Mega bushfires could be on the horizon, what can we do to stop them?
Since the 2019/2020 black summer bushfires, millions of dollars have poured into new fire prevention technology around the country, but one expert warns we might be going about it all wrong.
Late last month, the CSIRO announced it would be trialling a new AI fire detection program using advanced satellite technology to track and respond to fires. But UNSW Canberra Professor Jason Sharples has warned we have to be extremely careful not to engage in knee-jerk responses that could make fires worse.
Prof Sharples, a leading bushfire expert, is concerned that an overreliance on new technologies like satellites, drones, and AI could ultimately worsen our responses to fires.
“When you have a really bad fire season, one of the immediate reactions is, we don’t want that to happen again, so we should just try and put out all fires as soon as we can,” Prof Sharples said.
“We should resist a total exclusion policy in Australia … you think you’re doing a good thing by suppressing fires in particular communities, but it can actually come back to bite you decades down.”