I found the below link about the now slightly contentious , perhaps outdated, Smokey Bear, an emblem of the agency in the United States that manages National Parks – real national parks, that is, not like our State-managed parks that are labelled ‘National’ in imitation of those Americans. Some entertain the idea that some quite large wildfires should be allowed to burn unchecked to avoid really serious fires. I don’t believe the ‘thinking’ in Australia has gone quite that far, but we are going to hear quite a lot about beneficial controlled fires, a subject complicated by the absence of a national agency with any responsibility in this area.
