CSIRO warns of increasing bushfire threat
CSIRO warns of increasing bushfire threat
13 October 2006
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — Australia has been warned to expect conditions ripe for bushfires in the decades ahead.
Yesterday the mercury reached 33 degrees in Hobart, making it the hottest October day in 19 years.
As firefighters report summer-like conditions, scientists say Australia can expect more such days in the future.
Dr Penny Whetton, the leader of the climate change and risk group for the CSIRO, says things look ominous.
“We’ve undertaken research looking at how projected changes in temperature and precipitation can affect fire occurrence and we’ve found the risk of fire danger increases significantly as the decades go by,” she said.
“The frequency of days of very high fire danger are increasing 20 to 30 per cent over the next few decades.”
Dr Whetton says researchers expect significant changes to the Australian climate.
“I’d expect these sort of occurrences will become more frequent as the years go by because we are expecting quite significant changes in our climate but that has implications for things such as fire frequency,” shesaid.
