AUSTRALIA FIRES ("Oz Inferno")

[hiker chick]

A dear friend lives adjacent to a nature preserve in Melbourne, Australia, and while I am thankful she and her family are fine at this time, my heart breaks for those suffering down under.

She said it was 118 degrees in Melbourne. Death Valley misery in a city. I cannot imagine it. Arsonists are responsible for at least some of the fires.

Best wishes to any T&TTT members in that area and all their countrymen who are affected.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 21,00.html

VICTORIA remains under a shroud of smoke and grief today with thousands homeless and at least 84 people dead after the worst bushfires in the nation's history.

Entire towns were wiped out in the weekend's fires, which the Prime Minister described as hell's fury unleashed.

[Classic Finn]

My sister lives in Melbourne and she says its pure hell. Unbearable.

Classic Finn

[ATXKJ]

It's like a wall of flame


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5687751.ece


we get brush fires - but nothing like that.

Satellite

[Joseph]

PaulC, I know you're in Adelaide which is some ways away from Melbourne. Just hoping things are OK where you are.

Joseph

[Miriam C.]

Hey all you Southern Aussies take care and go North. I know the Aussie TD site has members there so our hearts and prayers are with you guys.

Be safe

[Classic Finn]

We are also very concerned and send out our prayers to those in Australia.

Also to Paul and our family members there.

Regards Classic Finn

[Classic Finn]

Sister just called from Melbourne few minutes ago. Her and her family are ok however the area is filled with very thick smoke. She said the death toll now is 132 at the moment. Fires have not reached her residence as of yet.

47 degrees celcius there at the moment which is 116.6 in fahrenheit.

Classic Finn

[PaulC]

Thanks for everyone's concern and care. Forunately, nobody from the Aussie TD group has lost anything or, more importantly, anyone.
As has already been said, the death toll stands at 132 with the possibility that it could go over 200. Very, very sad times down here. Over 750 homes have been totally destroyed. That figure does not include the many businesses that have been destroyed or the Government buildings that are gone. Several small towns no longer exist. It is absolutley shocking.

Paul

[Joanne]

As the internet brought many parts of the world much closer together, Australia is no longer an exotic contenent on the other side of the world, but rather it's the land where some of my friends live. Fires like this are no longer just an event "over there". They are tragedies that impact friends I have come to know and care for.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been effected by these fires. To my friends in Australia, be safe and be careful!!

Joanne

[Steve F]

Being in the North of Sydney (but living on the edge of a National Park) I'm well away from the fires this time, the last round we had up here I lost my front lawn but never anything worse. It's terrible seeing the updates on the news and apart from the horrific loss of life I don't know how some of these communities will recover. A few years ago I went to Marysville for a Jeep Jamboree, it has a population of around 500 but is reasonable in size as it's a bit of a tourist destination. The whole town bar one building is completely gone now, so hard to believe, I just hope they get the resources and support they need to get going again, it'll be quite a while before they have power etc so it's going to be tough for all these small communities.

The pic below is some of Marysville, you can see how quickly the fire travelled as it didn't stay long enough to climb the trees and ignite the foliage.



Steve

[mandy]

Having seen the devistation of forest fires here in the States I wouldn't wish that upon any one. My prayers go out to Oz.

Mandy

[PaulC]

To put this fire into some perspective, they have proof that part of it covered 20 kilometres(12 miles) in just over 2 minutes. Absolutely devasting to anything in it's way. It was like a superheated blowtorch, if you can imagine that. Some of the flames are said to have exceeded 20 storeys in height. Not only did they have that to contend with, they also had spot fires igniting 6 miles ahead of the main fire.

Paul

[martha24]

My heart and prayers go out to all those down under, especially anywhere near the devastated fire areas.
Fires are a scary and dangerous thing and can do great devastation. A number of years ago one burnt to just about a block away from where we were living. We watched the fire in the distance as it approached and needless to say needed to evacuate. As we were evacuating, the wind was blowing incredibility strong with embers flying and I just as soon never experience that again. The only thing that saved that house and many others is the wind stopped.

I can't even imagine a fire traveling 12 miles in 2 minutes with flames 20 stories high. It would be very difficult to evacuate that quickly.
The very saddest part is that there always seems to be people who want to set fires when the conditions are the worst. So many of the fires in Southern California have been started by arsonists. I hope they find whoever set the fires, lock them up and throw way the key.

[PaulC]

181 confirmed fatalities tonight. Some areas have been declared "Major Crime scenes". This means the fires where deliberately lit.

Paul

[Classic Finn]

Paul I was told that the Uk and New Zealand has offered help to fight the fires. Have they arrived?

We say our prayers every evening on behalf of the folks in Australia.


Classic Finn