Wagga

[Enfield United]

I trust your miles away from the Aussie bush fires wagga?

[waggamick]

One fire broke out...mainly a grass fire..around 40km South.

The closest bad fire is around 230km South up in the Australian Alps.

We have been getting the smoke as a Southerly change comes through.

First reasonable day in two weeks...31 degrees centigrade.

Experts are looking at 200 deaths from the Victorian fires.

[Enfield United]

That is astounding, could'nt the people drive away? or am I being unreasonably naive? You could maybe reluctantly accept half a dozen deaths from heat and the older folk, but 200!!!, evacuation policies and peoples safety procedures looks as if it has been non-existent, especially with all the different types of communication available to everyone.

[lovely stuff]

Sadly a fair few died in their cars when the fires engulfed the roads.

[waggamick]

Current fatalities=131

200 admitted to hospital...25 with major burns...10 in intensive care.

5 BIG fires still burning in Victoria

Just announced that citizens in the town of Churchill who are still there are to remain in their homes as there are no escape routes available.

We have had a drought in SE Australia for the last 8 or 9 years.

We had at least 10 days of 39-43 degree heat in a row.

The High Pressure system off the East Coast that was sending the hot desert air from the interior was slowly moving towards New Zealand...the edge of the high is accompanied by strengthening winds.

The stronger winds saw the temperature hit a record high of 47.9 degrees in suburbs of Melbourne.

Melbourne is on the coast but you are up in to the Great Dividing Range only 50 km from the CBD.

These foothills are covered in eucalyptus forests.

The roads follow the ridge lines.

The drought dried forest and the extreme temperatures plus the strong winds and low humidity created the perfect conditions for a firestorm.

Throw in the total F***wits who like lighting fires (one arrested already...counts as murder=25 years...who strangely enough are often volunteer fire fighters and you have the recipe for a disaster.

Bushfires also create their own momentum as they superheat the air in front of them...especially accelerated in uphill situations. Living on ridgelines in tinder dry forests is nigh on suicidal.

Most people in this situation have Fire Plans...auxiliary water pumps, preparation, etc.

They are advised to get out early or stay in their houses...a policy that is being strongly debated tonight.

The fire experts have a danger index out of 100....the factors combined on Saturday were closer to 300.

A lot of the people who perished were in cars...reckon they decided to stay but then realised that it was the BushFire of the century and made a run for it....smoke turned day into night...roads covered with fallen burning trees...one scene showed a 5 car pile up...all burnt out.

One of the fires started last week and the distance it covered in 6 days was aquarter of the distance it covered on Saturday morning!

The real culprits are the embers that are launched into the upper atmosphere and precede the actual fire front and can land 5 or 6 km ahead of the fire...one guy described 3 foot long burning bark falling from the sky well ahead of the fire itself.

Unbelievably...the Prime Minister comes on TV and says we will rebuild these communities...experts(and myself) strongly argue that they should never have been there in the first place.

These people risk their own, their children's and the fire fighters lives for the idyllic crap of 'living amongst the Gum trees' not unlike the [****!!****] who live next to rivers and are shocked when they are flooded out.

Hopefully they will learn something from this terrible set of events and that no one else will be injured or killed.

[waggamick]

Donations to a Relief Fund for victims hit $91 Million tonight...50 million quid.....big effort so far.