Wildfire in Australia during 2019-2020, Its Impact on Health, Biodiversity and Environment with Some Proposals for Risk Management: A Review

Haque, Md. Kamrul; Azad, Md. Abul Kalam; Hossain, Md. Yeamin; Ahmed, Tareq; Uddin, Md. Romij; Hossain, Md. Mukhtar

doi:10.4236/jep.2021.126024

Cited by 47 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Drought has been a contributing factor to the recent fire disasters in South Africa and there has therefore been an ongoing interest and research into the fire DRM, under drought conditions (Kraaij et al, 2018;COGTA, 2020). Similar studies on fire DRM have been conducted in Australia (Haque et al, 2021) and the European Union countries (European Environment Agency, 2021). In more detail for South Africa, several studies in recent years have looked at some of the fire impacts and disaster outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Analyses of Trends in the Fire Losses and the Fire-Brigade Call-Outs in South Africa Between 2004 and 2017

MADONDO¹,

Mutingwende²,

SHWABABA³

et al. 2022

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The current study aimed at performing correlation analyses to gain a more detailed systems understanding of the temporal trends in financial losses from fires (disaster impacts) and the fire brigade call-outs (disaster response) in South Africa from the 2004 to 2017 period. The analysis is performed using data on the fire disaster impacts at the national level and the local level (Makana Local Municipality). The data on disaster impacts was extracted from databases and reports published by the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa and Statistics South Africa. The total number of fire brigade call-outs/fires for the entire territory of South Africa ranged from 26574 in 2010 to 49567 in 2017. There was a direct correlation between the total number of fires and the losses from fires in residential settings in South Africa with time for the studied period. The losses from fire disasters in residential settings accounted for between 21.84 % and 74.06 % of all financial losses in South Africa between 2004 and 2017. On the other hand, call-outs to fire brigades with a residential cause or related to rubbish/bush/grass accounted for an average of 81.7 ± 2.7 % between 2004 and 2007, while it reached 88.5 ± 4.9 % in Makana Local Municipality. This indicates that fires in residential settings or related to rubbish or plant-based fuel account for a significant majority of the time fire brigades spent fighting fires in South Africa between 2004 and 2017. Fuel and waste management, and increasing fire human resilience at the household level, will play a significant role in the fire disaster risk management in South Africa. Vegetation cover and management will play a key role in the fire DRM in South Africa and local municipalities such as Makana.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Analyses of Trends in the Fire Losses and the Fire-Brigade Call-Outs in South Africa Between 2004 and 2017

MADONDO¹,

Mutingwende²,

SHWABABA³

et al. 2022

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“…The effects on deposition, mobilization, and fate of contaminants related to wildfires have been recognized as an important environmental question (Bodí et al 2014 ; Pivello et al 2021 ). Currently, wildfires have affected forests and land around the world, including Portugal, Australia, the USA, and Brazil (Aguilera et al 2021 ; Alcasena et al 2021 ; Hacon et al 2021 ; Haque et al 2021 ). Projections show that Brazilian biomes, such as Pantanal and Amazon, are one of the regions in the world with the highest increase in wildfire throughout the present century.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human risk assessment of ash soil after 2020 wildfires in Pantanal biome (Brazil)

Caumo

Lázaro

Oliveira

et al. 2022

Air Qual Atmos Health

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Wildfires have increased in the last years and, when caused by intentional illegal burnings, are frequently run out of control. Wildfire has been pointed out as an important source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements (TEs) — such as, As, Ni, and Pb — to environmental compartments, and thus may pose a risk to human health and to the ecosystem. In 2020, the Brazilian biome, Pantanal, faced the largest losses by wildfires in the last 22 years. Ashes from the topsoil layer in Pantanal were collected after these wildfires at 20 sites divided into the sediment, forest, PF, PS, and degraded sites. Toxicity and associated risks for human health were also evaluated. The areas highly impacted by wildfires and by artisanal gold mining activities showed higher concentrations for TEs and PAHs than the protected areas. Pb varied from 8 ± 4 to 224 ± 81 mg kg −1 , and total PAH concentration ranged between 880 ± 314 and 1350 ± 70 ng g −1 , at sites impacted by anthropogenic activities. Moreover, health risk assessments for TE and PAH indicated a potentially great risk for children and adults, via ingestion, inhalation, and dermal pathway. The carcinogenic risks exceeded reference values, for both TE and PAH, suggesting harmful conditions, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly. Graphical abstract Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11869-022-01248-2.

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“…According to recent studies, HWEs and droughts act as the leading causes of eastern Australia's mega‐fires during 2019 to early 2020 (Nolan et al, 2020). Some of the oldest and globally iconic songbird habitats in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia were either burnt or threatened (Haque et al, 2021). Therefore, it is of great significance to study the spatial distributions and underlying causes of HWEs in Australia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synoptic characteristics of heatwave events in Australia during austral summer of 1950/1951–2019/2020

Wei

Wang

Luo

et al. 2023

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Australia has experienced increasing number of heatwave events (HWEs) in recent decades. This study aims to examine key synoptic features of austral summer HWEs over Australia during 1950/1951–2019/2020. Based on ERA5‐reanalysis and rotated empirical orthogonal functions, HWEs in Australia are categorized into four types according to where they often occur together: East Australia (EA), North Australia (NA), West Australia (WA) and Southeast Australia (SEA). Our results reveal that while anomalous anticyclones at 500 hPa level are the typical synoptic circulations responsible for HWEs of each subregion, their specific mechanisms differ between subregions. The atmospheric heat budget at 850 hPa level shows that anomalous diabatic heating promotes the onset of HWEs in each subregion. While anomalous vertical advection and adiabatic heating due to the anomalous subsidence play an important role in maintaining HWEs till their demise in NA, they only help trigger HWEs in EA, SEA and WA. Our results also suggest that anomalous advection of climatological mean temperature is important to both the onset and persistence of HWEs in EA and SEA, while it only helps sustain (trigger) HWEs in NA (WA). The advection of anomalous temperature also acts to trigger HWEs in EA, SEA and WA. On the surface, upward long‐wave radiation and sensible heat flux contribute to the development of HWEs, whereas both of them are reduced in SEA due to the enhanced anomalous cyclones near the surface and the decreased land–air temperature difference. These findings help improve understanding of the synoptic characteristics and distinctive mechanisms of HWEs in different subregions of Australia.

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Wildfire in Australia during 2019-2020, Its Impact on Health, Biodiversity and Environment with Some Proposals for Risk Management: A Review

Cited by 47 publications

References 49 publications

Analyses of Trends in the Fire Losses and the Fire-Brigade Call-Outs in South Africa Between 2004 and 2017

Analyses of Trends in the Fire Losses and the Fire-Brigade Call-Outs in South Africa Between 2004 and 2017

Human risk assessment of ash soil after 2020 wildfires in Pantanal biome (Brazil)

Synoptic characteristics of heatwave events in Australia during austral summer of 1950/1951–2019/2020

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