Surrounded by fire!

[AusDave]

I guess it's pretty cool in the UK at the moment, but here we have a bit of additional warmth apart from year long record temperatures. Most of the Eastern part of the State of NSW, (where I live in Australia),is on fire or has been burnt to ash. See https://www.theguardian.com/austral...es-bring-destruction-to-nsw-south-coast-video
An area nearly twice the size of Wales has been burnt out so far and there are nearly 100 fires still out of control https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

We live on the coast and are currently surrounded by fire with all the roads closed. Fortunately, through some previous fires which have burnt some of the area around us, and fortuitous wind changes, we haven't been burnt out. On our property we have prepared for fire and have water tanks, pumps, a tractor with tanks and pto water pump and the various heavy machines which can prepare fire breaks. So far we're the lucky ones as thousands of homes, outbuildings and businesses have gone up in smoke and tens of thousands of summer holiday makers are stranded on beaches and in emergency shelters until the fires abate.

And these fires have been happening for months, and we've only had one month of summer...
I don't think you'll find any person in the rural fire services here that doesn't now believe in climate change. It's cost these services a few lives already
Fingers crossed these fires don't cause too much more damage. Soon there won't be much left to burn anyway.

Happy New Year from Australia

 

[CPS]

Happy new Year Dave.

Glad you and the family are safe. Been watching this on the news, it's something else!!
Here's praying for some rain soon, hopefully no more life's lost in the meantime.

 

[Komatsu]

Will second what Aiden says Dave

 

[Monkeybusiness]

Good luck to you all Dave - it is obviously a very serious situation you’re facing. Fingers crossed for rain and a change of fortune. All the best.

 

[Gecko]

As above, QLD and NSW have been burning for a while.
Victorias fire season starts and ends later, but is well underway.

The vid from the firetruck gives you some idea what it's like on the ground

 

[Rob 210]

Mate,stay safe.I feel for you guys!

 

[V8Druid]

have been following this all on the news here Dave .... glad you've been spared so far and hopefully won't suffer the same fates as others have .... certainly extremely serious situations.
summer of '76 was exceptional here and we had all the mountains around here ablaze for many weeks, but the authorities managed to contain it without huge property losses .... can't even begin to imagine it on the scale you guys are facing

 

[AusDave]

Go a big day coming up on Saturday with catastrophic conditions forecast It's supposed to be even worse than the catastrophic fire events that happened just a few days ago on New Years eve.
They only created the "catastrophic" category recently as some recent fire events have defied all previous descriptions in terms of being really bad and terrible!
This fire is getting old and big having started way back in September.

Being Christmas with summer holidays and all, the coast was full of tourists. It has been decided that they all must leave from this 400 odd kilometres of coast due to the fires having burnt everything. Easier said than done as the roads have been closed due to fires still active, falling trees, and fallen powerlines everywhere. Making it harder is the fact that where the visitors are stuck there is no power, no fuel, no communications (phone, Internet) and very little food! Anyway this is gradually being achieved with strategic fuel drops, and police led convoys of hundreds of vehicles with boats and caravans slowly winding their way up the coast to safer territory or home.

Furious backburning is taking place where possible to protect villages and property owners are being advised to be prepared or leave now.
Fires have also begun consuming the eastern portion of the state to the south of us achieving the same disaster status with hundreds of houses lost as well as a few more lives
This is all unprecedented in the settled history of Australia and known geological history as well. When rainforests, swamps and bogs are on fire you know that something's wrong.

 

[Rob 210]

Saw the evacuation on the news this morning Dave,Mate I really feel for you and everyone else down there. 1 life lost is too many.Houses can be rebuilt,all though if you loose everything life must feel s**t,but like one of your guys said on the news,Aussies build each other up not knock each other down.
Stay safe pal!

 

[Canal Navvy]

Hoping that Saturdays forecast doesn't happen for you all.

15-20 years ago I was working with some lads from Aus. who were predicting big fires in the future. They reckoned that the environmentalists had got wild camping and campfires outlawed and that the resulting lack of frequent accidental fires had caused a huge build up of combustible material. I now wonder if they had a point .

Keeping my fingers crossed for for all of you

 

[Furniss]

The loss of wildlife and its habitat is very saddening.

 

[AusDave]

Hoping that Saturdays forecast doesn't happen for you all.

15-20 years ago I was working with some lads from Aus. who were predicting big fires in the future. They reckoned that the environmentalists had got wild camping and campfires outlawed and that the resulting lack of frequent accidental fires had caused a huge build up of combustible material. I now wonder if they had a point .
Keeping my fingers crossed for for all of you

Hi Canal.
The reason for the fires is pretty simple and we were warned it could be like this 20 years ago. It's the result of the climate changing over time much more rapidly than predicted. So in short climate change is the main contributing factor.
In the last couple of decades temperature records have been broken all over Australia. Not just the daytime ones you feel when you're up and about but night time as well. This combined with or contributed to the most extensive drought recorded in Australian history leaving everything so dry that the slightest spark or match will set it off.

There is a large buildup of flammable material, as when there is a drought, trees shed more leaves and bark. Controlled burns, when there is no fire danger, are performed, but the window for these burns has become very narrow as the fire season has extended to most of the year in some places. And of course if it's damp then the burn wont be effective. Also some well meaning controlled burns done by trained people have gone rogue and ended up burning property and occasionally taking the life of a firefighter. So they are done very carefully at the appropriate time with plenty of resources on hand. Even in the best case scenario they couldn't prevent the fires we have now which cover millions of hectares and extend across state boundaries for over a thousand kilometres

There are quite few fires lit by arsonists and dickheads with angle grinders and welders outdoors but one of the worst contributors is lightning which in one night started approx. 100 fires over hundreds of square kilometres. This type of lightning which often happens in a drought is called dry lightning. You get the storm with thunder & lightning but no significant rain. The lighting strikes high, inaccessible mountain areas starting fires which can become uncontrollable before they are discovered. Some of our fires have been so large that they have created their own weather systems with hurricane strength winds and lightning. This situation has happened a few times in the last few weeks. In one case the wind created by one of these fire weather systems blew over an eight tonne fire truck killing one of the fire fighters.
The fire nearest me was three fires which have joined into one. One of the fires started by lightning, one by an arsonist and the other I don't know.

Fingers crossed for todays catastrophic conditions

 

[doobin]

How do they know if it was started by an arsonist?

 

[AusDave]

The loss of wildlife and its habitat is very saddening.

It is incredibly saddening The drought had already caused stress on our unique natural environment and the wildlife residing there. The fires are now wiping out unique areas of plants and animals that may be lost forever. Our Governments don't seem to care or have a clue.

 

[AusDave]

How do they know if it was started by an arsonist?

Usually they find the fire started by the side of a road and often incriminating evidence is found. Arsonists are not necessarily the smartest people.
Unfortunately some have been found to be members of the Fire Service who enjoy the whole experience around fighting fires to be such a buzz that they start a few themselves

 

[BertB.]

I don't agree with the climate change thing. But one thing that is true that more and more people are living in wild areas we have the same problem here and places that use to have regular low intensity fires that would clean out much of the dead or dying brush and dead fall are extinguished allowing those materials to build up and cause more diseased trees and brush till finally nature fights back with a drought or drought like conditions and a dry lightning storm and cleans house her way. lol You see this in Canada and the U.S. all the time. In my home province our worst arsonists are usually farmers that light up brush piles when its to dry and catch everything on fire. That's what happened with this fire another idiot burning when it was far to dry and waaaay too windy couple of my friends almost got burnt up when this fire jumped the highway. By the end of day 2 the wind died down and we were able to contain the fire and by day 3 it rained and snowed and it just smoldered underground for a few days or weeks I can't remember anymore. I had a lot of sleepless nights after that one.

 

[Komatsu]

I don't agree with the climate change thing.

Ffs are you for reel Bert or you been drinking

 

[V8Druid]

Ffs are you for reel Bert or you been drinking

I won't disagree with the fact that the climate is changing ...... but just how much of it is a natural cycle? .....
more than enough historical evidence to support previous drastic changes .... it's happened before and will happen again ..... just that we are here to observe it.
it's just been seen as a great excuse to tax the s**t out of the world .... they'd run out of other successful ways of screwing the populous

 

[Shovelhands]

This ^^^^^^^^

 

[Jimoz]

I've always been sceptical how quick police forces are to blame arsonists. I realise it does happen but they seem to say it with such surety. Would an idiot with an angle grinder be classed as an arsonist, just a stupid accident surely.