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25 dead in wildfires

AussieMan

AussieMan

SOH Staff .."Bartender"
25 people have died (and the toll is expected to reach in excess of 40) overnight in Victoria (Australia) as raging bushfires (Wildfires) tore through the state. A lot of thes victims were found in cars. At the moment these fires are uncontrollable because of strong winds. Also hundresd of homes and businesses destroyed.

Overnight wind changes and storms have only making the situation worse as they change the direction of the fires and lightning from the storms create more fires.

New South Wales has not been spared either. Several lare fires are burning around the State. A fire burning at Peats Ridge was deliberately lit.

The fire reports that make the news are not the onlyones. In my local fire district I have been involved in fighting many smaller fires started by lightning oveer the last week. I am a communications officer and air radio operator with my fire district and am privvy to most of the first calls as when at home I am on a conference line.

At the moment things are quiet here but as it warms up things could explode.

The thing that gets up my nose is that when arsonists do get caught and go before the courts the jelly livered judges give them a slap on the wrist and let them go to repeat their evil deeds. The law here is the should be sent to jail for 14 years.

On another note, Australia is a land of complete opposites. While the Southern States are burning, in far North Queensland areas there are neck deep with monsoonal floodwaters.

Only in Australia.

Cheers
Pat
 
Just talking with my brother in Yarra Glen ,Victoria.He,s been out with the CFA operating the radios.At the moment the fires are under control,but a quick change in wind direction could change that in a heart beat.I must say that if i could of jumped on a plane and been there with him like we were in the Ash Wednesday fires,Id be there to help.

Spare a thought for these folks in their time of need.
 
My thoughts are with you down south. I only hope that when somebody runs a donation relief fund for these things like they have started for flood victims up north, somebody doesn't make a great mess of it. The last one I tried to donate to, the major banks made a complete stuff up of it....I ended up giving the donation idea in total frustration.
 
As of 18.50 DST the confirmed fatalaties have reached 65, with at least 3 patients at the Alfred Hospital Burns Unit not expected to survive the night.
Sofie (Ms Wombat) has been on duty at the RCH for the past 48 hours to deal with the juvenile casualties, no idea when she will take herself off the floor.
At least 600+/- homes destroyed, unknown stock losses, while there are several major firefronts remaining critical.
And of course, the long term effects will be devastating, rain or no rain.
Our CFA people are bloody heroic..............:kilroy:
 
As at 2030 hours the death toll is 76. I have spent most of the week dealing with fires in my district but they are nothing compared to Victoria and the Central Coast of NSW.

The heart breaking news is that some of the fires controlled this morning were being reignited by arsonists. Those *******s should be charged with murder and given a long holiday in prison.

One 31 year old man has been charged with arson for lighting a fire on the NSW Central Coast.

Cheers
Pat
 
Oh my gaud....last I heard this afternoon was 36 fatalities and still counting. The news video of some of those towns down in Vic look just terrible. I think I'll stop whinning about the humidity.
 
Latest count 96 as of ten mins ago.Got my brother on skype right now .Hes just returned from day2 and is having a RUM or two before bed,and maybe another day of fires.
God bless the CFA.
 
dayum...why such a high death count...people not evac'ing soon enough? or the fires just advancing so fast?..fire storms??..man must be nasty to have that type of death toll...we burn millions of acres per year here and very rarely have a death....i just cant imagine...whats the acres burned so far?..if you go by acres ..gimme some idea of the fire sizes...and i wonder if any of the california fire fighters have come yet...i know we had aussie help this past fire season..would make sence to me to send out hotshots atleast and id ask areo union to send some P3s

good luck and godspeed
 
Daveroo,
Very dense bush, 46C heat, 70-90KPH winds, and no rain for months.
The fires have been jumping several kilometres from the fronts and landing without warning behind the crews and in many cases, in unexpected areas.
Saturday night when the weather swung around it brought a line of thunderstorms with SFA rain but 400+ lightning strikes, which touched off more fires.
In many cases the victims have been trapped by fires cutting off any escape routes for them, which of course, are access routes for the CFA crews.
On top of this, the smoke haze and treacherous flying conditions have hampered the water bombers ......... :kilroy:
Very rough numbers for the area burnt out so far (and these are early ones) talk of 15,000 Hectares, but it will easily be double that.
At one point the fire fronts had linked to form one front over 115 MILES!
Very grim.
 
Yeah its getting worse.Over 200,000 hectares of land.108 confirmed dead at this point.The towns of King Lake and Marysville are now just points on a map.Next to nothing is still standing in these towns.The King lake fire front has claimed 63 confirmed dead on its own.Reports say nearly all of these died in their homes as they had nowhere to go.It was a matter of 10 to 15 seconds between life or death.
I,ve been in contact from here in the UK with freinds and family near the fire zone and can at last get some sleep knowing they are all safe.
 
wow..thats just unreal...whats the terrian like?...geography?..is it a flatish landscape?...mountainous?....114F(46C) and those high winds...wow...im not sure what a hectar is..ill have to look that up..but i think its larger than an acre..so i know 200,000 is a lot...prayin for ya...makes me want to come and help..once a fire fighter allways a firefighter

accually an acre, one acre = 0.4046863 hectare

so it would be 494,208.8 acres...at 200,000
 
wombat666 said:
Daveroo,
Very dense bush, 46C heat, 70-90KPH winds, and no rain for months.
The fires have been jumping several kilometres from the fronts and landing without warning behind the crews and in many cases, in unexpected areas.
Saturday night when the weather swung around it brought a line of thunderstorms with SFA rain but 400+ lightning strikes, which touched off more fires.
In many cases the victims have been trapped by fires cutting off any escape routes for them, which of course, are access routes for the CFA crews.
On top of this, the smoke haze and treacherous flying conditions have hampered the water bombers ......... :kilroy:
Very rough numbers for the area burnt out so far (and these are early ones) talk of 15,000 Hectares, but it will easily be double that.
At one point the fire fronts had linked to form one front over 115 MILES!
Very grim.
Click to expand...

Update:I left a '0' off the area figure but it's now up to 340,000 hectares and 160+ dead ...... will sadly go well above.
Terrain ranges from relatively flat to very rugged and heavily timbered.
 
Last I heard ... 135 and counting.

They're calling it widespread murder as the fires are determined to be set deliberately by arson.

Hope they can catch em.
 
Up to 166 now...

Fortunately all my friends in these areas seem to be safe, though am keeping my eye on the fires near Beechworth as this is too close to home for me.
 
Many heartbreaking stories coming out of that country. I really feel for those people. Such cruelty.

My deepest sympathy to you in Oz
 
You know the worst thing about all of this apart from the 173 confirmed dead, 3,700+ homeless & exhausted fire fighters & other personnel is that some of these fires were deliberately lit by arsonists//pyromaniacs.

May these *******s rot in hell for committing such a rotten act.
 
My prayers out to the folks in Austrailia.

When they catch those "people" that set the fires, they need to find a short rope and a long drop.
 
Hey All,

Really really terrible stuff going on there...

Dave part of the reason so many are dead is that they either don't evacuate soon enough or aren't prepared to fight hard enough at the end. These fires are incredible in the speed at which they move - people don't realize this as they stay to fight then realize they probably can't win - panic - and try to run in a car. Fire beats car cause smoke won't let you see and a car is one of the worst places to be in a fire as it is small and heats fast. Most people really have no true understanding of the true ferocity of a wildfire - that said more would survive if their homes were better prepared (water the heck out of your house if you got water otherwise why are you there if you haven't cleared the fuels around your home?), they stayed inside and put out any embers that find their way into the house. Instead too many try to run when it's too late. We've seen exactly the same thing in some fires on the prairies of the midwest a few years ago.

I hope they get those guys starting fires - especially at a time like this.

-Ed-
 
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