Garth Dutton

Port Lincoln Bushfire

Port Lincoln Bushfire
© Garth Dutton, 2010

A few weeks ago 16 suburban houses were burnt is a bushfire at Port Lincoln. The town needs a strategy to stop something like that happening again. The fire swept from highly inflammable bushland into a suburb. Native street trees and native trees and shrubs in peoples gardens were simply an extension of the bushland in fire conditions.

I think a defensive barrier of fire-retardant trees needs to be planted around Port Lincoln. Many deciduous trees are fire-retardant, and many of the species of them which are used as street trees in Adelaide should do the job well as a barrier without the need for much watering. Cretan plane, Caucasian ash, Claret ash, oak and elm would be a start.

With such a fire-retardant barrier in place, people in the town would be able to enjoy their native gardens in safety. Port Lincoln could even have an autumn leaves festival.

Tags: bushfire, Environment, garth dutton, port lincoln, Rant, thoughts, Writing

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