Kevin Wayne Williams <kww.nihongo@verizon.nut> dixit:

>In the Northern Territory and Western Australia, they are set by
>friendly forest rangers in the name of fire control. 

That happens here too - it's called a "controlled burn" or "fuel
reduction". Pretty chancy, as the forest has to be not too wet (won't
burn at all,) and not too dry, and there has to be no wind, and tankers
and aerial bombers ready, etc. etc. It's all a bit political too, as
the conservationists don't like it, and the country folk want more of
it as long as they're not downwind at the time.

There there are the pragmatists who say that it really doesn't make
much difference anyway, and even if it did, the amount that can be done 
each year is so small that they might as well save the effort.

Australian forests regenerate amazingly after fires. Most of the 
burnt trees put out shoots and the fires help crack the eucalypts' seed 
cases.  I've seen burnt-out pine forests near Canberra and in the south 
of France, and they're like graveyards even after a couple of years.

>One time they came
>by and set the beach I was on ablaze without so much as a "how do you
>do?" Big truck drove up with a big flamethrower rig, lit everything they
>could see on fire, and drove away.

Sounds like a breach of protocol to me.

>Aside from the legalized pyromania, I think that northwestern Australia
>is one of the nicest areas of the earth.

Bit wild for me. Too many bitey things, especially in the sea.

-- 
Jim Breen        http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Clayton School of Information Technology,
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 
ジム・ブリーン@モナシュ大学