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Prescribed Fires Light Up Victoria and New South Wales

fires in southern Australia
Prescribed fires dot the southern landscape of Australia in Victoria and New South Wales.

Although it appears that many fires dot the southern part of Australia (and they do) the fires are actually, for the most part, prescribed fires set by local authorities to manage areas that otherwise left untended may end up as a much larger incident if the detritus catches fire during a lightning storm. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) lists dozens of fires in the area which are prescribed burns. According to the U.S. Forest Service, a prescribed burn is a fire that is deliberately set and carefully monitored and controlled for many reasons. There are actually ecosystems that need periodic fire or they become unhealthy. Trees become stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species disappear; and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous. A prescribed fire at the right place and the right time can:

  • Reduce hazardous fuels, protecting human communities from extreme fires;
  • Minimize the spread of pest insects and disease;
  • Remove unwanted species that threaten species native to an ecosystem;
  • Provide forage for game;
  • Improve habitat for threatened and endangered species;
  • Recycle nutrients back to the soil; and
  • Promote the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants.

This is the case with the large majority of fires that are seen in this satellite image. There are a few fires that are bushfires but they are small and contained. NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite collected this natural-color image using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on April 12, 2016. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner with information from the U.S. Forest Service and the Victoria Fire Emergency website