re: #537 CyanSnowHawk

Frankly, I’ve been wondering when the terrorists might start doing that on a widespread scale. The damage to the economy could be significant.

I think this sort of fire (not the arson) is fairly typical to australia. Its ecology is geared to it, many plants cannot reproduce until their seeds have been scorched and cracked by fire.
The aborigines utilised this and did start controlled wildfires long befoe the first white settlers.

This year is exceptional because of the enormously high temperatures, 115F, iirc, and the exceptional dryness of the last years. Coupled wth scorching winds this is what you get.

The tragedy this time is that everything combined to wipe out so many townships and kill so many people.
And its not over yet.