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Speaker 1: what quite a few people are feeling a bit concerned about.

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Speaker 1: Can I just ask what kind of impact could letting

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Speaker 1: crackers off on August twenty nine have? Is there potential

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Speaker 1: here that we could wind up with some pretty big fires?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Definitely, definitely. I mean that's what the total fireban

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Speaker 2: is all about, because one small fire can turn into

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Speaker 2: something immense and cause a lot of damage, you know,

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Speaker 2: not just as bush but to houses and potentially to lives.

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Speaker 2: And and aside from that, from a scientific perspective, the

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Speaker 2: greenhouse gas emissions of those fires at that time of

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Speaker 2: the year a double of any other time of the year,

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Speaker 2: more than double, you know, so we're talking about, you know,

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Speaker 2: really bad atmospheric effects on people's health as well. You

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Speaker 2: increase all that smoke, you're increasing the incidents of people

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Speaker 2: presenting at hospital with respiratory illness, that kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: So I mean it has, you know, a lot of

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Speaker 2: impacts having a fire at that time of the year.

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Speaker 1: We did catch up with bushfires ties Andrew Turner early

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Speaker 1: last week. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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Speaker 3: I've got a personal view, Katie, and that is that

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Speaker 3: there are other parts of the year that might be

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Speaker 3: better suited to it. The fire danger period, which was

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Speaker 3: declared last week and goes for about four or five months,

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Speaker 3: dictates that you require a permit to burn it any

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Speaker 3: time during that period. My view is that's what you're

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Speaker 3: doing when you're light to file, is potentially starting a fire.

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Speaker 1: When would be a better time.

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Speaker 3: A month ago would have been quite suitable, and probably

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Speaker 3: November the strong drying wind tend to go away. It

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Speaker 3: doesn't need to be in the pouring rain. It could

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Speaker 3: well be just the sholder season to the dry season.

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Speaker 3: It's a big decision. Quite often, see the ramification the

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Speaker 3: impact on our volunteer crews and our resources in the

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Speaker 3: days afterwards when people do unfortunately act irresponsibly.

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Speaker 1: So that was talking about us having crackers on the

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Speaker 1: first of July. Andrew, Now, when we talk about the

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Speaker 1: twenty ninth of August, what can we expect here?

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Speaker 2: Oh well, I mean it's everything and Andrew Turner just

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Speaker 2: said and more. You know, everything's going to be exacerbated markedly.

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Speaker 2: We're going to go from conditions that are barely you know,

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Speaker 2: we can fight those fires that occur around early July,

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Speaker 2: but we're going to go to conditions at the end

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Speaker 2: of August where the fires are almost unstoppable. You know.

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Speaker 2: That's They're the sort of conditions we're talking about. That's

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Speaker 2: why the total fireban exists, because if a fire starts,

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Speaker 2: it's the cost you know, to fight one fire. The

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Speaker 2: cost of fighting a wildfire is ridiculous. Do you think

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Speaker 2: the anti budget has that. I be surprised to think

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Speaker 2: it does the best. Trying to move it would be

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Speaker 2: like the first to me, it's the beginning of our

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Speaker 2: prescribed burning period. In the top end. You know, you

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Speaker 2: could light up to your heart's content and it'd be

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Speaker 2: really good, and it helped reduce fuels and potentially stop

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Speaker 2: wildfires later in the years. That's my personal opinion. But

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Speaker 2: you know, first of July, even in my mind, is

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Speaker 2: a little bit late in the season to be burning safely,

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Speaker 2: you know, to have fires occurring safely. It's twenty nine

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Speaker 2: to August. It is just yeah, no, it's it's in

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Speaker 2: the realms of a really bad idea.

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Speaker 1: So doctor Andrew, it would just in wrapping up, I mean,

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Speaker 1: what is your message for government here? Do we realistically

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Speaker 1: do we need to maybe take a step back and go,

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Speaker 1: do you know what, even though it's disappointing, we maybe

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Speaker 1: need to either hold it off till a bit later

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Speaker 1: or wait until next year. What do you reckon needs

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Speaker 1: to happen?

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Speaker 2: I look, you know, Andrew Turners and Bushwys and Tea

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Speaker 2: hooked into all the volunteers. There's a lot of community

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Speaker 2: knowledge about the best time to burn, I reckon, we

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Speaker 2: just do a bit of consultation, ask some you know,

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Speaker 2: switched on people, talk to some people in the in

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Speaker 2: the field, find out what's good. There's plenty of damn

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Speaker 2: good fire research in the Northern Territory probably one of

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Speaker 2: the best place places internationally in terms of fire research,

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Speaker 2: and you know, and lots of experts on the ground

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Speaker 2: and we've got you know, huge traditional knowledge of burning

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Speaker 2: as well. I mean we're almost exclusive in that as well.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, and he's got a lot of knowledge and

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Speaker 2: a lot of capacity and a lot of people that

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Speaker 2: could assist the government in helping make a really really

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Speaker 2: well informed and good decision about choosing a good more

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Speaker 2: appropriate date.

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Speaker 1: Well, Dr Andrew Edwards, bushfire researcher at Charles Darwin University,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning, and we might

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Speaker 1: try and catch up with you again as we do

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Speaker 1: get into that bushfire season and talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about some of that traditional burning and other things

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Speaker 1: that you touched on there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, we barely touched on anything, but there's a lot.

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Speaker 1: Very it sounds that way, and you sparked my interest

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Speaker 1: in lots of ways there. Andrew, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time. Good on you, that is, Doctor Andrew Edwards,

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Speaker 1: the bushfire researcher at Charles Dalin University. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: plenty of you are concerned about the change to the

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Speaker 1: day that we're allowed to let the fire crackers off.

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Speaker 1: I think we all love it. I know I enjoy it,

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Speaker 1: but gee, we do not want a situation here where

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Speaker 1: we end up with bushfires around the place and with

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Speaker 1: our emergency service crews. Our Fire Emergency Service crewis in

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Speaker 1: dangerous situations