What should we do about WA’s prescribed burning program?

I was in Melbourne for the Black Saturday fires. One of the things that came out of that was the realisation that we don't get those crazy bushfires wiping out entire towns and killing hundreds of people in WA, because we do these burns.

I predict that if the burns stop, WA will get its own ash Wednesday/Black Saturday.

I am very much on the side that is calling for a review of the arbitrary quota system.

More water is needed in our environment, if nature can't provide it, then we should act to ensure minimum levels of ground water are maintained by human intervention. This will reduce fire risk in two ways, the extra moisture will make things harder to catch alight, and stronger growth of trees will leave them less susceptible in time also.

There could also be a range of positive externalities associated with a very large and broad water delivery scheme.

Employment of technology to monitor, and respond quicker. Be it, built infrastructure in strategic town-bush interfaces such as lookouts or automated water reservoirs, or drone/satellite feeds, even AI could be of use in bush fire smoke detection from live feeds.

Keep current practices but decentralise the more destructive practices where able. The aim should be to reduce the dependence on prescribed burns and land clearing where we can begin to substitute different and more permanent solutions. Prescribed burns and land clearing can be a bit of a band-aid, incredibly effective, but not for all ailments.

They also have significant negative outcomes attached which diminish their value a little, (if our focus is wider than human lives and homes).