The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: philw on February 09, 2009, 05:19:48 AM
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Gday All
just a bit of FYI
over here ( in Victoria where I have family and Mates ) we have just seen ( Still going) the worst fires in Australian History
some of which have been deliberately lit ( hope they find them and burn them at the stake )
135 people dead, 750 homes destroyed with 35 people alone killed in the small hamlet of Kinglake, northeast of Melbourne.
what is worse is there are still quite a lot of people unaccounted for :(
my thourghts go out to the Familys that have lost people close to them :'( :'( :'(
also my thoughts out to the CFA ( Country Fire Authority ) Volunteers out there fighting these fires
<http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25027055-421,00.html> one of many reports atm
also on a personal note, I have 2 mates that are in the CFA over there and they are both out there, one has been there the last 3 days
from the sounds of it.. it is REAL BAD :(:(:(
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Just saw it in the last days on CNN. You've got some really brave firemen down there! It is looking really bad. Please tell your folks that our prayers and thoughts are with them! I really hope that things will get better soon.
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Are they employing the Evergreen 747 Super Tanker, or the DC-10 of similar capacity? They were using them in the last batch of southern California brush fires with some success. Bill T.
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It made the National news here, looks really bad...
Worse by the 100+ degree heat and wind.
Is it true some may have been intentionally set?
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Philw, our prayers are with you and Aussie land, I hope you and your family are out of the way. ??? Australia, could be such a blessing, to the rest of the world, if the politics got right. Chin up and keep us posted.
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thank you for the prayers, we need them
where I am has cooled a fair bit, there was a fire about 10 mins from my place here in SA they got on to it real quick ( thank god)
now back to Vic with an update
firstly the fires are going ( more have been lit) will go in to that in a sec in a rant
there are over 80 people still missing ( that they know of )
181 have passed away in the tragedy
Marysville is being identified as a potential "Ground Zero", with authorities fearing up to 100 of its population of 519 has died.
I don't know the last total on houses destroyed however it is around 1500
then there is the wildlife, they are saying over a million, the aria this has happened is where a few I know go hunting for Deer, and ferrel animals
Rant ON
ok a few of the fires had been deliberately lit by oxygen thieves that need to be burnt at the stake, as of last night more were also lit they NEED to be shot on site
another 2 were started to day the police are on the chase of one of them
they are murders cereal killers and there is no excuse FFS over 200 people have lost there loved ones they authorities had better find the people responsible for this before the locals do
to top the disaster of the fires
people's houses that have not been damaged have had looters go through them ( a lot of people are not allowed back in the aria) this is due to the loss of life they need to check the aria's as they are classed as crime seen for the coroner
then on top of that there are criminals taking advantage of people's generosity with fake charities in donating $$$
they all need to be locked up FFS really shits me oxygen thieves like that.
Rant Off ( that is only part of my thoughts )
on a personal note
I have 2 Mates fighting these fires atm
one is on his 5th day today
he called me last night to give me an update
from the sounds of it he is in the thick of it ( really nasty stuff)
he said that "Shitty Saturday" was real bad, 46 Deg temp 90+km winds it was only a matter of time
one thing he did say as well was I am no hero, I am just doing my job
he also says ( all the time ) the ol' firee's motto of.....
I'm a qualified Firefighter.......
If you see me running...
try and keep up!
( the 4000 + people him included that are in the CFA are all volunteers) these guys are legends
on the forum I am mostly on we have raised so far $3240.00 (still going) this is a site of Shooters and Hunters I am very proud of them
to top all of that, up north in Queensland it has been flooding and people have lost things to floods
what a great place we have here, South Drought and fires and North it is flooding
once again thank you for your support for the people of Victoria
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"Oxygen thieves"?? Could you please explain? Bill T.
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"Oxygen thieves"?? Could you please explain? Bill T.
He means that they are a waste of life.
What I don't understand is how so many people get caught by these fires. Where I live we don't have these types of fires.
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Understood. I have a hard time understanding how so many can get caught as well. It has happened here, but rarely. I seem to recall a dozen or so smoke jumpers getting killed in Colorado some years back when a fire surrounded them. It would seem to me it would take an unusual set of circumstances for this to happen to so many. Bill T.
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At least one koala survived the fires that took the lives of so many animals and people. 46 degrees Celsius = 115 degrees Fahrenheit. That's friggin' hot!!!
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Bill
Frank was correct Oxygen thieves are a waste of life. waste of time waste on society
also ta for posting the Pic
one of my favorite sayings for them that is not censored on some forums hehe ;)
as it is still tooo soon I don't want to speculate on what happened
however what I do know is the conditions last Saturday / Sunday were real bad as Frank said it was 45deg ( 115 in your language) and more
the wind gusts were up to 90 to 100Kph ( 100kph is 160 Mph )
that on top of the fact it has been SOOOOOO dry over here ( we have been pretty much in a drought since 2000)
so once the fire was started it was burning real fast I was told it did about 25km in about 15mins at one stage just ripping though like a storm so a lot of people really did not have time to get out
another thing that was happerning was people that were trying to get out of the aria's ended up in car acidents and could not escape the fire. I also saw one acident where a car hit a tree and the road was blocked so they were stuck.
it is really sad
here are a few Pics to show you what it is like
some are just shocking :(:(
RIP to those that have lost there lives :(
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6480510,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6482125,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6481587,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6481578,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6479432,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6476811,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6479378,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6476815,00.jpg)
The township of Marysville is nearly completely burnt out.
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6478544,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6476813,00.jpg)
this is was the township of Kinglake
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6479404,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6476849,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6476851,00.jpg)
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phil, thanks for the pics. Wow there will be lots of cleaning up to do.
Prayers go out to everyone in the Land Down Under!!!
ps. any chance of rain anytime soon?
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phil, thanks for the pics. Wow there will be lots of cleaning up to do.
Prayers go out to everyone in the Land Down Under!!!
ps. any chance of rain anytime soon?
ta mate
I wanted to show a few to try and show the magnitude of the fires
last night / today there has been a change in the weather and a little bit of rain that has helped however they are still going, last I heard they were not threatning any homes or towns
one thing that has been happening a lot is Every time it looks like they are getting on top of it a gust of wind comes along and everything flares up I guess it is the nature of the beast
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At least one koala survived the fires that took the lives of so many animals and people.
Video of the koala rescue. These firefighters are amazing men.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/02/12/bpr.aus.koala.rescue.tree.cnn
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here is a vid from the fires at kings lake ( where 35 people lost there lives May they RIP )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTA3hwyEXnI
unfortunatly the total is over 200 :(
bit of an update
there was a FireFighter that was unfortunately lost his life when a burnt out tree fell on to the back of a fire truck
he not only went to Victoria from Canberra (ACT) to help out with the fires he leaves a wife and 2 children behind :(
the other shooting forum I am on ( that I mentioned be earlier ) the cash we have raised ( and still are) we are giving all the money to his family.
Dave was a member of that forum not only was a dedicated fire fighter he also was an avid hunter and shooter
RIP David :( :(
there are still fires burning one is real close to my one of my cousins tonight I am not sure how close.
this weekend it is the weather forecasted it very similar to what it was a couple of weeks ago, with the fires still going it is very worrying time
it is expected to be up to 110 deg + and winds
I know it is going to be 105+ here on friday
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I have just seen this video from the fires at St Andrews very chilling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3dPlVvkIZ8
I am not sure what it is like over in the USA with Bushfires however with summer starting soon over there take it easy and I hope you don't see what we have had here