AUSTRALIA will need to double its firefighting capabilities by 2030 to keep pace with the impacts of climate change, according to a new report from the Climate Council.
The Burning Issue: Climate Change and the Australian Bushfire Threat report said more than 17,000 firefighters would be needed by 2030, up from 11,000 in 2010.
Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said longer fire seasons were reducing opportunities for controlled burning, which increased pressure on firefighting resources.
"Climate change is worsening this bushfire weather,” Ms McKenzie said.
“Heatwaves are hotter, longer and occurring more often.”
Declining numbers of volunteer firefighters could reduce both bushfire prevention and firefighting capabilities.
At the beginning of this year’s fire season The Land reported the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) had achieved 70 per cent of its planned hazard reduction burns, which had left dangerous amounts of fuel in the way of grass and forest growth (The Land, October 15, 2015).
October was NSW’s hottest month on record, with the statewide average temperature 4.5 degrees celsius above the historical average.
Last week, the RFS banned harvesting in the Northern Riverina on four consecutive days.
On November 20, most of the state experienced its daily hottest average temperature in 2015, with Sydney-siders experiencing their hottest average temperature in 30 years.
The report said similar conditions had sparked one of the United State’s worst bushfire seasons, with more than 50,000 fires this year, which had cost more than US$ 1.5 billion.
The report said the length of the fire seasons had increased by almost 19pc globally between 1978 and 2013, which meant bushfire seasons now overlapped between regions that had previously had separate danger periods.
When the US season overlaps with Australia, resources sharing becomes increasingly difficult.
“Some of Australia’s key firefighting aircraft are leased from overseas and are contracted to North American firefighting services during their summer,” she said.
“The fire seasons of both hemispheres – and demand for critical shared firefighting aircraft – will increasingly overlap, challenging such arrangements.”
In October, widespread bushfires in Indonesia required the use of the NSW RFS’ C-130 Hercules water-bomber, nicknamed Thor.
It has since returned to NSW and is positioned in Albury due to increased fire dangers.
