Local Knowledge

Funding Threat Ahead Of Bushfire Report The federal government will become more actively involved in bushfire management in response to the devastating fires that ripped through Australia last summer, parliament was told. A seven-month inquiry into the bushfires found poor management practices and refusal by some fire control officers to listen to local knowledge hampered fire fighting efforts. "Fire suppression efforts were hampered by the dismissal of local knowledge by some fire controllers," committee chairman Gary Nairn told parliament.

So the lack of attention to local knowledge will be fixed by centralization and a top-down approach. I'm not saying it's impossible that this will work, but it is counterintuitive.