Horrific fires in Australia

Yes, I heard this story on the radio - had no idea how awful the situation is there.

Yes, it is dreadful and frightening.

If there is any good that can come out of this, is that there will be a natural regeneration in growth of the habitat. Not that this helps those who have experienced such sadness in loss of homes and land.

Here is an interesting article trying to put the recent bush fires in 'perspective' both historically and with respect to the poroximity of human settlements to 'the bush'.

proximity

My nephew used to live in the middle of a forest in the Adelaide Hills. When driving through the forest there are notices reminding people to have an escape plan. When I asked my nephew what his plan was he said "run like s**t!". In fact he showed me his system. He had sprinklers all around the house, some set to spray the roof, these sprinklers were fed from a bore hole. His escape plan was to put his family and pets into cars and drive away leaving everything behind. As he said, he could replace things -he couldn't replace his family.

The awful thing is that some of these fires are started deliberately.

Yes, it's shocking how many "wildfires" are started deliberately. Also, many by accident – cigarette butts thrown out of car windows, etc. The accidents are carelessness, but the deliberate arson.... why?

However, they do happen naturally too in hot dry climates, so an escape plan is essential if you live in a vulnerable area.

If you are not living in a city or town in Australia you are most probably living in the bush or at least an extremely dry area during summer.

Some of the devastating fires we have had in the recent past have reached the suburbs of major cities. Ash Wednesday fires in South Australia and Victoria, during 1980, some of the people killed that day were killed in fires in the Adelaide Hills. Some of those suburbs in the hills have small windy roads with lots of undergrowth which becomes extremely dry in summer.

Black Saturday in Victoria in 2009 was an extremely hot and windy day. The sky had an awful greyish look to it and I was lthen iving in the Adelaide Hiils. The police in South Australia kept a close check on all known arsonists and we were lucky that day, but the fires Victoria were devastating and the worst in our history.

The fires that devastated suburbs of Canberra in 2003 were in the suburbs of Canberra. The Capital of Australia. More deaths and more terribly sad stories.

The fires on the Eyre Peninsula during 2005 left nine people dead, one a grandmother fleeing with her two grandchildren. This is a rural area with a lot of farms.

During this week there have been many more fires in each state. We could smell smoke on Wednesday morning, then late afternoon smoke could be seen in the distance from fires in NSW. Firefighters are still fighting ninety nine fires in NSW, some deliberately lit.

Bush fires terrify me, but we are OK here in Ipswich, Queensland. I saw the smoke haze from further north though.

I will never live in a place susceptible to fire and with no escape: there is an open space behind our house where we could run if necessary, and our house is brick not wood. Still, it has a wooden frame and a few trees around it.....

Right now it is bloody hot here - I hated it when we had to go out to the shop today. Nearly 40 degrees c.

I saw the expected temperature in Brisbane Joan and was glad I wasn't still there. With the humidity, that is very hot and sweaty.

I did weonder if you two Aussie dwellers were ok.

idiots

Sometimes the idiots are members of the volunteer fire fighters.

I'm still OK here: sweltering of course, but OK.

This morning there is a slight smell of smoke, apparently there is a fire about sixty kilometres away. Cool change today, the temperature is expected to reach 31C.

I did think about you Faye when I heard, so glad you're ok

Thank you nanado. We are fine, but my SIL said now they don't allow cattle grazing in the nearby forest, it has become a fire hazard. Any dead branches and tree trunks have to be left and there is so much dry undergrowth. If that area catches on fire it will be disastrous.

When I lived in Darwin in the Northern Territory they had burn offs in the dry season.

Picture of the river and forest. This looks neat but in reality there is a lot of dry grass and broken branches everywhere and at this time of year it is really dry. People go camping along the river.

I can see how dry everything looks in your picture. Hope things die down soon

We were in Melbourne for Black Saturday. It was awful. The outside air was so hot it was like breathing in a furnace. Melbourne air was full of smuts, burnt bits of wood and acrid smoke. There was a pall of smoke over the whole area. It was terrifying even though we were relatively safe in the city where daughter lives. It's the speed and unpredictability of fire that is so scary.

I thought this was an interesting article in today's SMH Climate Change Denial Feels the Heat.