For those wanting to know why there is an uncontrolled bushfire at Tambaroora, near Hill End, NSW - it is most likely because of what is shown in the photo below.

I've camped five or six times since the new year started and there is a common theme for each one - very long grass and lots of it.

This photo was taken less than two weeks ago near the Racetrack at Hill End, where we foraged for firewood and the photo doesn't do much justice to what's in it. A few blades of that grass is taller than me and I am 6'3". Tambaroora Common lies to the right of that photo and the fire is heading towards that area at the moment. An order for residents to take shelter is current which means bets are off as to what might happen through the night.

I hope everyone remains safe.

The question remains: why isn't the land being managed? Have we forgotten the record size of the Gospers Mountain and Mallacoota fires of 2019 already?

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

This is what happens when the failed European mentality prevails in a landscape they still do not understand..

Unlike Indigenous burning I have seen a lot of stupidity, hot burns, & environmental destruction done in recent times, by so called controlled burns. One that really got under my skin after knowing & photographing over a period of 25years what was there.

After 10 years plus the drought ended here. Lots of terrestrial Orchids came up & before they had time to set seed for regeneration. The department of weeds & pyromania came along burnt the area killing the lot.

The loonies are running the asylum.

A series of mixed results this week with regard to the bushfires in the NSW Central West.

The fire at Sallys Flat remains a threat but is being controlled at the moment.

The Alpha Road fire at Tambaroora, near Hill End seems to be quite undecisive and at the moment it has been scaled back to a Watch and Act after turning south, back towards containment lines north of Hill End.

Above is an infrared satellite photo of the Tambaroora fire, which is burning over a large area. 17,000 hectares of land has been scorched so far. The dot in the middle is Tambaroora and Hill End is to the immediate south.

It has been reported that the NSW Rural Fire Service will begin burnoffs across the state in the next couple of weeks to prepare for next summer. It won't be before time - there is too much fuel on the ground at the moment, right across the state.

https://zoom.earth/#view=-33.0003,149.5668,8z/map=live/overlays=heat,fires

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

The problem is in most cases the burning is not controlled burning, but burn everything wonton destruction, with little if any science. Not the mosaic burning that left the native flora and fauna behind to regenerate. Not have hot fires which turn every thing to ash and it takes in the order of over 20 years to regenerate, providing its left to do that & there is any biomass left to enable regeneration. Have a look at what really happened to the Nazca.

A prime example of several, was at the end of the millennium drought. After it rained all of the Orchids in the Beechworth Gorge flowered. Before anything even had time to set seed. The pyromaniacs burnt it & killed them. Fortunately in one respect, We know what was there.

New bushfire at Curraweela which is directly west of me. Smoke has been passing by to the north all afternoon.

Another bushfire near Taralga which is north/west of Goulburn.

It's the same fire.

The sky was clear all day but now wind has sprung up, the smoke is passing thickly overhead and it can be smelled.

Actually it is potentially nasty here for the next couple of days. Naturally as I have a funeral to go to in a few days, which is graveside it will rain. Meanwhile it could get to 40 degrees here. The wet stopped suddenly, which was predicted as the Gums started going into drought mode.

That means that along with massive amounts of dry grass, we have a mass of dry gum leaves added. That can only amount to, seriously hot fires with a huge amount of burning leaves as embers. So its total Fire Bans.

We should’ve stopped burning coal last year and then everything would have been fixed and the threat removed. Oh well.

Last night I found myself on the RFS site. According to that there are 33 bushfires burning across NSW, some under control and others not. The Alpha Road (Tambaroora) fire is down to Advice level but is still burning and it will be 37 there today and 38 tomorrow, ideal conditions for another flare up.

Everywhere I have camped this year (and I have been on a few) there is long grass. It shouldn't have got to this and hopefully burnoffs will begin soon so there are some manmade barriers in place before any big fires break out and not after. The priority has to be saving peoples' lives. Whilst it is true that sometimes a burnoff will go pear shaped it is a risk worth taking because bushfires usually do far more damage.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

One along the Vic coast looks like another control burn that took off because it was done at the wrong time. Had one like that a few years back. Big Rah Rah Rah & they all went home. The next day its stop the tractor & get onto the phone as its doing a runner in several places.

Fastest one I have seen, which I consider was a bug was on stepping out of the tank I was cleaning spotted the smoke on the hills 40Km away start rising and by the time I got off the phone another column was rising to the north about 3Km away. That I also consider suspicious, rather than embers.

The NPWS has announced that Hill End's camp grounds will reopen as of Monday, 20th March and bookings for the sites are still in force from that day onwards. This may well hinge on how things go tomorrow - the Alpha Road fire has slowed down but another 100ha has been scorched in the last 24 hours.

Oddly enough, the Village Ground is 3/4 booked. That hasn't happened for a long time in an off-peak period and usually only occurs during school holidays.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...