Victoria is going up in flames again and the death toll is sufficient to make it to the international news media. The local radio here is getting a news correspondent from Darwin giving a nasally twanged report on how many dead, and so forth. Kevin Rudd apparently called the arsonists "mass murderers" which is better than Bob Carr calling them terrorists a few years ago when NSW went up in flames.

Photo from the Sydney Morning Herald

The region of Victoria that is burning is on the North-Eastern outskirts of Melbourne where towns are built into the bush and scrub. When bush fires happen - and they do every five years somewhere in Australia, whether it be the Blue Mountains, the Dandenongs, or the Adelaide Hills - it is always these regions where townships interface with the mountainous bush that are hit the worst.

We act surprised when these things happen, but really we aren't. Civicly the country is organised into civic groups specifically to protect humanity, animals and property from the omnipresent bush fire. The Bush Fire Brigade is in every small town through the major cities and into the scrub. Other civic groups include wildlife rescue; the states are organized into emergency services specifically for these kind of over whelming events.

Despite the over whelming size and demand on resources bush fires cause - Australia always acquits itself well in these circumstances. It is geared to from years of experience from cyclical drought, hot weather, westerlies and fire fronts.

More Reading on Bushfires

• Bushfires
• Australia
• Victorian Bushfires
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