There’s Only One Way to Make Bushfires Less Powerful: Take Out the Stuff That Burns

Smoke and flames from a back burn, conducted to secure residential areas from encroaching bushfires, are seen at the Spencer area in Central Coast, some 90-110 kilometres north of Sydney on Dec. 9, 2019. SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

As monstrous blazes overwhelm Australia’s south-east, the need for a national bushfire policy has never been more urgent. Active land management such as hazard-reduction burning and forest thinning must lie at the core of any such policy.