Autumn break

IT will be a long time before any of us forget this bushfire season.

Seeing residents and tourists huddling on Mallacoota’s wharf — among other terrifying sights — will surely remain etched in the memories of those of us watching from afar through the media’s lens.

We can only imagine what those on the fire ground must be going through as they witness the loss of human and animal life, and the unforgettable trauma that must come with seeing homes and livelihoods turned to ash.

As we always see in Australia, communities — both near the fires and far away — have been galvanised by a crisis that has been punctuated by heroes and zeros (that’s you, Scott Morrison).

Despite the continually unfolding tragedy, good news stories are always plentiful — the teenagers filling their car with rescued koalas, the resounding applause for international firefighters arriving at the airport, comedian Celeste Barber’s ridiculously successfully $50 million fundraiser.

Of course there are companies quickly wading into the crisis ostensibly to raise money for those at the coal face (pardon the pun), although I suspect plenty of them care more for the marketing value to their business than actually helping those in need. Still, money is money.

If you want to see a real examples of selflessness check out the scores of kids raising thousands of dollars through lemonade stands and cake stalls.

Stories about solutions, however, are a bit more thin on the ground.

There has been plenty of political outrage but few realistic ideas that could be implemented with minimum of fuss.

Then Professor David Bowman wrote a game-changing piece in The Conversation. His message was simple: it’s time to move our summer holidays.

As Prof Bowman — an expert of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania — adeptly points out, sending thousands of holidaymakers into our most dangerous bushfire-prone areas at the riskiest time of year would have to be one of our more stupid national pastimes. Between Christmas and the end of January holidaymakers flood into fireprone areas, putting themselves at risk and also creating increased fire danger simply by being there.

Everything should be done to avoid having tourists caught up in bushfire emergencies. Removing the hordes during peak fire season is the first step.

Often national parks are closed during extreme fire days and this idea expands on that thinking.

When fires do break out, firefighters should only have to worry about saving residents, and their homes and towns. During mass evacuations emergency services shouldn’t be worrying about scores of tourists refusing to leave until the last minute for fear of their holiday being cut short.

I know of East Gippsland tourists who didn’t move despite an actual evacuation order in place.

I know others who complained about hours-long petrol queues because they didn’t get out when urged, or even worse, kept heading to danger zones despite the risk. Another bunch of tourists complained about being displaced in Mallacoota and having to get a ship home without a bed to sleep on. Oh the horror.

Who do these people think they are?

As much as the tourist dollar is welcome for most of the year, it means absolutely nothing when their presence might mean the difference between life and death.

Which is why Prof Bowman’s idea is genius.

This is the nature of climate change adaptation, he points out, and it makes sense.

The school year should run from May to March, with two weeks at Christmas and six weeks in the cooler, calmer months of March and April.

The autumn weather is warm and stable enough for beach lovers yet those months have far fewer extreme fire danger days, if any.

The change would take the pressure off emergency services, reduce fire risk, extend the holiday season to include Easter and would have minimal impact on teachers and tourism operators.

Europe and the US have the school year starting in September. There is no reason ours couldn’t start in late April or May.

This disastrous fire season has shown we need to change the status quo and start thinking outside the square.

Moving our summer holiday period could be the place to start.