NSW Bushfires

NachaLuva

NachaLuva

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A mention to those affected by the bushfires raging in NSW. Already over 100 homes lost, I havent heard of any fatalities, lets hope there arent any.

Its only mid October & the bushfire season is already here...not a good omen for the summer! :(

Remember, prepare your house now, have an evacuation plan ready AND PRACTICED (doing it the first time DURING a fire is too late) & leave well BEFORE the fire front arrives. If it arrives while you're still there, DO NOT attempt to leave...its too late. Seek shelter inside your home, shove wet towels under doors & any other gaps where smoke can come in & keep away from windows...they can explode with the radiant heat. Even if the building catches fire, it will give you enough shelter during the firefront & you can exit once it passes. No matter how hot it is, stay covered up with natural fibres...radiant heat will severely burn unprotected skin even from a distance.

If you are caught on the road, park OFF the road (many fatalities occur when one car rams another on the road hidden by dense smoke), lie on the floor BELOW the line of the windows (radiant heat comes straight through the glass), cover yourselves with blankets, towels or anything NOT synthetic (it will melt onto your skin - very nasty!) & soak them in water, urine, whatever you have to do to survive!

Good luck to all & remember...preparation is often the difference between a great story & tragedy.
 
Well said mate.

My sympathy's go out to those who have lost their homes :(

I'd also like to say a big thanks to all the fire fighters who are out there fighting these massive fires :bananatoast:
If you are in any of the areas effected take care, be safe & stay safe.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
It's pretty bad.

Reminds me of driving across western NSW back in the 1970s. Nothing but black, burned country as far as the eye could see for about 300 miles.

When the Otways burned (twice) in the early 1900s, there were only a couple of places spared in the entire area. Mait's Rest was one. All the "old growth" forests through the Otways are about 100 years old, at the most.

We are a very, very dry country. Also a very, very hot one. Not really surprising that we have these events from time to time. I went through a couple when I lived in the Adelaide Hills. Flaming scary (no pun intended - it isn't a laughing matter)!
 
^ Couldn't agree more, Pedro.

Often the Police are also in the firing line. And all sorts of other people from all sorts of organisations/occupations.

Same with floods.
 
My work colleague is in the RFS and operates out of the Blue Mountains. He does not expect to be back at work till mid next week at the earliest. Monday is looking pretty ugly. We need rain, and lots of it.
 
having survived the 2009 Black Saturday fire through good luck I have the greatest respect for the fire services, the Salvos and all the emergency services. I really feel for anyone under fire threat.
We lost mobile communication and the Internet where most info gets posted so it is next to useless in this type of situation. We relied on the national radio broadcaster, however fire was moving so fast it was hard for them to keep up.
When the Erikson Sky crane arrive on one hand it was a relief on the other hand you quickly realised it was there because we were under serious threat !
The fire at the end of road in the National park took one month to extinguish. It was simply amazing to think that we had the NSW rural fire service, Canadian, US and many other international fire services working 24 hours a day.
 
It is weird. Just near where the bushfires were, there were reports of flooding. Further south, still in NSW, there were large snow falls. Dorothea McKellar's poem written 100 years ago, shows little has changed.

My Country

The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
 
Thanks Rally, I've heard the second verse many times but never seen the whole thing.

"Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die"

Remember that drought in the '80s? I remember my first trip through NSW into Qld & all I saw was paddock after paddock of bare dirt...not a blade of grass! Then in the '90s, massive floods all up & down the entire east coast, also in the '00s

"For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold"
...yep thats whats happening now... but I dont think she would have seen hailstones bigger than golf balls on Christmas Day though lol

Interesting historical notes, like
"The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon"
when entire forest would be ringbarked & chopped down (by hand lol) for farmland clearing.

On the news last night, they reported a fatality. Lets hope it the only one....
 
Looks bad again!

161j9j6.jpg
 
Those close to the areas affected stay safe, To all my fellow volunteers keep up the good work over the coming weeks. Fingers crossed the main front doesn't jump containment lines, Looking at the weather we're expecting I'm worried that might happen.

My only advise to anyone in the affected areas is leave and leave early heading away from the fire, it that means a 100's of km's loop around to your destination do it.
 
One family in our local Subie club has lost their house; another member had 9 houses destroyed in his street but fortunately his house was OK.
 
3 Emergencies Declared

3 emergency warnings have been declared in Wilton, Springwood & Bell. In Winton there's a gas plant so thats a big worry. Katoomba may come under threat tomorrow as the winds are expected to pass 100kmh with very low humidity.

The fires are being described as the worst in NSW for decades, not sure how accurate that is but they are very severe & life threatening. Whats most worrying of all is its only mid October & the traditional worst fire period (early February) is still 3 1/2 months away. Thats 14 weeks for the bush to dry out & create massive amounts of fuel.

A big worry with these fires is that several fires may merge & become a firestorm.

Lets hope conditions ease & there's no further loss of life. Houses can be rebuilt...people cant :(
 
There might not be anything left to burn in 3.5 months! :iconwink:
 
Yeah, been watching this for the last half hour. Looks really terrible.

As you say Kevin, pretty bloody hard to burn something twice ...

I am extremely impressed by the chappie, Shane, who is in charge of coordinating all the responses. Good to see such competent, steady hands on a problem.
 
NachaLuva said:
Lets hope conditions ease & there's no further loss of life. Houses can be rebuilt...people cant :(
Click to expand...
Yes lets hope so.
Also very true.

Ratbag said:
I am extremely impressed by the chappie, Shane, who is in charge of coordinating all the responses. Good to see such competent, steady hands on a problem.
Click to expand...
Ditto to that.
It's amazing at what a good coordinator can do & achieve.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Overnight there was a lot of backburning to save property and lives as today is predicted to be terrible. Imagine if this had been done in winter, none of this would have happened to anywhere near the extent that it now does. Trees that would have survived a a controlled fire will perish. Animals that could have escaped a mild fire will now be killed, Homes that would never be under threat now are. When will we ever learn the lessons of previous bushfires and the land management practices in relation to controlling bushfires of earlier generations? Would save a fortune in fire fighting equipment and insurance policies. All the green tape in getting approval for this sort of work makes this almost impossible.
 
^ +1 Rally.

(Human) stupidity is everywhere, and unconquerable - unfortunately :(.
 
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