The Age Natural Disasters Posters Bushfire Student Activities Bushfire 1. Find and insert into your work an image from the Black Saturday bushfire. Record what it would sound like, feel like and look like. Go to the Global Education website to download a Y chart template – www.globaleducation.edu.au/ and click on Templates under Resources gallery near the bottom of the screen. 2. The perils of life in a fire-prone country a. What determines whether a fire turns into a natural disaster? b. On which continent does uncontrolled burning of forests, scrub, grasses and peat not occur? c. What term is used for bushfires in other countries? d. Make a list of all the possible causes of bushfires. e. Which continent is known as “fire central” with 70 per cent of the world’s wildfires? f. Do all of these wildfires occur naturally? Explain your answer. g. Name four regions of the world where bushfires are more likely to turn into natural disasters. h. What effects can these natural disasters have on people and the environment? i. How many people have been killed by bushfire in Australia? j. How likely will bushfire destroy houses in Australia? k. In an average year how many hectares are burnt in Australia? l. Where do the majority of bushfires occur in Australia? m. Where are the worst bushfires in Australia? n. Which is the deadliest state? o. What was the estimated financial cost for Victoria’s Back Saturday disaster in 2009? p. How many bushfires are classified as “suspicious” each year? 3. Use the world map in the centre of the poster and the PQE approach to describe the spatial distribution of fires experienced in the world from November 7, 2011 to November 16. This is as follows: P – describe the general pattern shown on the map. Q – use appropriate examples and statistics to quantify the pattern. E – identifying any exceptions to the general pattern. 4. Some of the worst Question starts a. In pairs, choose one of the following bushfires to explore from the poster: Black Thursday (Victoria), Pestigo Fire (Wisconsin, USA), Black Friday (Victoria), Black Tuesday (Hobart, Tasmania), Ash Wednesday (Victoria and South Australia), Greece (2007) or Russia (2010). b. Without looking at the poster, brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions that you could ask about your chosen bushfire. Use these question starts to help you think of interesting questions: Why . ? How would it be different if . ? What are the reasons . ? Suppose that . ? What if . ? What if we knew . ? What is the purpose of . ? What would change if . ? c. Using the poster, find answers to as many of your questions as possible. d. Use the Internet to complete any unanswered questions. 5. Through the flames, the dreadful cost in lives and dollars a. Create a Google Map to show the location of the top ten most important wildfire disasters 1900 to 2011 as shown in the table. b. For three of the wildfires add a photograph. c. For a different wildfire add a video clip. (A short video is available at http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62843 to help you with this task if needed). d. List five ways in which the costs of bushfires are counted. e. Name two economic and one other social factor, which should be considered when calculating the cost of bushfire. f. When was Australia’s worst bushfire and what name has it been given? g. How much do “disaster level” bushfires cost Australia each year? h. Choosing from bushfire, floods, severe storms and earthquakes which disaster do you think is the worst [in Australia]? Justify your choice. i. How much is spent annually on aircraft for fire fighting in Australia? j. Which region of the world (USA, Russia or Europe) has experienced the highest cost from wildfires in recent years? Explain your answer. 6. Q: How do the fires start? A: In two ways: naturally, or by human action. Naturally a. What is the most common natural cause of fires? b. How hot can a single strike be? c. Construct two pie charts to illustrate how fires are caused compared to the amount of land that is burnt by fires. d. In Australia, what percentage of fires are started by lightning? e. In what month is a fire most likely to start from a lightning strike? Why is this? f. What other factor can increase the risk of a fire starting? By Human Action g. List five ways by which bushfires can be started by people. h. How many bushfires are known to be suspicious or malicious from 1997 to 2006? 7. Use http://sentinel2.ga.gov.au/ and the PQE approach to describe the spatial distribution of fires experienced in Australia in the last 12 hours. This is as follows: P – describe the general pattern shown on the map. Q – use appropriate examples and statistics to quantify the pattern. E – identifying any exceptions to the general pattern. 8. Why temperate regions are high-risk fire zones a. Use the PQE approach to describe the spatial distribution of fire seasons in Australia. b. In an average year how much of Australian countryside burns? c. In 1974 what conditions caused huge bushfires in December and the following January? d. Where does 90 per cent of Australia’s burning take place? e. Why is loss of life, injury or serious property damage so rare here? f. In the temperate south-east and south-west what occurs in spring and then in the summer? g. List four factors which contribute to creating some of the worst destructive bushfires in the world in this region. h. Why are summer and autumn months the most dangerous for bushfires? i. What determines a bushfire’s destructive potential? j. Compare the fire intensity of northern Australia with that of southern Australia. 9. Working in pairs use the information from www.dse.vic.gov.au/fire-and-other- emergencies/major-bushfires-in-victoria and www.timetoast.com to create a time line to show the major bushfires in Victoria. For each bushfire entry you must include the following: a title an image or fire map the date of the bushfire and a brief description. You are also able to insert hyperlinks to other websites containing valuable information. When you are finished you should publish your timeline and share with the rest of the class. 10. A case study . Using information from this section of the poster construct one of the following: a personal diary (of a resident of a fire fighter) a poem lyrics to a song a piece of descriptive writing. 11. Bushfire research In this activity you will be creating a presentation of a major Australian bushfire. a. Firstly go to http://disastermapper.ema.edu.au/#/category/2 b. Using the scale on the left hand side of the screen (the + and the – buttons) zoom in to the map c. By double clicking on a fire icon the information for that particular bushfire will appear on the left hand side of the screen. d. Using this information plus other sources from the Internet create a Prezi, a PowerPoint, a Keynote or a movie (using iMovie or Movie maker) on one major Australian bushfire. Your presentation should include the following information: the date of the bushfire plus the name given to it (if applicable) the location of the bushfire (include a map here and remember to include BOLTSS – Border, Orientation, Legend, Title, Scale and Source) the conditions which led to the bushfire how the bushfire started images and/or video clips effects and consequences of the bushfire. 12. Factors that unleash devastating fires a. What makes some fires more destructive than others? b. List four factors which increase the risk of a bushfire. c. Which two factors are ranked higher than high temperatures? d. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations what is responsible for increasing the frequency and size of wildfires in many regions? e. How do these “mega-fires” contribute to global warming? f. How can plant or tree type increase the severity of a bushfire? Give two examples. g. Does fire travel faster across flat ground or up slopes? Explain your answer using a diagram to help you. h. List five ways in which people increase the likelihood of a bushfire occurring. i. Using data from the table at the bottom of the poster, create a pie chart illustrating the bushfire fatalities for each state or territory. j. Explain why 85 per cent of deaths in Australia by bushfire were in the south-east region. k. Why do you think that more men than women have died in bushfires? l. What are the consequences of delaying your departure if you live in an area threatened by bushfire? m. What is the “code red” fire danger rating? n. List the four environments which are considered as being at risk from bushfire. o. What are embers? p. When can an ember attack occur? q. How can embers set fire to buildings? 13. Prepare your property for bushfire. a. Go to www.cfa.vic.gov.au/firesafety/bushfire/prepare-your-property/prepare-property.htm and download the Word document “Prepare your Property”. b. Read through the information, carefully ensuring you understand everything fully. c. In small groups complete a diamond ranking exercise using the information from the “Prepare your Property” document. Sort the statements from the most important to the least important in terms of preparing your property from bushfire. Go to the Global Education website to download a diamond ranking template – www.globaleducation.edu.au/ and click on Templates under Resources gallery near the bottom of the screen.