Indigenous Approaches to Fire Control Hold Lessons for the US

America must adopt traditional techniques deployed in Australia

- David Fickling

The devastation from California's wildfires is unique in its horror—but it has precedents elsewhere. And some time-honored solutions that deserve a comeback. So far, some 23 people have been killed and more than 12,300 structures destroyed. It's a similar picture to Australia's catastrophic 2019-20 bush-fire season, which resulted in 33 deaths and more than 3,000 homes burnt. In each case, a landscape transformed through thousands of years of Indigenous fire agriculture has proven deadly to a modern society more averse to burning vegetation.

There's just one crucial difference. The Australian fire season lasted five months and burnt 24 million hectares. The damage in California has taken place over a smaller time and area—one week and 16,500 hectares. Are there lessons from the far side of the world that could have reduced the catastrophe in the US?

A wildfire is unpredictable in its effects and Australia's experience may have been as much a matter of luck as strategy. Its Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 killed 173 people within days. At the same time, in a world where wildfire is becoming more frequent and devastating as a result of climate change, there are lessons to be learnt from how other countries handle the same combustible mix of parched vegetation and dry windy weather.