As Perth’s suburbs burn, the rest of Australia watches and learns

February has already been a bad month for Perth. Bushfire has destroyed 81 homes and burned more than 10,000 hectares north-east of the city.

Residents in the midst of a COVID-19 lockdown were told to abandon their homes and seek shelter as the bushfire raged.

The disaster calls to mind the unprecedented Black Summer fires that devastated eastern Australia last summer. But the tragedies are very different beasts.

Obviously, the Black Summer fires were much more widespread, prolonged and lethal than what Western Australia is experiencing.

The east coast fires were largely triggered by lightning, while that’s not thought to be the case in the Perth fire. Wind and temperature also played different roles in the two disasters.

So let’s examine…