Bushfires...
Sunday, January 19, 2003 by Jafo | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Victoria, Australia is the most bushfire-prone place on this planet. January is our 'time'.
At the moment, the majority of it all is in the North, and beyond, all the way up to the ACT [Canberra], where to date about 400 houses in suburbia have been destroyed and 3 reported deaths...and counting...
50 knot winds and 40 degree heat....and the worst drought ever on record.
It's going to get worse before it ever gets better.
National Parks have been wiped out, unlikely to recover until your children's children have children of their own.
All those cute wombats, roos and koalas...they'll be toast, now.
If you've never seen a bushfire 'crowning', pray you never do.
Hell on earth....
At the moment, the majority of it all is in the North, and beyond, all the way up to the ACT [Canberra], where to date about 400 houses in suburbia have been destroyed and 3 reported deaths...and counting...
50 knot winds and 40 degree heat....and the worst drought ever on record.
It's going to get worse before it ever gets better.
National Parks have been wiped out, unlikely to recover until your children's children have children of their own.
All those cute wombats, roos and koalas...they'll be toast, now.
If you've never seen a bushfire 'crowning', pray you never do.
Hell on earth....
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kja
Reply #23 Sunday, January 19, 2003 9:38 PM
Reply #23 Sunday, January 19, 2003 9:38 PM
I live within half a mile of the files that went through the Holsworthy Army base here in Sydney last month.
I was pretty scary then, but the fires down in Canberra are 10 times more scary!!
The thing that angers me the most is that most of the fires we have had here on the south-east coast of australia over the last 3 months have been deliberately lit! It was the same story last year, and the year before, and the year before that......
I think if they catch the people responsible, they should strap them all to wooden chairs, strike a match, and give them a taste of their own medicine!! >
Have a nice day!
I was pretty scary then, but the fires down in Canberra are 10 times more scary!!
The thing that angers me the most is that most of the fires we have had here on the south-east coast of australia over the last 3 months have been deliberately lit! It was the same story last year, and the year before, and the year before that......
I think if they catch the people responsible, they should strap them all to wooden chairs, strike a match, and give them a taste of their own medicine!! >
Have a nice day!
Mr_Ph00ey2u
Reply #24 Sunday, January 19, 2003 9:44 PM
Reply #24 Sunday, January 19, 2003 9:44 PM
We had a lot of wild fires here in Florida a few years back, but you guys are really getting it bad...I remember that the air was thick with smoke all the time. It got to be so bad that an entire county was evacuated at one time, Glad that's over with!
elvee
Reply #25 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:11 PM
Reply #25 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:11 PM
Dang Jafo i have been watching this on CNN, Really sad
Peff
Reply #26 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:21 PM
Reply #26 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:21 PM
From slashdot....
"The historic Mt Stromlo observatory has been destroyed by fires. Unfortunately Google cache and similar archives are the only available detailed information. Looks like the web site was housed at the observatory. Telescopes housed there were 74" and 50" reflectors along with the "Oddie" 9" refractor used by the Canberra Astronomical Society. Also destroyed were a number of student houses and workshops. The view from the air is one of molten domes and twisted metal. These fires have already destroyed 388 houses in the suburbs of Canberra. Luckily the winds have not picked up today, but the danger is still high."
Rotten luck...You Aussies stay safe, you hear!!
"The historic Mt Stromlo observatory has been destroyed by fires. Unfortunately Google cache and similar archives are the only available detailed information. Looks like the web site was housed at the observatory. Telescopes housed there were 74" and 50" reflectors along with the "Oddie" 9" refractor used by the Canberra Astronomical Society. Also destroyed were a number of student houses and workshops. The view from the air is one of molten domes and twisted metal. These fires have already destroyed 388 houses in the suburbs of Canberra. Luckily the winds have not picked up today, but the danger is still high."
Rotten luck...You Aussies stay safe, you hear!!
IPlural
Reply #28 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:43 PM
Reply #28 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:43 PM
damn I hope everyone is ok. I've watched a few shows on Discovery about those fires and the damages they can do. I've only been in one fire and that was in Maine, it burned for a day and it was like hell on earth.
DYSEQTA
Reply #29 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:01 PM
Reply #29 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:01 PM
I have just come home, a week ago, from spending two weeks with my sister in Canberra. She lives in the suburb of Kambah. As it stands at the moment 39 homes in Kambah have been destroyed including two only 5 doors up from my sisters house. They are, thank God, ok and miraculously have suffered zero fire damage to their property although houses all around them were either destroyed or badly damaged. My brother in law, Martyn, had to help put out a fire at the neighbours house across the road. He broke his thumb in the process which is the only thing they suffered through the ordeal. Martyn described the event to me as tho a fireball had been shot from the mountain behind his home and exploded over Kambah. It was a matter of 30 seconds between "hey look, the mountains burning!" to being surrounded in a cyclone of fire.
Please remeber the people of Canberra right now they need all the goodwill the can get right now.
Please remeber the people of Canberra right now they need all the goodwill the can get right now.
Peff
Reply #30 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:04 PM
Reply #30 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:04 PM
My thoughts/prayers go out to them...may they be safe!
Jafo
Reply #31 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:41 PM
Reply #31 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:41 PM
Since there's a smoke haze now, here in Melbourne...a couple of hundred miles from the worst of it...we're talking an affected area the size of the UK.
Now if Howard would just stop hugging destitute owners and actually BUY a few 'Elvises' to have in Oz on permanent stand-by we'd be a lot better off.
OK, so they're expensive....but not as much as 4 dead, a few hundred casualties and 400 houses lost.
Houses alone would average out at about $100,000,000 AUS...[about US$45,000,000].
That's gotta buy an Elvis undercarriage, at least...
Now if Howard would just stop hugging destitute owners and actually BUY a few 'Elvises' to have in Oz on permanent stand-by we'd be a lot better off.
OK, so they're expensive....but not as much as 4 dead, a few hundred casualties and 400 houses lost.
Houses alone would average out at about $100,000,000 AUS...[about US$45,000,000].
That's gotta buy an Elvis undercarriage, at least...
IPlural
Reply #32 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:48 PM
Reply #32 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:48 PM
Elvises = Fire Trucks ?
Dunno, but seems to me that being able to at least attempt to control an put out fires would dictate having the equipment at the least.
Wow, it almost sounds like the wild fire we have out in the midwest and west here in the states every so often. But on a more regular basis...
Dunno, but seems to me that being able to at least attempt to control an put out fires would dictate having the equipment at the least.
Wow, it almost sounds like the wild fire we have out in the midwest and west here in the states every so often. But on a more regular basis...
tinkergaloot
Reply #33 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:59 PM
Reply #33 Sunday, January 19, 2003 11:59 PM
Ande-
there has been a fire burning in bushland on Stradbroke Island for over a week which has been responsible for the haze etc. over Brisbane. Must say that the moon here at Victoria Point on Saturday night was the most amazing colour due to the fire.
there has been a fire burning in bushland on Stradbroke Island for over a week which has been responsible for the haze etc. over Brisbane. Must say that the moon here at Victoria Point on Saturday night was the most amazing colour due to the fire.
kja
Reply #34 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:22 AM
Reply #34 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:22 AM
Iplural,
In case you are wondering, the "Elvises" we refer to down here in Australia, are the Erricson Skycrane helicopters we "borrowed" from the USA.
They all had names, one of which was Elvis, so it seemed easier to call them all "elvises" instead of "Erricson Skycrane".
That's the way we Aussies think, and that's the way it should be... the simpler, the better!!
In case you are wondering, the "Elvises" we refer to down here in Australia, are the Erricson Skycrane helicopters we "borrowed" from the USA.
They all had names, one of which was Elvis, so it seemed easier to call them all "elvises" instead of "Erricson Skycrane".
That's the way we Aussies think, and that's the way it should be... the simpler, the better!!
Ande
Reply #35 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:45 AM
Reply #35 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:45 AM
Hi Garry, Here on Bribie Is. its been surreal looking at times. The Island being 4/5ths National Park has had its fair share of fires this summer all deliberately lit. Strange how it always happens during school holidays. A fact well documented. I know many people in Canberra, at this juncture they seem to have missed out, thank goodness.
But I wholeheartedly agree with Jafo, in a country as susceptable to bushfires as Aust. is, and will continue to be, whats four firefighting choppers. (Elvis Type). Cost should not be a consideration when human life is at stake. Maybe somthing like this might wake them up(Politicians), but I won't hold my breath.
But I wholeheartedly agree with Jafo, in a country as susceptable to bushfires as Aust. is, and will continue to be, whats four firefighting choppers. (Elvis Type). Cost should not be a consideration when human life is at stake. Maybe somthing like this might wake them up(Politicians), but I won't hold my breath.
kja
Reply #36 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:54 AM
Reply #36 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:54 AM
Ande,
I agree with you totally, but the Sydney fires from 1995, 1999 & 2001 should have been the wake up call!!
I agree with you totally, but the Sydney fires from 1995, 1999 & 2001 should have been the wake up call!!
Peff
Reply #37 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:58 AM
Reply #37 Monday, January 20, 2003 12:58 AM
Were those election years? Probably not... Damn self-serving politicians....I bet they would react differently if their homes were threatened....
IPlural
Reply #39 Monday, January 20, 2003 6:59 AM
Reply #39 Monday, January 20, 2003 6:59 AM
Jafo, cool
You know maybe they should look into the vintage Sikorski's from Nam? Not the Huey, but the first one, I'll have to look it up. They use them here for fire and also police rescue. Four to five long wide bladesfor heavy lift. There are also internal tanks you can install for fire retardents and such.
US Military surplus would be a place for them to look also...
One of the shows I watched about the Bush fires, was about one where a family got caught in their car and the two teenagers ended up walking through a tunnel for fire from the trees that lined the dirt road and the mother got stuck in the car. Happened a few years back I guess, but they showed the car after everything was put out and she was removed from it. It was like an oven, baked the car clean of paint, rubber and glass...
Nasty stuff, even harder with just how much outback can be OUTback...
stay safe, you and yours and everyone else
You know maybe they should look into the vintage Sikorski's from Nam? Not the Huey, but the first one, I'll have to look it up. They use them here for fire and also police rescue. Four to five long wide bladesfor heavy lift. There are also internal tanks you can install for fire retardents and such.
US Military surplus would be a place for them to look also...
One of the shows I watched about the Bush fires, was about one where a family got caught in their car and the two teenagers ended up walking through a tunnel for fire from the trees that lined the dirt road and the mother got stuck in the car. Happened a few years back I guess, but they showed the car after everything was put out and she was removed from it. It was like an oven, baked the car clean of paint, rubber and glass...
Nasty stuff, even harder with just how much outback can be OUTback...
stay safe, you and yours and everyone else
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Reply #21 Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:36 AM