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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Sydney was shrouded in a dangerous haze on Tuesday as high winds blew smoke from bushfires blazing along Australia's eastern coast into the country's biggest city sending pollution levels soaring.
Official data showed air pollution had reached "hazardous" levels across Sydney, with the highest readings of PM 2.5 particulates in the city's northwest reaching 186 parts per million on the air quality index - comparable to New Delhi in India. Residents were warned to avoid outdoor exercise.
[...] More than 110 fires are currently burning across the east, with dozens of blazes still not contained.
In South Australia state, a ban on lighting fires is in place ahead of predicted "catastrophic" fire danger on Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to soar to about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:31PM (2 children)
They didn't rake their forests like Smokey the Trump recommended.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 20 2019, @01:42AM (1 child)
Controlled burns [wikipedia.org], what Trump was talking about, has been a standard of fire control in the American West for decades. That, along with other preventative measures aimed to reduce undergrowth that builds fire potential.
Recently, however, pressure from environmentalists has discouraged the practice and favored a "Let It Burn" policy. Result: massive, massive forest fires that obliterate scenery and wipe out billions of dollars of valuable timber.
Now, the forests are fine with wildfire in the long run because most of those species have pine cones that are adapted to open and disperse seeds when heated. But it sucks for human purposes. West of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park there are still skeletal remains of lodgepole pines that burned in a fire in the 50's. Pretty similar story in Yellowstone, where they let that place burn in the 90's.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @12:55PM
Controlled burns? Ah, of course, the nazi solution.
You bad bad person.
That isn't an option anymore.
We can just send them all home.