I know we a have a few other Aussie dopers. If any of you are in the area: get clear early & stay safe. Anyone out with the SES/RFS crews - good luck and come home in one piece.
This is shaping up to be one of the worst fire seasons in a long time, lots of late winter rain and now very hot conditions. I certainly don’t remember ever having bushfires like this so early in spring. We had bad fire in 2003 here and the city has been covers in a smoke haze for the past few days - a few people I know are getting jumpy and stressed
Yeah, I went away over the weekend, came back last night and if anything the smoke and the situation is worse - and will be worse still later in the week with higher heat, lower humidity, and stronger winds. Good going nature!
And what a great time to be planning to undo the carbon tax, which has been shown to actually work … !
I live in central Victoria - quite far away. We had our killer fires a few years ago, but it doesn’t look like that was anywhere near as big as the ones in NSW. I hope they stay separate, and don’t join up as some fear.
I’m not affected, but am close enough to one of the affected areas that I re-packed the escape bag, practiced the roof sprinkler drill and am monitoring the local rfs comms. My partner was out doing 12 hour shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, fighting the fires.
At the moment, my only plan is to grab the bag and the dogs and go. I’m not currently in a position to stay and defend the property, though that may change later in the season
