Wildfires in Australia

Pete · Feb 9, 2009

Kind thoughts Al and Greg, frankly I don't want the responsibility of handling money intended for others. But you can donate here as I have already done.

Australian Red Cross. In my experience the Red Cross are straight shooters without the B.S.
Because of the unprecedented response you may have trouble accessing the site but stick with it.

dazza67 · Feb 9, 2009

The red cross has already raised over 12mil, people can be amazing when the chips are down. I am starting to get a few reports from friends, I know two of the victims and 9 of my old group of friends are still unaccounted for, 4 of the group have lost houses, most have no idea as they cant get in to find out if their houses are lost. I can't describe the feeling of helplessness being so far away, and if I went down there what could I do, just sheer disbelief:huh:

Gregg · Feb 9, 2009

Pete, thanks for the site. Donation sent. Dazza, sorry for your situation. I will say an additional prayer for your friends and all affected.

Pete · Feb 9, 2009

Dazza, a lot of sad people about at the moment, my sister lives at Healsville in the Yarra Valley and latest is the fires are heading back in that direction. She was evacuated on Sunday and is staying with friends at Lilydale. She cannot get any information and doesn't know if she still has a house..
More than 5000 homeless, and 170 deceased. What can one say?

David Lowe · Feb 9, 2009

I heard on the local radio this morning that the USA is sending specialist fire fighting officers and that N.Z hospitals were gearing up to take burns victims if required. Also a NZ trucking company were transporting donated goods free of charge to the Quantas depot ready to fly over too the victims. (It's nice to know the ANZAC spirit is alive and well and that Oz has good friends worldwide in it's hour of need).

Bill Haralambakis · Feb 10, 2009

Death toll expected over 200.
Material donations are flooding in to the Whittlesea area where the victims of the Kinglake Complex Fire are congregating. It is a great humanitarian effort but more is required.
The bad news:
Latest news sees brisk Southerly winds pushing the fires back up to Taggerty, Thornton, Yea, Alexandra and Eildon - all are communities that are housing the escapees of the initial disasterous fires in Kinglake and Marysville.
This new flare will see the fires burn through to the weekend when the weather is expected to turn hot again..... Not good.

Freewheel · Feb 10, 2009

Heard from the neighbours last night, he's having a day off today as they expect to fly from dawn to dusk the next 5 days or so due to the weather shift Bill mentioned. She's seeing more emergency services staff & volunteers than the public, as the government support and donations are starting to appear and the desparation is beginning to wane.

There's a huge level of corporate and community support swinging in behind them. A scheduled Aus V NZ cricket match became a fundraiser and pulled in over $6million over the 7 hours or so of the event. On top of that, the NSW state government, which is basically broke, has put in $1Million cash as well as the fire, forensic and logistical services provided.

What's going to be needed long term is blood for the critical burns patients. The Red Cross is beginning to stagger the donations they receive so they can process them for specific needs. Our engineers are booked in for Thursday next week and Tuesday the following week.

Pete · Feb 12, 2009

It's not over yet.

Fire rages: high alert</HEADLINE>

February 13, 2009 - 8:38AM

<BOD>An urgent threat message has been issued to residents of Healesville, north-east of Melbourne, as fire activity in the area has increased.
Fire authorities have warned residents that they may be hit directly by embers from a fire burning from the northwest in the Donnellys Weir area.

A lot of criticism is being leveled a National parks and the green movement for not allowing burning off and fire breaks. Below is an article by Miranda Devine of the Sydney morning Herald.

RE: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/green-ideas-must-take-blame-for-deaths-20090211-84mk.html?page=-1

A-tomic · Feb 13, 2009

Bombardier 415 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pete,
Here is the only bomber us Canadians build. It was designed for a specific purpose. The guys on the ground can only cover so much area in a small amount of time with limited resources. They (ground crews) coordinate the runs and mop up afterwards. If you go to U-tube you can see how they do it in Europe. Just type in CL415. We do much the same way here and the U.S. A lot of areas are hard to reach and have no roads.
Dave
P.S. You guys have developed an excelent Fire Vehicle I have seen on Discovery Channel that will take high temperatures and go anywhere.

Freewheel · Feb 13, 2009

A-Tomic,

The CL415 (and I believe the CL215 before it) have been considered occasionally for years now.

The big problem is that we have so few bodies of water of sufficient size spread so far apart that they don't get to drop frequently enough.

There was a trial done (I'm looking for the report) in which it was compared to a large helicopter. The target was right next to one of those large bodies and the helicopter still managed to get more water on the spot in an hour. It would do 2 or more circuits to the CL415's one.

The ag planes used are OK for the short, rough strips (sometimes just paddocks) that are available next to the few water sources around and of course a fire base can be set up for the helicopters just about anywhere with these things that look like kiddy pools.

I'd love to do it, but the ag flying that you do for the other 9 months of the year frightens the whatnot out of me. I'd much rather deal with pax!

Pete,

The winds are coming up again. Apparently the temps shouldn't be too bad, but the direction and strength of wind is going to create headaches.

A-tomic · Feb 13, 2009

Freewheel,
We use them too. Not all of Ontario is lakes in the north. It gets dry here in the summer too 32 to 33C. It's the response time to the flare up that counts. Your firefighter must be beat with so many fires going on in so many different areas. Man power can get spread pretty thin.
Dave

Pete · Feb 13, 2009

The Police have arrested a guy and charged him with several counts of arson and one of possessing child pornography. What a low life. He should be charged with murder.

A.J. · Feb 13, 2009

If proven guilty,he should just be released in the center of a major city after the populace has been informed of the time and place of release.

dazza67 · Feb 13, 2009

Giday Pete, Has your sisters situation improved? I have found this link
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

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ther; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color

urple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style>Victorian Bushfires Map
which maps the fires, it appears the worst might be over, for the time being but I haven't heard a weather forecast for today.
The bloke they caught should just be let back into the community, after they tell every one who it is.

molleur · Feb 13, 2009

Let's just hope they catch the other arsonists involved in this tradegy.
All for letting them loose after public identification.

Pete · Feb 13, 2009

dazza67 said:
Giday Pete, Has your sisters situation improved? I have found this link
<META content=Word.Document name=ProgId><META content="Microsoft Word 12" name=Generator><META content="Microsoft Word 12" name=Originator><LINK href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel=File-List><LINK href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel=themeData><LINK href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel=colorSchemeMapping><STYLE>  </STYLE>Victorian Bushfires Map
which maps the fires, it appears the worst might be over, for the time being but I haven't heard a weather forecast for today.
The bloke they caught should just be let back into the community, after they tell every one who it is.

Thanks Dazza, she is back home safe and sound and the situation has eased. Forecast for the next couple of days is fine and warm with light winds. The important part of that is light winds.
Here is this mornings update. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/752030/bushfires-still-burning-in-victoria

YerDugliness · Feb 13, 2009

Pete said:
The Police have arrested a guy and charged him with several counts of arson and one of possessing child pornography. What a low life. He should be charged with murder.

The news agencies in the U.S. report that the guy is being held in "protective custody" for his own protection.....

How long can that last? If proven guilty, this guy ought to spend many years, perhaps the rest of his life, in jail for this terrible act.....(assuming here that he is indeed guilty), if the Australian prisons are anything like those in the U.S., regardless of whether he is released or jailed, it sounds like he'll be if for "...less than hospitable" treatment.

So many lives lost.......needlessly.

Doug

Freewheel · Feb 15, 2009

Doug,

Bear in mind that the accused has been charged with lighting one of the moderate sized fires, not the whole lot.

Personally, I have a suspicion that the "possession of child pornography" charge was laid specifically so that he can be placed into "protective custody" without creating any precedents in the prison system.

The strength of feeling in the broader community has had the state police commissioner warning everybody to let the process take it's course.

There is a suggestion that a fallen power line started the largest fire.

The neighbours got home during the night some time. Haven't spoken to them yet.

Pete · Feb 15, 2009

Freewheel that "moderate" fire managed to kill 21 souls.

Keith1 · Feb 15, 2009

Pete said:
Freewheel that "moderate" fire managed to kill 21 souls.

You beat me to it Pete - that's Mass Murder in any country mate... :sad:

Wildfires in Australia

Pete McCluskey.

Darren

Gregg

Gregg

Pete McCluskey.

David Lowe

Bill Hara

Old Hand

Price Walton

Pete McCluskey.

David Sturch

Price Walton

David Sturch

Pete McCluskey.

Al Jones

Darren

Jack

Pete McCluskey.

Doug S.

The protoplasm may be 72, but the spirit is 32!

Price Walton

Pete McCluskey.

Keith

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