Topic: Bushfire tragedy in Victoria, Australia

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Guys, I guess by the many emails and PM's I've received that a lot of you have seen the footage of the bushfires here in Oz.

I'm good, while one suburb on the eastern side of Melbourne has had some houses destroyed, the bulk of the fires are further out. The closest fires to my place were much closer to SteveK0's place, they came within 1000 yards of his new house, but Steve and his family are safe and well also.

Tragically, several small towns that I have enjoyed riding to/thru no longer exist, up to 1000 homes have been destroyed, 5000 people are now homeless, and so far there have been 173 deaths, but the authorities are expecting to find many more when they start to sift thru the ashes of the burned out houses. 

Many of the fires are still burning out of control and while the temperature has dropped dramatically from the almost 50 deg C (120 Deg F) that it was on Saturday, the winds are still causing great concern, with several more towns in the path of these fires.

Anyway, I thought I'd better thank everyone here for their concern, this is a sad time for all of us here, and officially Australia's worst natural disaster.

Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said "On Saturday, hell, in all it's fury, visited the good people of Victoria" and he wasn't fooling. What's worse is that these fires may well have been deliberately lit, but like most of the folk in Melbourne I'm more concerned right now about people that I know who lived in the areas of these fires, and I pray that they will survive this ordeal safe and well. Cheers, Terry.

[scunny]

wish you all well there Terry, new it must be bad when some of the smoke and ash arrived in our skies on the weekend.

[UnCrash]

Glad you personally are well Terry.  My heart goes out to your country.

[74cb750]

our prayer are with you all.

[Sam Green Racing]

And we moan about a bit of snow,  God be with you Terry and your fellow countrymen.

Sam.

[SteveD CB500F]

It's been the lead story over here in the last few days. Having had a small garden fire get out of control due to high winds (burned down three garden sheds and a trellis - fire brigade and everything... ) I can understand how frightening it must be and how fast those flames can travel.

Best wishes from all in the UK.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, as I said I'm fine, but it's a horrible situation, I'm trying to contact a mate of mine who is close to Rex and Clive Wolfendon, I know Clive had a place in Kinglake (which no longer exists) years ago and I "think" that Rex had a place there too, but I'm not sure.  Hopefully, they're both fine.

I had a doctors appointment yesterday, my doctor is a top bloke, and I'm lucky he's still alive, he owns a property in Kinglake (a "weekender") and intended driving up there on Saturday, but it was so hot, he and his wife decided to delay it a day. That decision probably saved his life, as none of the other houses in his street survived, and several of his neighbors are listed as missing. Cheers, Terry.

[Bob Wessner]

Terry,

Is it true they believe multiple instances of arson being the cause for most of the fires?!

[Grumpol]

Terry,

Is it true they believe multiple instances of arson being the cause for most of the fires?!

One of the latest theories (dont you love that phrase) is that power lines may be to blame for some of the fires



John Forrest told parliament on Tuesday the fire at Horsham in western Victoria was caused by a faulty power pole and not, as first thought, by arson.

One person was injured and eight homes, an industrial centre and the Horsham Golf Club were destroyed in the fire.

Mr Forrest, an engineer, said that when he was a child a helicopter occasionally flew over power lines and de-dusted the transmission line insulators by spraying saline or silicone.

"In a faulty insulator an arc can form and, when it has a wooden cross arm, it feeds a fire," he said.

"The sparks fall to the ground. Time and time again this has been identified as a source of these terrible fires."

Mr Forrest said power authorities had to be helped to replace the wooden cross arms with steel.

"It is a readily available engineering solution," he said.

"Sure, there is a cost involved, but we need to find the resources to achieve that."





the link to the page

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/749750/power-lines-causing-bushfires-mp

[Terry in Australia]

Sadly there have been several arson attacks as well. My cousin, who lives in the country, but not in an area that has been attacked as yet rang me to tell me that a local saw an arsonist throw a lit box of matches out of his car into grass on the side of the highway today.

The local did the right thing and stopped and put the fire out, so wasn't able to pursue the arsonist. I'm really starting to re-think my "anti-gun" stance guys, in certain circumstances.............. 

[my78k]

well with the temps getting as high as that I am not at all surprised about fires whether they were deliberate or not. As you have said Terry the focus is elsewhere for the timebeing. There will be plenty of time to figure out the causes once they are under control.

My heart goes out to all those afected.

I do wonder though about the number of those killed. Was it just the sheer speed and severity of the fires or was it a matter of limited access and regress to the affected areas or people staying until the bitter end trying to protect their property? Either way it is truly a shame!!

Dennis

[Rocking-M]

Terry, Glad to hear you and your family are safe!

[Grumpol]

I do wonder though about the number of those killed. Was it just the sheer speed and severity of the fires or was it a matter of limited access and regress to the affected areas or people staying until the bitter end trying to protect their property? Either way it is truly a shame!!

Dennis

These fires are wild things, some of the cars found in the debris have had the mag wheels melted off the axles. They have traveled fast enough to over-take cars trying to get away from them and they change direction like a cheetah on the hunt.
There was a Today Tonight special tonight showing a house which had the corrugated iron roof distorted from the heat but a bag of plastic pegs on the hills hoist 20 feet away were still perfect, extremes go hand in hand here and they kill. So do the mongrels that light these fires for the thrills they get out of it.

[Retro Rocket]

Fires that intense create their own wind and can travel at up too 60 miles per hour. I was a member of the rural fire brigade in central Queensland and have seen this first hand, i have also seen the wheels of cars melt into pools of molten aluminum and 20 feet away grass the wasn't even singed.......absolutely amazing.

Mick

[Grumpol]

I was a member of the rural fire brigade in central Queensland

Mick

I congratulate you on that mick, you truely are a hero ( no sarcasm there, only honesty)
All the fireys, here or anywhere are hero`s

[Retro Rocket]

Nah, no hero mate, someones got to do it, its hot, hard and scary but in a bad situation i am just compelled to help.


Mick

[Terry in Australia]

well with the temps getting as high as that I am not at all surprised about fires whether they were deliberate or not. As you have said Terry the focus is elsewhere for the timebeing. There will be plenty of time to figure out the causes once they are under control.

My heart goes out to all those afected.

I do wonder though about the number of those killed. Was it just the sheer speed and severity of the fires or was it a matter of limited access and regress to the affected areas or people staying until the bitter end trying to protect their property? Either way it is truly a shame!!

Dennis

G'Day Dennis, there were obviously a number of factors involved, but like Grumpy has already mentioned, the sheer speed that the fire was travelling, and the radiant heat generated, was pretty much without precedent. I can't remember a day that hot, with winds that fierce, in my 48 years.

Unlike the US (not sure about Canada) wisdom of being told to put as much distance between yourself and a fire as early as possible, the doctrine here was basically, if you can't get away safely, (many victims were incinerated in their cars attempting to flee the flames) stay in your house, as a fast moving fire will take only around 6 minutes to pass over your house.

This doctrine is now in for a major shakeup, as most of the houses destroyed were totally vaporised, even the bricks and iron roofs were turned to ash, and there may be many more bodies found in the ashes. The state premier, John Brumby, has ordered a "Royal Commission" into the circumstances of the fires, and this "questionable" doctrine. Many of the survivors just moved away from their houses into the cleared areas that the fire had already passed over, and watched their houses burn.

RM, thanks mate, I know that you're a "man of the earth" and someone who has a strong bond with the folks in the affected areas. Like you, a lot of them were keen horsemen and women, and many of these beautiful animals have also been destroyed, along with their masters. Cheers, Terry.

[Grumpol]

Nah, no hero mate, someones got to do it, its hot, hard and scary but in a bad situation i am just compelled to help.


Mick

The words of every hero since the dawn of time.............
The guys over there need ti be recognised  for the fact and i can only pray that they are....
"we are only doing our jobs" and "its the right thing to do" are good reasons but it amounts to the same thing, you save lives by putting your own at risk, is there any better way of describing a hero?

[Retro Rocket]

Thanks mate, i am again watching the news with a lump in my throat.....so sad..

Mick

[BobbyR]

Once this is sorted out the good people of Australia will mourn the dead, will roll up their sleeves and rebuild what has been destroyed. They won't wallow and whine. After 9/11 in New York we did the same thing. The city went back to normal after a month or so. You cannot keep good people down. Gods speed in locating your friends Terry.

[manjisann]

Haven't been on the boards much being busy with work and school. When I saw the news the other day I immediately thought of Terry and all of our other awesome members in Australia and wanted to get here and see if you all were ok. Terry, so glad to see you post, many of your other postings have taught me a lot and have been inspirational. Anyhow, class is about to start, so gotta go. My prayers and thoughts are with you and hope this is all over soon.

Brandon

[Demon67]

Glad you're OK old man and hope your friends are to.
Bill the demon.

[nickjtc]

Sorry to be hearing that news, Terry. Wildfires are horrible. We went through the same thing hereabouts in the summer of 2003, although with (fortunately) no loss of life. Several of the fires were started by discarded cigarette butts.

[heffay]

wish all of you the best... good luck terry.

[Ecosse]

As one not personally facing this disaster I suppose I can afford to focus my anger on the POS's responsible.

Again, my thoughts go out to all my Aussie brothers and sisters. The scale of this destruction is just beyond imagination.