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It's not really breaking news, but for a while now in my home state there have been a shitload of fires. It's very dry downunder and when hot northerly winds come in from the centre of our country it just fuels the mix.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=83195

Fires during our summer dry season aren't new to us here. Both in Victoria and New South Wales we have large CFA (Country Fire Authority) crew that battle like mofo's to keep the fires under control.

I guess why I'm posting it this year is that this season is looking to be the worst since the 1930's. That's fucked..

Now, I live in Melbourne, the city, not the country. But I open my back door and I can smell smoke. Real dry smelling smoke of the aussie bush. It has a particular smell, you can never confuse it. Damn....

here's a pic I took facing east.

http://www.woahnelly.com/stuff/a_DSC09459.JPG

Notice the smoke above the tree with the yellow flowers. damn, it's never been so smokey before. It just makes me feel for the country folks that are in the midst of it.

Here's a link a radar view of Aus. May make it easier to understand the layout of Aus. I'm in Vic, the state down the bottom right of Aus. not that nugget hanging off it, that's Tas, lol....

http://mirror.bom.gov.au/weather/radar/

here's hoping today is NOT what everyone is expecting it to be

ph2t.

Man that sucks.. I really hope it doesn't reach your area. California has had a few large brush fires in the past, and one just recently. I know how bad the smoke can get, and it really screwed me over athletically a few years back, almost getting me asthma. Ph2t, Keep yourself and your family outta the smoke.. it ain't good, especially if you can see the smoke that close. (But you already know that)

the view out my window is about the same, it's kinda eery to see orange sunlight on the ground!

it's supposed to be the worst fires on record, here's to the brave cfa volunteers (that's right, it's an unpaid job!). they're staring down the barrel of a 70 mile long fire front.

it's so bad i almost wanna say a prayer for them!

We have alot of brush fires around here during the summer, I can't remember if it was last year or the year before, but we had a bad one, took out a good chunk of the forest, and some residentials with it, but nothing ever really gets close to where I live. Sorry to hear about that, mother nature can be a bitch sometimes

wehere i use to live in NSw we had alotof bad fires, if you tolocalguys have ever heard of Gunnedah, in themiddle of NSWE near tamworth

the elasttime i livedthere(98) was right when the pillegar forest's near Coona weere eon fire, we had to stay insidee for 8 days, schoo lwas cancelled, everything was closed, i remember looking outside one morning about 10am and the skye was black, had to use a torch outside to see anything, wear masks etc etc

fires are shit :\

well,up north here dont really getmcuh of it ^_^

I flew down to melbourne a week or two ago (just for the day) and the sight from the plane was unbelievable.

for about 45 minutes before we reached melbourne, all you could see was smoke and charred ground. Looked like most of Southern NSW and half of VIC was on fire!

Without wanting to sound too much like a hippy - we've brought a lot on ourselves. The Aboriginals used to burn off half this continent every seven years, and there were certain areas which they just didn't live in because of the fire risk. We've gone and turned them into suburbs.

Couple inconsiderate assholes that drop cigarette butts with nutto firebugs, and complacent people not backburning in the winter months, and it's a disaster waiting to happen.

45tr0 wrote:Without wanting to sound too much like a hippy - we've brought a lot on ourselves. The Aboriginals used to burn off half this continent every seven years, and there were certain areas which they just didn't live in because of the fire risk. We've gone and turned them into suburbs.

right on

You guys don't do controlled burns down there? Up here the rangers and fire dept get together to burn off overgrown parts of the forest.

I know what you guys are saying about putting suburbs where they don't belong. Here they'll stick their fancy houses on the side of mountains, in washes and dry river beds, and then when we have a really big rain and their house washes away, I can't even feel sorry for them.

crazydave wrote:You guys don't do controlled burns down there?

yeah we do but conditions must be right before it can safely be done. in some parts they haven't been able to backburn for 10 years.

and now you Eastern States bastards have sent fires over here to the West..

at least we don't feel left out

we like to share!

we actually had 2 days where we could see the sky! but today it's turned to shit again, i smell smoke and the trees outside are hazy. the entire day has been like dusk! rilly freaky.

word is the fire front is now 250km long! (that's roughly 134.9892 miles )
now tasmania is in the shit too. i tell ya, if you wanna see australia before it burns down you better git yo ass on a plane lickety split!!

Dang I feel for you guys I have been in that situation we had a fire in Texas that got to close for comfort and its not cool.

I hope ya'll stay safe dont stick around if it gets to close!!

betty.k wrote:we like to share!

we actually had 2 days where we could see the sky! but today it's turned to shit again, i smell smoke and the trees outside are hazy. the entire day has been like dusk! rilly freaky.

word is the fire front is now 250km long! (that's roughly 134.9892 miles )
now tasmania is in the shit too. i tell ya, if you wanna see australia before it burns down you better git yo ass on a plane lickety split!!

That really sucks guys. Fire has no fear. It goes where it wants, when it wants.




134 miles is a long fuckin fire.




silla

betty.k wrote: i tell ya, if you wanna see australia before it burns down you better git yo ass on a plane lickety split!!

anybody got 1800 US ? that's the price from ATL

I am sure it is freaky seeing smoke all the time Do your areas have evacuation routes planned?

me and ph2t are closer to the city so it's unlikely we will have to worry about the fires themselves.
but in the country areas you need to make a decision whether to stay and fight or leave well before time.

by the time you realise the fire's too close it's usually too late to outrun it!