Thoughts For Our Australian Friends

Vern

Trainz Maverick
Reading on the news about the high temperatures and bush fires it seems currently raging throughout Australia.

Keep safe and here's hoping things can be brought under control as quickly as possible.
 
Reading on the news about the high temperatures and bush fires it seems currently raging throughout Australia.

Keep safe and here's hoping things can be brought under control as quickly as possible.



Thanks for the kind thoughts mate. As a result of those bush-fires there are many people today in Australia, now without their homes and belongings. Unfortunately, some have lost their lives.

Our Fire-fighters can only do what they can, so we are all hoping that our Prime Minister will bring in the armed forces to also assist in the fire-fighting.

Best wishes for the New Year.
Roy
 
Looks horrendous, almost apocalyptic. :(
Best wishes to our Aussie friends, stay safe and hope things get a bit easier.
 
As someone in the Northern California fire zone who has been on evacuation warning several times and has been evacuated once, not knowing if my home would still be standing when I returned, I can sympathize with our friends down south.

I know that during both this year's fire season and year before last's fire season firefighters from Australia were here to help us and, although I have not heard, I hope our firefighters are there for them.

Stay safe, evacuate when told to.
 
Our (BBC) news today has been dominated by the story. In one case the population and visitors from one holiday resort have taken to the beach since they are surrounded on the other sides by the fire.

The pictures and videos show little but red, red and more red give some indication of the situation.

I hope that the Royal Navy (UK) are able to come in and offer a little help, it's a pity we don't have an Aircraft carrier available to help - Carrier crews have drilled for such operations and for a short time the are HMS Hotel. But I do hope that some of the 'smaller craft' will be going full steam ahead to help.

Fingers crossed for all that are affected by the fires. I hope that they remain safe and that they are able to return to some sort of normal life soon.

Chris M
 
As one who has fought forest fires in the past, my heart goes out to everyone affected, as well as the crews doing the fighting. They seem to be much worse nowadays than they were in my day. Best wishes for the New Year!
 
Wow! Just saw the NBC news here in the states, and they are calling it apocalyptic. Over 100 fires around Australia. People trapped on beaches with nowhere else to go. Our prayers are with you Oz, and best wishes that this can be brought under control soon. - And praying for rain and lots of it!!!!
 
Thank you for your thoughts and wishes.
Where I am we have only a small number of fires at the present time, was worse

There is an app for Apple phones Fires Near Me. Covers all states
 
... wish you all the strength and health wherever you need it .. good luck ...
grtz
daveric
 
The Australian Government has already started using the military.


The Australian government ignored pleas from a number of ex fire chiefs to have a meeting with them before the fire season began earlier in the year ,as the ex chiefs did not think strategies were in place to tackle the intensity and ferocity of the blazes they anticipated would occur. Looks like they were correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-meMgCBAq50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qXxf6mkpNY

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11...calls-out-pm-over-refusal-of-meeting/11705330
 
Our NBC News here in the States reported tonight that the US Government is recommending US citizens to avoid Australia because of the fires. We have friends that traveled to Australia, but they are older and not social media types, so we are curious how they are making out. Still keeping you all in our prayers!
 
another 44c day here in northern adelaide and 42 near coast. fortunately its down to 25c tomorrow, but heating up again on east coast , which has been devastated.South australia cut down 75% of our woodland so we wont get such intense fires over such large areas, but East Gippsland is nothing but tall trees for many many miles, few roads and lots of isolated properties and communities, its a death trap. Well, I've never seen anything like this and Ive lived here 40 years , we have to rethink our priorities if this is the new normal .
 
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I remember over a year ago when the JLT had started up their where planned burn off's in the Gippsland region with people protesting to get the burn off's cancelled, and the plan to burn off was stopped, there's smoke around Geelong today.
 
My partner and I were in the fire zone on the NSW South Coast on holidays from Sunday 29th Dec until Thursday 2nd Jan. We were planning to stay until Mon 6th Jan.

The first two days were great, typical south coast summer weather. The third day, new years eve, was ominous. A large part of the sky was as black as soot as two major fires started just a few kms from where we were staying. Then all power to the town (a major coastal town) was cut, all roads in and out were closed and telecoms became, at best, intermittent.

The next day, new years day, we had to queue 2hrs just to get into a major supermarket for essential supplies. The supermarket had emergency generator power only for their freezers (and ironically, their cash registers) but no lights so they limited the number of customers who could enter at any one time. The local fisherman's co-op provided everyone with free ice and some of the cafes and restaurants gave away free food - without power they had no way to keep it. I had a multi-charge phone battery backup device that allowed me to keep my phone and another fully charged. There were warnings about another "fire holocaust day" coming on the Saturday with temperatures in the 40s (Celsius).

Power and full telecoms were restored later that afternoon. We took the opportunity to fill the fuel tank now that the petrol stations were working. There were some long queues.

When they re-opened the main road north to Sydney on the Thursday morning we immediately packed up and left. There were reports of bumper-to-bumper traffic coming from towns further south that would arrive in our location around noon that day, that provided an additional incentive.

The trip back was slow because of traffic and speed restrictions due to fire damage - 7hrs instead of the usual 4. On the way back many of the beautiful forests we had passed on the way down were smoking ruins of burnt sticks, not trees. We saw one house that had been destroyed but many that had somehow survived, some could only be described as "miraculous" survivors - a tribute to the firefighters and owners who stayed to fight. Shortly after we passed through the worst of the damaged areas, the fire there reignited (how it found anything left to burn we do not know) and the highway was closed again - but fortunately behind us. Friends who were camping in the area were not so lucky - they delayed their departure an hour after us and were trapped there for another night. The highway has re-opened and closed several times since.

Many communities are still without power and some still have no road access.

I can safely say that we escaped lightly compared to many. At no stage did we feel in danger but the possibility of being trapped for a long period without power, with a dwindling supply of food and no means of escape was the most worrying.

That was our saga, one we will long remember.
 
Glad you got out safely. If we don't get some fires around Canberra this year I'd be surprised. For the first time ever, my wife and I drew up an evacuation plan, packed some bags, and put together a survival kit. If we get a large fire it would probably be from the south as in 2003.
 
I've been deeply, deeply saddened with the news. This is really, very sad and it brings tears to my eyes as I see the devastation not only to the property and forests but also to the wildlife as well. The current estimate is well over 1/2 Billion (Yes I capped Billion) animals have been wiped out from these fires.

At the top of the world where I live, we don't get the fires like that and instead have faced some flooding due to quick melting snow. Overall it's not even "cold" for January and for winter in general with temperatures rising to the 10's (Celsius) during the day in some areas. We're usually in the minus area with frozen ponds and lake, and that's definitely not the case here.
 
I've gotten confirmation that U.S. and California firefighters have been in Australia since the 5th of December with more on the way. Hopefully some of our Calfire Air resources are included in the mix, those guys are the best.
 
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