Bushfires

Explain what the terms ‘natural hazard’ and ‘natural disaster’ mean
- A natural disaster is a natural event such as a flood, earthquake, or cyclone that causes
great damage or great loss of life. A natural hazard is an environmental phenomenon
that has the potential to impact societies and the human environment.

List the types of natural hazards that can affect people

- Some natural hazards can include droughts, tropical cyclones, air pollution, desert
locusts, floods and flash floods, landslides or mudslides, avalanches, dust storms and
sandstorms, and many more.

What is another name for a ‘bushfire’?

- Some other words for bushfires are brush fire, grass fire, wildfire, bonfire, campfire,
inferno, and Blackfire

Explain the difference between a forest fire and a grass fire

- Grass fires spread much more quickly than forest fires because grass is a fine fuel.
Grass fires tend to be less intense than a bushfire but still generate enormous amounts
of radiant heat, the taller and drier the grass the more intensely it will burn. A forest
fire will burn for a lot longer and will spread embers and ash everywhere which can
cause more fires throughout the rest of the bush.

Study Figure 1. With the aid of an atlas describe the distribution of bushfires in
Australia

- Bushfires in Australia are distributed across regions, and influenced by climate and
vegetation. Southern and eastern areas experience frequent fires, driven by hot, dry
conditions and inflammable eucalyptus forests.

Study Figure 2. With the aid of an atlas describe how the bushfire season
changes as you travel across the continent from south to north.

- The bushfire season for the north and south are different because it depends on what
season it is. The further north you go the fire season starts in winter and ends in
spring, a little bit further south the fire season is in spring, more south the fire season
is in spring and summer, more south the fire season is in summer, and the furthest
south the fire season is in summer and autumn.