To our BITOG brothers down under: Are you all doing OK, what with the terrible wildfires and such? Concerned about you guys. 108 people dead at last count...
OZ Inferno
- Thread starter wavinwayne
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none close to me.
One 40km to the west could have struck a town, but for wind direction. 40km to the East a kid was arrested for detonating an explosive device the started a fire, and another got arrested for lighting one.
Temps in the low 40s over the weekend, had my back steps (concrete) registering 57-58 degrees...not overly nice on bare feet.
One 40km to the west could have struck a town, but for wind direction. 40km to the East a kid was arrested for detonating an explosive device the started a fire, and another got arrested for lighting one.
Temps in the low 40s over the weekend, had my back steps (concrete) registering 57-58 degrees...not overly nice on bare feet.
I live about 80km from Whittlesea. I cannot even begin to descibe what the 46 degrees C / 118 degrees F felt like on Saturday, or what the wind speed was like. The sky was black with ash and smoke all afternoon.
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Avalon VIC hit 48C (118.4F). 128 dead and rising and that does not count the others who died in the heat wave. Talking about 230 burnt to death and not over by any stretch.
Oh man. Let some cooling air come your way.
Do you need experienced firefighters?
Do you need experienced firefighters?
ACT, SA, N.Z sending firefighters and Gordon Brown British PM offered help. The weather has cooled significantly and now higher humidity which helps. Most of the dead when it was 108 were found in cars smashed together in some cases (pitch black) trying to flee. Many critical in hospital. Whole towns gone completely. 750 homes gone so far not to mention schools, police staitons pubs (eek!) holiday cabins you name it. Worst one ever and we have had some big ones.
Trees are beautiful, but at some point during a drought you have to be afraid of them. It's hard to know when all that stored solar power will come back to life.
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Where is Evergreen International's firefighting 747 when you need it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LTWSl32LnA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LTWSl32LnA
NZ has offered 100 firefighters...but they aren't needed yet - they will go in as relief as the local guys have a break.There have been 2 NZ helicopters and crew over there since the start of the fire season.
There is some concern,as we are fighting our own bush fires....but of course nothing like the scale seen in Aussie.There is rain the length of the country for a couple of days,so we have a bit of luck there.
There is some concern,as we are fighting our own bush fires....but of course nothing like the scale seen in Aussie.There is rain the length of the country for a couple of days,so we have a bit of luck there.
I am about in the middle between the fires down south and floods up north. I am safe.
I don't watch the news anymore today. it makes my guts churn.
Called the blood bank but they said they have enough blood ? their phone line was off the hook after noon today.
Family and friends OK. Have a sister in law in Nth QLD but they're all good.
Saw a film of how fast those fires could move. You can't outrun it. I can understand how so much people died.
Saw a bit on how some guy hid in his basement and made it when the fire came over. Maybe every house should have one? they are few and far between here.
I don't watch the news anymore today. it makes my guts churn.
Called the blood bank but they said they have enough blood ? their phone line was off the hook after noon today.
Family and friends OK. Have a sister in law in Nth QLD but they're all good.
Saw a film of how fast those fires could move. You can't outrun it. I can understand how so much people died.
Saw a bit on how some guy hid in his basement and made it when the fire came over. Maybe every house should have one? they are few and far between here.
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1000 747's wouldn't have touched it. 6 dead in one car aelne. Instant wind shifts and a front moving at unspeakable speed caught people like rats in a trap. 550 houses in one town gone, well the whole town basically.
When I was a kid in Adelaide, we used to be taught the Oz version of "Duck and Cover".
Were taught that safest places to be were in your car, or in your house. Supposed to cover yourself with a woolen blanket, and huddle in the footwells of the car. It was explained that the fire would fly across quickly, the windows break etc. but the car would buy sufficient time to see through the worst of it. Same with your house. The house would resist long enough for you to survive, and exit on the approach side.
Heaps of people have survived following these principals.
Not this time. though.
Were taught that safest places to be were in your car, or in your house. Supposed to cover yourself with a woolen blanket, and huddle in the footwells of the car. It was explained that the fire would fly across quickly, the windows break etc. but the car would buy sufficient time to see through the worst of it. Same with your house. The house would resist long enough for you to survive, and exit on the approach side.
Heaps of people have survived following these principals.
Not this time. though.
Shannow this/these fires have changwed the ball game. The ethos of stay and fight or leave early is now being questioned. Royal commission announced. Australia's worst ever natural disaster and after Cyclone Tracy that's saying somwething. 5,000 homeless living in tent cities. Nobody anywhere has any idea of what has happened here and is still going on. This weekend has changed Australia and probably the worls fire wise forever.
build a concrete basement away from your house to prevent fall in when the house collapses. have a slab roof about 0.5m underground covered with dirt for insulation and protection of the structure from heat. to reduce temperatures install sprinklers fed from an underground rainwater storage tank (you'd need a small pump to get some head on it and to drain the basement again.)
maybe kevin07's handout can pay for it.
maybe kevin07's handout can pay for it.
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