Thanks, and appreciate your concern, Howard.
I'm in Sydney, and we've been reasonably spared this summer so far. But the heat in Victoria has caused a lot of vapour to be given off by the bush (flammable eucalyptus and similar) and the fires don't just burn, they flash along like a flame thrower. Some of those poor people had almost no warning at all. Our rural fire fighters are some of the best in the world, yet there has been such ferocity to the fires they are limited in what they can achieve, despite tremendous courage and perseverance.
As a (trivial) side comment, I note that none of the burnt out cars appears to have exploded the way they do in movies. However, it is clear that you should evacuate well before any fire, as a car is lethal once you are caught by fire.
The proceeds from the next one day cricket test are going to the fire survivors, plus of course lots of govt. and other aid.
Dalton
