Aussie Fire Disasters

A.J.
I just heard from my niece down under, and she is 20km from the fires at this time, and informed me that the lost life total is now 131.
Ed

Deas or any other Austrailian members,

I am not familiar with the geography of Australia or where some of our ACMOC members there may live. How is everyone doing? Are you or any of our folks near that area. Good luck to all.

Biggastractor

Deas or any other Austrailian members,

I am not familiar with the geography of Australia or where some of our ACMOC members there may live. How is everyone doing? Are you or any of our folks near that area. Good luck to all.

Biggastractor

hello ,,131 death as of tonigth ,750 homes ,3700 homeless ,


just hearing stories of how bad they were ,

windows blowing out before the fire was close ,opening houses up to the fire when it got there ,
looking one way at the fire front and have the fire come from behind .
holding wet towels to doors and windows with the wind blowing embers around the rest of the door,
many houses burnt ,one left standing in some cases .

they found one 7yr old laying in road side drain with burnt houses and death all around him ,one luck person ,

many car crashes from people driving in the smoke after having to leave there homes only to die in a road crash with other car or trees .
to watch the news makes one cry with the lose of life ,to see loved one and freinds looking for there familys is heart breaking ,

with 30 fires still going it is good to see that people are leaving the houses and towns that are under fire threat, to be save and alive some were else .you can bebuild your house ,but loved ones can never be replaced ,

Hi, Folks.
I for one am safe and sound at the moment, between the fires 1,100 miles or so to the South and the floods 1,000 or so miles to the North.

People are starting to blame the arsonists for starting the fires and I have to agree with them. There has not been nearly enough work done in the past to profile arsonists to be able to assess who might be likely to offend. That needs to change. Maybe even call in intensive satellite surveillance in high-risk fire weather to catch the mongrels in the act.

How-wever, where I personally think far more of the blame has to be sheeted home is with the 'greenies' and tree-huggers who advocate no clearing and no hazard reduction, the local and state government authorities who listen too much to them and the people who draw up the building codes for these areas.

I don't know for sure about these days but back in the late 1980's-early 90's when I was involved with the Volunteer Bushfire Brigades in Central Coast New South Wales, the greenies and environmentalists had all but stopped hazard reduction in the cooler winter months to reduce fuel loads on the ground. That in itself is a recipe for disaster.

Bruce oz, you would probably have a far better idea than I about this down your way these days. How is this situation in your area?

Then these same people live in the bush with forest, scrub and undergrowth almost right up to their doors "because they love the bush" and then scream blue murder when they get burnt out and lose everything. I admit that not everybody who gets burnt out is in this category but there are enough who are for it to be significant. And the authorities let them build in those places and not do any or enough hazard reduction.

I had to clear and level a house site in the hills behind the Gold Coast several years ago. The house was on top of a rise that faced North and West, the two main danger directions for much of the East coast of Australia. Before the local council would issue a building permit, they had to clear ALL natural vegetation within 60 metres - 200 feet - of the house site on the Northern and Western sides and bench roads into the sides of the hill every 20 metres away from the house site on those two sides to allow maintenance of fire resistant grasses like kikuyu and to allow access to fire vehicles. The bottom one of these benches had to provide clear access to an existing dam down the hill from the house site to provide a water supply for any fire-fighting needs in the future.

ONLY when all of the above was DONE would the council issue a building permit for the house.

The building codes for these areas ought to specify either cast-in-situ concrete dwellings - roof and all, concrete tilt panel dwellings, same deal or earth-covered dwellings, again all in conrete. Tight-sealing steel shutters over windows and doors ought to be mandatory. Lack of sufficient hazard reduction ought to be a HUGELY fineable offence. Reasonable roof water storage facilities should be a must-have, preferably in underground storage. No trees over-hanging driveways or houses and clear access to the street or main road. You want to live in these areas, you pay to be safe.

Just my 0.02. (Well-trained little soapbox gets up and puts itself away in the corner - until next time.)

One has to wonder how many of these fires are intentionally set by the enviornmentalist wackos to punish those who dare destroy the forest when they build their houses and roads into these pristine areas, and disturb the habitat of Bambi and Thumper.

In this country it seems that federal law enforcement puts minimal effort in catching these Earth First types, most likely because the agenda of the clinton administration, and now the obama administration are one and the same, in that humans are the cause of all the earth's ills.

Deas Plant I agree with nearly all you say, I was actually born not far from the fire zone in Victoria . That Hazard reduction in Winter is essential down there and to a lesser extent in Qld . In Western Vic the CFA used to burn all the stock routes and lanes , Do they still do it Bruce Oz ? One disappointment to me is , to my Knowledge [and certainly no slight to our members in USA ] is that your new President hasn't been in contact with our Prime Minister to offer help. Has he forgotten that Australia sent a large contingent to California of our specialist fire men to help fight fires over there a few years ogo. In fact I wonder if he knows Australia even exists !!. These Fires now are the worst in recorded History for lost of life . not sure on area. I fought one in 1959 that burnt 250000 acres [ !00,000 ha ] and lasted 3 weeks in scrub country in the Northern Wimmera area. We had no lost of life or livestock. I just hope and pray they get them under contol before the next burst of hot weather arrives , still have another 5/6 weeks of potential hot weather to come. Lance Jones

You could be right, unless you are one of the 57 states, or a part of Kenya, you do not exist.

I'd rather see US help going to you guys then all the help going to africa. To be honest I'm disapointed that we haven't sent you a bunch of help. God help you all down under.