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Cataloging Information
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Topic(s):
Fire Behavior
Extreme Fire Behavior
Fire Prediction
Fire Policy & Law
Fire & Economics
Extreme Fire Behavior
Fire Prediction
Fire Policy & Law
Fire & Economics
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NRFSN number:
8315
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FRAMES RCS number:
11895
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During a period of three days in mid-February 1983, bushfires swept over 400,000 ha in southern Australia, killing 74 people, destroying more than 2,000 homes, and burning out 7 towns. This tragic repetition of the fires of January 1939, in which 71 people perished, was foretold by Noble (1977), whose monograph on the 1939 fires ended with a chapter entitled "It Can Happen Again." Ecologists familiar with the cycle of wildfire in such ecosystems assert that fires like these will recur.
Citation
Albini, F.A. 1984. Wildland fires: Predicting the behavior of wildland fires-among nature's most potent forces-can save lives, money, and natural resources. American Scientist. 72(6): 590-597.