News Scan

24 Australians Arrested For Starting Fires:  While climate activists and many in the media are, once again, pointing to a natural disaster, this time the Australian wildfires, as proof of man-caused climate change, two dozen Aussies have been arrested for setting fires during the country’s hot dry season.  Mark Osborne of ABC news reports that another 53 people are facing charges of violating safety laws during the dry season and another 47 have been cited for throwing lit cigarettes into the bush.

For context, California’s Camp Fire in 2018 killed 85 people, destroyed nearly 19,000 buildings and cost an estimated $16.5 billion.  The cause turned out to be poorly maintained power lines and overgrown forests so dense that roughly 1/3 of the trees had died from disease and were tinder dry.  The Australian fires have killed 24 people, destroyed around 2,000 homes and is estimated to cost $2 billion.   Far more acreage has burned, but Australia is a huge mostly uninhabited country and wildfires are common.   Because of this, starting a bushfire in that country is punishable by up to 21 years in prison.