BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Mar 20 - 10:56 AM

our federal government is good at insulting ...

a better answer would be to create a new organisation with the same purpose & powers to replace the CRC when it's term end as they can't extend this CRC.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Mar 20 - 08:13 PM

Adding insult to injury, Sandra.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Mar 20 - 07:29 AM

Australia's dedicated bushfire research centre on the brink of closure despite deadly summer fires. The future of Australia's only dedicated bushfire research centre remains in limbo after the worst fire season on record.
The Bushire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) was funded after the devastating Black Saturday fires in Victoria in 2009.
It works with state emergency service agencies, universities and governments to help Australia better prepare itself for fire seasons, which are expected to become longer and hotter.
But it runs out of federal funding after June next year, and the Government has said it cannot have its funding extended under the legislation that governs CRCs. (read on)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Feb 20 - 04:14 AM

Mogo Wildlife Park reopens after bushfire impact closed it for two months

Vale the great Australian summer-devastated by bushfires, drought & floods

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Feb 20 - 02:39 AM

A nation torched & scarred: Satellite imagery shows thedestruction of the fires How heat and drought turned Australia into a tinderbox. See the devastation of Australia's summer of fire from space.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Feb 20 - 07:56 AM

we are not fire free, Rural Fire Service fire map

Residents in shock after bushfires destroy 20 homes in northern NSW

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 08:51 AM

we still have fires, but they are contained, & there are fires in other states but they are smaller & hopefully will not go on so long.

It's getting hard to find fire articles, there is only one article on our national broadcaster's website, & it's about insurance claims, & several about whether the widespread rains have broken the drought (no, some places have has good rains, others excessive rains, but the major drought areas are not effected)

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: ragdall
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 07:51 AM

What good news, Sandra!

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 05:24 AM

NSW fires: For the first time this season, all bush and grass fires contained After months of tireless firefighting, the Rural Fire Service has advised that, for the first time this season, all fires burning in New South Wales have been declared contained.
Efforts were assisted by drenching rains over the past few days, with Sydney enduring its wettest four days since 1990.
The RFS says the rain helped firefighters extinguish more than 30 fires, some of which had been burning for months.
They include the Gospers Mountain megablaze northwest of Sydney, the large Green Wattle Creek fire southwest of Sydney and the Currowan blaze which ravaged the south (read on)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 09:15 AM

cartoon - Climate Change? What Climate change? an oldie (2017) but a goodie

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 07:03 AM

Bush& peat fire burning for 210days declared 'out' in wake of weekend deluge

Syrian refugee children in Jordan draw pictures for bushfire survivors

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:55 AM

History of fire in Australia & how it can help us face the bushfires of thfuture

Bushfire survivors create 'trail of destruction' at parliament, demanding politicians cut ties with coal. Bushfire survivors have used burnt debris to create a "trail of destruction" from Parliament House to the Canberra offices of a mining lobby group.
Carrying remnants of their charred homes in wheelbarrows they chanted in unison demanding an end to the influence of the coal sector on politicians.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 10 Feb 20 - 02:38 PM

Finally, the last bit of bushfires on the east coast of NSW & Victoria look like they are under control because a good fall of rain occurred yesterday in that area:

Now there are only a couple of dots on the
Sentinel Hotspots satellite image on the coast where the Victorian border meets NSW,
LONGITUDE/LATITUDE 149.908, -37.509

You need to zoom in because the spots look huge when you can see a larger area on the map.

Yesterday there were about 6 spots and now there are only two. The NSW east coast is clear because we have now received a huge amount of rain but Queensland has a lot of hotspots now.

The drought is not broken yet, but the dams are filling up a bit, and the floods have kicked in in some places. As the saying goes, it never rains but it pours. Except it hasn't rained much for years.

In case you don't know that saying, it means that if bad luck occurs it comes in large chunks, but it's a mixed blessing now, because pouring rain during a drought and catastrophic bushfires is a blessing as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Feb 20 - 10:10 AM

I've become accustomed over the past months to the fire reports & evacuations across the country, now we have flood evacuation alerts in Sydney.

Flood evacuation orders as Sydney faces wettest weekend since 1998

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Feb 20 - 08:03 AM

'Life will go on': battered by bushfire, East Gippsland starts to pick up the pieces

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Feb 20 - 04:14 AM

droughts, floods & fires!
Flash flooding warnings as heavy rain pounds NSW coast, thousands without power ... Amid the wet conditions, the NSW Rural Fire Service last night said the Currowan Fire in Shoalhaven was officially out after burning for 74 days and destroying 312 homes in towns including Lake Conjola. It burnt through 499,621 hectares ...

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Janie
Date: 07 Feb 20 - 10:14 PM

I haven't been on Mudcat in awhile, and am glad to see this thread. I have been wondering how Aussie Mudcatters have been faring during these fires. I'm glad to see this thread, and glad to see those of you who have posted are safe, at least so far.

One Mudcatter who I think quit posting long before me is Joybell. I understood her to live in a rural area and she loved the birds and critters. Any word on if she and her little bit of what was her paradise are OK?

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Feb 20 - 08:30 AM

A summer of flame

Australia's burn-me cities: urban sprawl and our new climate of fire

'Massive relief': torrential rain douses bushfires across parts of Australia

This's the age of the megafire & it’s being fuelled by our leaders -Tim Flannery

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 07 Feb 20 - 01:14 AM

Ok, so in the seven plagues of Australia, we still have the continuing drought, and the bushfires which may finally be coming under control, and coronavirus, and now, thanks to the rains which are helping with the bushfires, we are now having some floods in some areas.

Another significant part of the natural disasters is the loss of livestock and native animals and native plants.

Anything else on the list of plagues that we haven't thought of yet?? Hmmm??

Well, apart from the plague of useless and/or corrupt politicians disappearing up their own rear orifices while forgetting about the trials and tribulations of the people who elected them. Sorry. But they are a plague on all of us.

Sorry, rant over! Switching to a more joyful channel. (Breathe in, breathe out, release those stresses. Breathe ...)

Wombat water hole proving popular in drought-ravaged Hunter Valley

FYI, Merriwa is just a couple of hours drive up the road from here. Lots of lovely rain up the valley today. More on the radar for the next few days.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Feb 20 - 06:52 PM

Royal commission into bushfire crisis to examine climate change, harmonised approach to hazard reduction

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Feb 20 - 04:53 PM

thanks, Jack - looks like I left off the last bit when I copied it (oops)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Feb 20 - 08:40 AM

That "art show" link fixed:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/feb/04/bushfire-brandalism-australian-artists-replace-bus-shelter-ads-with-political-posters

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Feb 20 - 04:07 AM

New Year's Eve - Surf boat competitors describe becoming first responders as bushfires hit NSW south coast. As the Clyde Mountain and Badja Forest Road fires tore their way towards coastal communities on the NSW far south coast on the morning of New Year's Eve, thousands of people took refuge at surf clubs. That same morning, more than 400 surf club members from across NSW and interstate, who had travelled to compete in the biennial George Bass surf boat marathon, abandoned the race to take on the role of first responders in the unfolding emergency. (read on)

Bushfire rebuild could take five years, builders warn, citing Tathra exmple. Only a handful of houses have been completed nearly two years after the Tathra fire

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Feb 20 - 03:56 AM

BOM forecasts welcome rain to drench the east coast this week ..."It's definitely looking like all fire zones will at least get some rainfall in the coming weeks." ...

NSW Major Fire Updates

'Australia's largest unsanctioned art show': guerrilla bushfire campaign hijacks bus shelters. Dozens of political posters replace outdoor advertising in a protest against the government’s handling of Australia’s bushfire crisis. It’s amazing what you can get away with in a hi-vis vest. On Thursday 30 January, pedestrians in some suburbs of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane would have walked straight past activist artists (vandals, some critics might call them) removing advertising from bus shelters and inserting artwork protesting the Morrison government and its handling of Australia’s bushfire crisis. (Read on & view the posters - first poster shows a chocolate koala melting)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Feb 20 - 07:32 PM

from a friend in Canberra.
43 yesterday, Fire still on the slopes overlooking southern suburbs, growing, but winds mainly pushing it south east. No joy, as that is towards other people It is all about wind direction. If it blows our way it could escalate very quickly for us. A bit cooler today, but thunderstorms could change wind direction, and ignite elsewhere in the Brindies. (Brindabella ranges)
My fridge started beeping every time I opened the door. Last thing you need is your fridge down. Then I worked out it just wasn't coping with 43, so I have a couple of small fans helping to cool it. Poor dear!

Canberra has passed its forewarned "worst day" for bushfires in better shape than what the most grim predictions envisioned.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 20 - 09:58 PM

Waking up Fire has sent some of Australia’s most popular national parks into an eerie slumber, but new growth is breaking through the blackness.

After the inferno As the smoke begins to clear, we’re seeing for the first time the unimaginable scale of Australia’s worst bushfire season.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 31 Jan 20 - 06:43 PM

Thanks Sandra and rich-joy, for doing that valuable and informative research when you could have been doing something far less important. LOL

The poem set to music on the video clip is the woman reciting the poem with music in the background. Maybe the poem has never been sung as a song. Or maybe some more research is required. (Just joking!)

It has a certain sing-song rhythm to it so it could be set to a tune, if anyone felt so inclined. Not my field of expertise. It's probably more historically interesting than current anyway. As I said earlier, with all of these natural catastrophes happening on top of each other, it just brought the lines of the poem to my mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 20 - 04:27 AM

google search for school broadcast books!

ACT in state of emergency as Namadgi's Orroral Valley bushfire is upgraded

NSW, Victoria and Canberra bushfire alert as hot, dry weather sweeps in

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: rich-joy
Date: 31 Jan 20 - 02:00 AM

Well, I listened (just to the starts of!) quite a few of the sung versions now online on YT, and None of them are like my 1950s WA chune!!

Many now sing the tune written by Jackie Trent & Tony Hatch :)

Sadly I no longer have any School Broadcast Booklets, as it could well have been in there.....

R-J (who also has to go and DO stuff :)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Jan 20 - 08:51 PM

'My country' as a song from ABC education website this must be a very old transcript as Dorothea McKellar died in 1968 & the 16 year old writer of the tune is talking to her.

English / Year 8 / Literature / Responding to literature
Dorothea Mackellar's 'My country' as a song This is a black-and-white clip from a 1967 current affairs program This Day Tonight.

Rich-Joy's song might have been an earlier version that has not survived. I'm having fun but I really do need to do lots of (more important) things

My Country on Spotify recitations & songs & TROVE says it is a recitation!

sandra (leaving google & getting back to stuff that needs doing)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: rich-joy
Date: 30 Jan 20 - 07:45 PM

Helen, the singing of "My Country" (aka "I Love a Sunburnt Country") was obligatory assembly singing in my 1950s primary school years in suburban Perth, West Aussie!!
Whether it was a Peter Dawson song (like the famous "There is a land where summer skies ....." which was another school song), or not, I'm not sure.

Cheers,
R-J

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 30 Jan 20 - 01:43 PM

Donuel, it's funny you should ask whether My Country has been made into a song. I was trying to remember whether I had ever heard it sung by someone a long time ago.

The answer is, I don't know.

However, on reading the article I just linked to, I found out that Dorothea Mackellar lived in the Hunter Valley, not far from where I grew up when she wrote the poem, and she was inspired to write it after the breaking of a drought. The article mentions Barrington Tops which is where the rain occurred in relation to the video of the water coming down the creek in the article I linked to previously: "dry Moonan Brook surge back to life".

We are wishing, hoping and praying for the drought to finally break here, and to put out the last of the bushfires, but not for too much rain because we don't want floods. A delicate balance. There could finally be rain on Sunday around Canberra and the south coast of NSW and down into Victoria. That might start to put out the fires down there.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jan 20 - 08:43 AM

Helen that beats America the beautiful by 22 miles.
Has it been set to music?

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Jan 20 - 08:16 AM

WA bushfires: Bullsbrook blaze still out of control despite alert downgrade

a good news story from earlier in the fire season How a Tesla Model 3 became safe haven in Australian bushfires

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jan 20 - 07:03 PM

Bushfire-affected students back to rebuilt schools

NSW Rural Fire service twitter feed The NSW Rural Fire Service, the world's largest fire service. Our 74,000 volunteer members provide emergency services to more than 95 percent of NSW.
The Green Wattle Creek Fire, which has burnt through over 278,700ha in the Wollondilly area, is now Contained! This fire started on the 27th Nov 2019, and has had tragic devastating impacts, but it is a huge achievement by so many to reach containment tonight.

'Solitary' lyrebirds band together to save themselves in 'incredible' show of unity under bushfire threat.
PJ Wallis was nervous and filled with adrenalin as she prepared to defend her friend's home from a raging bushfire when she saw something remarkable.
One resident captured 11 of them crowding together around a dam to escape bushfires and says there were closer to 20 birds there at one point (photo)
One expert says that he has never seen more than six or seven of the birds together at once and says the photograph is 'unique' and 'remarkable'
"We were waiting for this fire to hit and then all these lyrebirds kept coming down and drinking water out of the dam," she said.
"It was almost like any lyrebird in this huge radius knew that that was the safest place to be."   (read on)

Canberra fires: capital of Australia faces out-of-control bushfire email this morning from a freind in Canberra -There is every prospect of the fire extending west across the Brindies (Brindabella Range), and then coming north again. We may be in a lull before the storm, with weather worsening over the weekend, so I am getting more ready while it is still quiet, in case.

Meanwhile in Perth Western Australia

Subject: My Country - by Dorothea Mackeller
From: Helen
Date: 29 Jan 20 - 02:44 PM

I haven't checked if this poem was added to the earlier part of this thread in 2009 but the second verse comes into my head so much during the current extended drought and the bushfires and recent rains which threaten to flood.

My Country - by Dorothea Mackeller was written over 100 years ago. We learned to recite it at school. I only remember the second verse.


The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jan 20 - 04:08 AM

Australia's volunteer firefighting force declined 10% in past decade

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jan 20 - 01:59 AM

latest platypus article I could find    another article on water

Canberra fires: capital of Australia faces out-of-control bushfire 4 hours ago

recent articles on the fires

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 20 - 07:42 PM

I hope the Platypus has survived in rivers.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Jan 20 - 06:00 PM

there are surprising survivals of animals in burn areas.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Jan 20 - 05:35 AM

Good news for fluorescent pink slugs

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Jan 20 - 08:00 PM

weather hazards in Australia
NSW major fire updates
wikipedia - 2019–20 Australian bushfire season

it's quieter on the fire front, but fires are still around.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 06:56 PM

Crashed air tanker was protecting koala sanctuary, now destroyed by blaze

A summer of bushfires and smoke - photos

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 04:22 AM

yuk - 'Disgusting suggestion': Businessman's plan for dead koalas slammed A UK businessman who has proposed selling koala fur to raise money for the bushfire-affected marsupial has been labelled "sick" after making his pitch on TV.
Ryan-Mark Parsons, who was a contestant on The Apprentice, launched his controversial plan on Good Morning Britain on Thursday.
Half a billion animals are estimated to have died in bushfires in the last few months, with koala populations among the worst hit.
Mr Parsons has proposed the pelts of dead koalas could be sold in high-end retailers such as Harrods to fundraise for the animal.
"The idea of this is to raise money for the charities," he said.
"Now it is very unfortunate, I completely agree what has happened in Australia is utterly devastating, and as a result the koalas have died.
"But the animals are dead and if we can use the fur to raise money, to save the other animals I don't see why that's an issue."
But Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid slammed the idea, labelling Mr Parson's plan "sick".
"We're there watching these terrible scenes on our screens, these poor creatures suffering and dying in these bushfires," she said. (read on)
does he propose to dig up already buried koalas or create some kind of processing centre (yuk)   

NSW RFS brigades feel stress of summer 28 Images
It has been a relentless summer for NSW RFS brigades this year. Mal Yarnold has been an active member of the Rural Fire Service for 25 years. But this summer he nearly hung up his uniform for the last time. As the group captain of the Tinonee RFS brigade on the NSW mid north coast Mr Yarnold led a local team through the worst bushfire season he has ever seen. While the old Rainbow Flat shed is still a pile of rubble in the yard of its old site, it has not stopped its crew from serving the community. Instead they have spent the summer working out of the home of volunteers Barry and Teresa Price, whose carport has become the temporary home for the crew’s beloved red truck.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 03:45 AM

Three American firefighters who died in NSW air tanker crash named

Six RFS volunteers injured after water tanker rolls on NSW South Coast

NSW bushfire death toll rises to 25 after body found inside burnt-out home

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Jan 20 - 04:30 AM

massive fire near Canberra airport prompts warning to residents ... More than 60 fires continued to burn across the state as of Tuesday night with 16 yet to be contained. More than 1,100 firefighters were in the field ...

has the rain put out the bushfires and could they flare again? in a word - YES   
... In Victoria, the hard-hit East Gippsland also experienced welcome rain. The town of Mallacoota, where 4,000 people dramatically sheltered on the beach on New Year’s Eve, received 30mm over the past two days.
“We’ve had significant rainfall through the eastern Gippsland in the past 48 hours,” a spokesman for the Country Fire Authority said. “Bairnsdale received more than 75mm. Mount Moornapa received more than 130mm which is a new January record.”
But, this does not mean the fires have been put out.
There were still 87 fires burning in NSW on Tuesday morning – down from the 101 burning on Tuesday last week, but up from the 82 burning on Thursday.
There were 17 fires burning in Victoria on Tuesday, more than were burning last Tuesday ...

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Jan 20 - 04:49 AM

things are quieter on the fire fronts, NSW fire map but we're not fire free. We've had widespread rain but not much. Rain set to continue in parts of the state, helping dampen blazes It's not drought breaking, but good, tho floods are not good! Nor is hail   

Princes Hwy closure has Cann River, Noorinbee residents feeling like prisoners

Bushfire experts say it's time to revisit Black Saturday recommendations and stop people rebuilding in highly dangerous areas

Indigenous fire knowledge the latest Australian export in an emerging global wildfire crisis

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 10:30 AM

I've been at the Illawrra Folk Festival (60km south of Sydney.) One of our members almost didn't make it as the fires are 10km from his isolated rural home, but their house is very well protected & he & his wife will fight if (when?) the fires get closer. We've had widespread rain but not always in bushfire areas.

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape fire reveals new sections of ancient aquatic system

Bushfire-proof Rosedale home remains where most others are rubble

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 18 Jan 20 - 03:06 PM

Thanks everyone for caring about us over here. It means the world to us.

gillymor, all my friends and family are safe. We live in regional cities and some overseas and some more in Sydney. I was going to call it The Big Smoke, but that expression might have to be shelved for a while, I think.

I think all Australians have been overwhelmed by offers of support. To be honest, I personally think we have enough resources to deal with it here and overseas donations should be used for more deserving issues. There are so many other countries or areas in the world with less resources than ours and bigger issues than ours. As well as large countries like the U.S. & Canada, we have even had the very small Pacific countries of Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea offering to help. That's touching.

We pride ourselves on helping others, but when others help us we get embarrassed.

What we do need is politicians who can be bravely honest and face up to reality. The reality of climate change especially but also the reality that volunteer Rural Fire Service people are overstretched and the whole RFS system needs an overhaul to make it workable not just for fighting the fires but for the people giving up their time, using their skills and in most cases losing their income, and in some cases losing their own homes while looking after other people or even losing their lives.

This is probably a wake up call to some who have persistently denied the climate issue in the face of scientific evidence. I've been saying that until the bushfire smoke started to affect Canberra and the state capital cities, some of the pollies would continue to brush off the significance of the bushfires. It appears that I was close to the mark.

When it affects the tennis, well you know it's serious! LOL (I'm not a tennis fan, BTW.)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Jan 20 - 01:43 PM

I have been watching all this on the TV News for several weeks and find it unbearably sad. Huge sections of Australia seem to be a smoking wasteland, and the contaminated air even choked some top tennis competitors off the court. The poor animals burnt to a cinder, and homes reduced to a pile of black dust.

I think that UK should hold back much of its foreign aid to China and other flourishing places, and divert a large sum to helping Australia rebuild and recover. Our Aussie friends have helped us in the past during Wartime, and we owe them a great deal at the moment.

I do pray for lots of rain to fall asap, but even if it poured this evening, there must be billions of pounds worth of damage to rectify.
God bless Oz!