To prevent fires from spreading, firebreaks are also made, where large areas of ground are cleared of flammable material to prevent them from being ignited by ember attacks. This can also include the use of back burning, by fire crews, where forest is deliberately set alight by fire crews. This is only done when considered necessary and when weather conditions are favorable - wind directions and strength, humidity and temperatures.

The trouble with bush fires in Australia is eucalyptus is a significant species of Australian forests. Eucalyptus requires fire to regenerate. They also shed large quantities of leaves and bark that accumulate on forest floors. A controversial method of minimizing bush fires has been to burn forest deliberately in cooler periods, under more controlled conditions, to reduce the fuel load during the main summer fire season.

By not letting the fires burn themselves out, the unburnt leaf and bark litter on the forest floors will remain and accumulate presenting another fire problem for the future.

Australia will always burn, it's the nature of its forests. Bush fires are an expected, but unwelcome part of summer in Australia. What Australia needs is better forest fire management strategies.

Edit 28 July 2020

Recent information about the Gosper's Mountain mega blaze that burnt more than one million hectares.

Anatomy of a 'mega blaze' - text and short videos of about the fire, from ignition by lightening strike, advance, merger with three other fires and how it was fought.

Gosper's Hill 'mega blaze', a 13 minute long video.