It’s ‘bushfire’ season down-under at the moment, and nowhere are they creating more havoc than our national capital, Canberra. At last check, 388 homes have been destroyed and two people have lost their lives. Parts of north-eastern Victoria are also ablaze as well as the Kosciusko National Park. (My mum lives in the NE and I just rang her to check…while they are in no danger, the whole region is smoke-filled and glowing from the fires).
Any Canberra Dopers out there, and are you OK??
We’re thinking of you, and praying for a change in the weather.
My sister lives there - she’s a suburb over, and the wind’s blowing the wrong way, taking the fire towards her. She’s got the car packed with the essentials and what she wants to save, she’s ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Last week I was up in Benalla working at one of the DSE’s(formerly NRE) big centres doing logistics/resources as part of the CFA effort in the joint DSE/CFA operation, and I gotta tell ya, it’s just getting worse. We were organising crews and other personnel around the two management areas, Ovens and Corryong, (and another was being set up at Mt Beauty) and it sadly looks like it will be going for a while.
I was just watching a BBC report on the fires. They showed a shot of a firestorm - dear God. It was terrifying. My thoughts and prayers to all out there, and especially tavalla’s sister. May they get through this safely.
Brother in law just called to say he’s safe for the time being, and that the high alert his area was on yesterday has been downgraded to just alert. He’s been without power for 12 hours or more, so he’s having trouble keeping up with the news.
Am concerned for great aunt in Waniassa - if any of you hear news about that suburb, please let me know.
Thinking of all those who’ve lost everything… words cannot express.
Just now listening to the news, and apparently more fires have sprung up with the nor’westerly winds (which are hot and dry down here). While it was fairly calm this morning, this afternoon is not boding well for the Canberrans…
On the latest news, three people have died in the Canberra fires…
I don’t know what the cause of the fires was Ninevah but some bastard has been caught looting…while tragedies like this generally bring out the best in people, it just takes one arsewipe like this to prove to us all that SOME people just don’t deserve to breathe.
If I’m not allowed to swear in MPSIMS, then please move this thread to the Pit…sorry Mods…:mad:
I’ve been at work, and only just caught up with this.
Last year’s Sydney fires were thought devastating at the time, but the events of the last day or so in Canberra have eclipsed that. This is truly a tragedy.
If the mods are ok with it, I’ll post a link to the relevant bushfire appeal as one becomes available.
Most of them (if not all) were started by lightning strikes during a spate of storms about ten-eleven days ago. They were burning away in the Namaji National Park and Snowy Mountains National Park until strong westerlies and nor-westerlies on Friday blew them across containment lines and (yesterday) into Canberra.
Update from channel 10 Evening News on the fires in our national capital
[ul]
[li]3 dead[/li][li]250 injured, many badly burned - some evacuated by air to specialised burns units in Sydney.[/li][li]400 homes lost[/li][li]A$200M estimated damage bill[/li][li]A$80M private homes[/li][li]Federal Govt has announced A$10 000 relief package for affected households[/li][li]25% of Canberra blacked out[/li][li]Water supply under immediate threat of contamination[/li][li]Traffic lights out, police unable to direct traffic due to higher priorities elsewhere[/li][/ul]
I’ve just had a message from one of my school mates who lives in Canberra - she’s said they’re very on edge, they haven’t had power for more than 24 hours, the smoke is very think and they can see the fires from their place. Scary.
I’ve seen images from the fires on CNN. My heart goes out to all the residents who are enduring this nightmare. Best wishes to all of the Australians living through this nightmare, so that you all can get back to your normal routines as soon as possible.
I’m getting a broken image on auliya’s link, but there’s a picture here of the gutted Mt Stromlo Observatory which would break the heart of the average Doper.
I woke up this morning, and although the sun was quite high, it was pink. Visibility is really low - it’s like a foggy winters morning. Except the weather bureau is saying that absolutely none of it is cloud. It’s all smoke.
Driving to work, my eyes were stinging from the smoke and I had trouble breathing. It’s taken me about an hour to stop coughing now that I’ve arrived.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this bad before.
But here’s the thing: The smoke isn’t from a nearby fire. It’s from the Mt Beauty fires. 4 hours away.
One of my friends has a sister who is fighting the Mt Beauty fire with the CFA. And when I think about it, this is what gets me - those firefighters are volunteers who are taking time of work to do this.
