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"Burning off" grassland before bushfire season is not as safe or preventative as first thought, according to Australian scientists on Friday.
Farmers, local councils and fire authorities often safely burn off dying, dry grass in bushfire threatened areas as a buffer zone to stop a fire from spreading quickly, but a new research conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has found that some burning off has been occurring too late, sometimes contributing to deadly bushfires.
Lead researcher Andrew Sullivan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday that previous systems worked purely on assumptions instead of research.
He said the results of the landmark research were surprising, with grass that is still "green" still able to spread bushfires extremely quickly, meaning the period for "burning off" safely had drastically reduced.
"The research that we've done indicates that fires are going to be spreading a lot faster than was previously thought," Sullivan said.
"It means the transition from the point where fires won't spread in green grass to the point where fires are spreading so fast that they're going to be difficult to stop has shortened quite a bit."
The study concluded that, with the effects of global warming, bushfire seasons are expected to start earlier and finish later than in the past.
"The work that we've done looking at the effects of climate change on forest fires suggests that the autumn period is actually going to be extended," Sullivan told the ABC.
"That means that the fire season may be starting earlier in the grasslands but it's going to be going further and longer in the forests, which means that the total season's going to be much longer."
On the back of the news, a spokesperson from the United Firefighters Union of Australia ACT branch said more firefighters might be needed to fight fires.
"If climate change continues at the current rate, (we) would need to almost double the number of firefighters by the year 2030, " the spokesperson said.
"If volunteer resources didn't increase by a similar proportion, you would need even more professional firefighters."
