BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009-2020

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Nov 19 - 05:33 PM

yes!

A cauldron of extreme heat developing in Western Australia is heading straight for the east coast bushfire zone. A build-up of intense heat that will see temperatures in WA soar into the mid 40s this weekend will be dragged across the country next week, right into parts of New South Wales and Queensland devastated by bushfires this week. (read on)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Nov 19 - 01:18 AM

Emergency warning issued for fast-moving fire at Gosper's Mountain north west of Sydney metropolitan area, around 100km from Sydney CBD.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Andrez
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 02:28 AM

Living in East Gippsland now. All quiet down here on the fire front so far but the drought is doing its bit to get things tinder dry and ready to go up in a wink if the conditions are right.

Just driven up and down into the high plains today lots of green but plenty of brown in the paddocks and bush. Maybe we should reconsider building that wall to keep any stray northerners from escaping and spreading the fire 'bug' down south. Touch wood!

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: JennieG
Date: 16 Nov 19 - 07:06 AM

A bloke from Ebor, N.S.W., has been charged with deliberately lighting a fire. Seems he lit it so he could backburn around his cannabis crop, and it got away and did a lot of damage. Ebor is north-east from here, in more hilly country.

High country in more ways than one.......

While we don't wish to make light of people deliberately lighting fires, we can't help but see a little humour in this.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 18 Nov 19 - 09:20 PM

Luckily, we are not in a bushfire prone area although we are in an idiot-prone area because the family across the road from us like lighting a fire in their backyard now and then. They get annoyed when any of their neighbours dob them in to the fire brigade, too.

On a musical note, I saw this article:
Harp therapist soothes anxious horses at NSW bushfire evacuation centre

I remember back in late Dec 2002 to Jan 2003 Hubby & I were on a trip down south in Victoria and then Tasmania. We included some folk festivals in our itinerary which was lovely but unfortunately it seemed that wherever we had just left there was a bushfire. It was another terrible bushfire time in those couple of months. I looked at the map of the fires and almost all of the east coast and Tassie were affected.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Nov 19 - 07:02 PM

Digital Earth Australia Hotspots is a national bushfire monitoring system that provides timely information about hotspots to emergency service managers across Australia. The mapping system allows users to identify fire locations with a potential risk to communities and property.

Currently we have fires in all states, tho some state's fires are more severe than others. The highest fire warning level in NSW & SA is Catastrophic & in Victoria it's Red.

Sydney smoke 'unlikely to clear for days' as bushfires burn around NSW Sydneysiders have been warned the thick smoke haze covering the city will remain for days, as the air quality plummeted to "hazardous" levels for the second time this week. The Harbour City's landmarks were barely visible as smoke from dozens of bushfires burning in NSW settled over Sydney, the Illawarra, North Coast and Central Coast

Meanwhile south of the border - Victoria issues code red bushfire warning as Melbourne weather heats up After coming within 0.2 degrees of its hottest November night on record, Melbourne's temperatures are soaring while parts of Victoria prepare for a day of catastrophic fire risk. A code red fire danger day has been declared in Victoria for the first time in almost a decade, as emergency services warn people in the Northern Country and Mallee regions to consider evacuating their homes amid worsening fire conditions.

SA bushfire destroys homes as Yorketown fire burns out of control A bushfire burning out of control in South Australia's Lower Yorke Peninsula has been downgraded to a 'watch and act' message. The fire started during Wednesday's catastrophic fire conditions and broke through containment lines early this morning.

Queensland fires

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Nov 19 - 05:16 PM

fires in NSW - Smoke affecting large parts of NSW

What has the bushfire crisis cost so far?

Bushfire smoke can get into hail and even go from vine to wine Yearning for a cool drink, Joh Timmers popped a piece of hail into his drink after a thunderstorm at Wivenhoe Dam recently. But he soon noticed an odd taste.
"I could taste the smoke in it … we tried another and it was the same, it was subtle, but you could taste it," he told ABC Radio Brisbane.
"The hail didn't look any different to other hail and it wasn't discoloured at all." (read on)

You can be quite a long way from a bushfire and still have it affect your health

Koala hospital's GoFundMe campaign raises more than $1m

Meet Bear, the koala detection dog looking for traces of koalas in burnt areas

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Dec 19 - 09:22 AM

Digital Earth Australia Hotspots is a national bushfire monitoring system that provides timely information about hotspots to emergency service managers across Australia. The mapping system allows users to identify fire locations with a potential risk to communities and property.

The hot spot above Canberra has forced my friends to evacuate -
Residents urged to evacuate as South Coast fire burns out of control They live in the small coastal town of Bawley Point, one of the small towns that have evacuated.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Helen
Date: 03 Dec 19 - 02:33 PM

Sandra, that's a good article about the smoky tasting hail and smoke affected grapes and wine. Wine with a taste of burnt rubber - not to everyone's taste.

Normally around Christmas time, Hubby gets the smoker out and smokes chickens, ham and trout but I said to him that he probably won't need to do it this time because they'll be smoky enough already. Instead of the "triple smoked ham" being advertised in the shops, it will be quadruple smoked.

(Apologies to vegos and vegans, but smoked ham, chicken and trout are triple-yum!)

It has been very smoky here in the Hunter Valley. Hubby hasn't had to use his asthma inhaler for years until this bushfire year.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Dec 19 - 02:52 PM

Here in the states the news has picked up on the Koalas plight but downplayed the 'Normal' bushfires. Even npr has warned against over reaction. Or at least that was my take.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Dec 19 - 01:13 AM

Our bushfire season has started earlier, fires are more intense, drought has affected fire fighting & the season lasts longer.

Bawley Point news My friends evacuated early as they are over 80, very fit, young looking octogenarians, but still over 80. Latest email - All are okay here; nice and safe and the wind seems to have moved favourable.

Long Beach, another affected village 30 mins south of Bawley Point Long Beach locals told “Fill your bath tub, fill your wheelie bins with water”

NSW Rural Fire Service - Shoalhaven - facebook

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Dec 19 - 09:08 AM

latest from my friends - It looks like all the houses in Bawley have been saved.

over100 bushfires were burning in NSW on Friday, more than half out of control

NSW fires LIVE updates What we know so far
    More than 680 homes have been lost so far this fire season
    At its peak on Friday, nine fires were burning at an emergency level. That has dropped to four, with 14 at 'watch and act.'
    Specialist firefighters from the US and Canada will help locals fight the blazes

video-Firefighters battle blaze at Bawley Point (thursday)

bushfires have combined to create 60km 'mega fire' north of Sydney ... There were seven emergency warning-level fires blazing across the state at 7:00pm on Friday, but they had all been downgraded to watch and act or lower by 11:15pm. ...

sandra (1.00am Sydney time, Sat morning 96 fires are burning across NSW, none at emergency level. Embers are still a risk.)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jim Martin
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 12:24 AM

Great to see US/Canada helping out!

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 04:01 AM

As well as US & Canadian firefighters we even have NZ firefighters here.

In the off season Northern & Southern Hemisphere firefighters go overseas to help local services. As fire seasons overlap in Aus & California, sharing firefighting resources will only get harder

Since 2001/02 fire season Australian authorities have hired Erickson S-64 Air-Cranes from US

Latest report, 2 hours ago. NSW 'mega-fire' is on Sydney's doorstep "Worst ever" and "unprecedented" have become the new norm this bushfire season, but when a blaze grows to the size of Sydney a new standard of overwhelming is set and firefighting becomes a logistical headache. Five blazes merged north of Sydney yesterday and the term "mega-fire" reared its ugly head. The 60-kilometre fire front continues to consume areas west of Gosford, including Colo Heights, Wollangambe, Mellong, Wollemi and Big Yengo ... Basically, it could get better just to get worse, and it is anyone's guess when this fire stops growing. That's bad news for those on the Central Coast and in Sydney who are being choked by smoke from these blazes.

sandra in smoky sydney

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 12:29 PM

The coverage I've seen of Sydney looks just horrifying.

And the forecasts suggest it's going to get MUCH worse in the next couple of months.

And you have a PM whose idea of an appropriate statement is a TV broadcast of his home Christmas tree. Makes Boris Johnson look useful.

Is your media still giving airtime to that fuckwit who says the gays are responsible?

Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Bruce D
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 05:45 PM

These Bushfires are not unusual in Australia.

this thread started in 2009 because of a similar bushfire season, we another bad year in 2012 along with other bad bushfire seasons before and after those.

One of the worst bushfire seasons in my living memory was in 1994, where Sydney was completely surounded by Bushfires and all major highways except for one was cut, along with bushfires within Sydney itself. Along with much of the NSW mountain and coastal regions. I spent a couple of days fighting one of the major fires in the south of the city. Luckily there was only a few lives lost and the number of homes destroyed limited.

I'm reliable told that Australia's worst Bushfires were in 1938/9 where nearly all of Eastern Victoria was burn along with parts of NSW and South Australia, 100's of towns and farms were destoryed.

The reason we are having such a bad fire season is due to a few causes, the primary is a extended drought, large amounts of dry undergrouth, lack of fuel reduction burns, a dryer east coast (there was snow falling in the Australian Alps last week), weather patterns in the off Antarctica, (that causing both Australia's and Africa's droughts) along with a weak weather patten in the Pacific.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Bruce D
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 05:55 PM

And Sandra, I'll disagree with you.

The Australian Federal Government has its hands tied, Bushfire's and the response to them are a matter for each State Governments, unless they call a state of emergency and ask for federal assistance, then our PM isn't allowed to deploy our military to assist, or he can do is offer money for aid to the victims (only after getting the bills passed through those smug labor and cross benchers).

The other thing to remember is that our military only has a few trained fire fighters, most of those are in the Navy. One of the worst thing you can do is put untrained people into a high risk envirnoment.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 05:58 PM

Look up "Indian Ocean Dipole".

The mechanism is well understood and the news is not good. No this is not just the same as before.

The other end of the IOD has the potential to be even more destructive - there are currently five tropical storms in the Indian Ocean, most of them likely to hit Africa, which has never experienced anything like that in recorded history. Africa is getting all the rain Australia isn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: JennieG
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 11:42 PM

Today has been very smoky - we are 5-6 hours drive north-west from Sydney, with fires between us and the coast. Depending on wind direction we can have clear days (the last few days have been clear, thank goodness) or smoky, or very smoky. Today is very smoky, and the air quality is regarded as "hazardous".

The one saving grace is that, at present, there aren't any fires too near.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Andrez
Date: 08 Dec 19 - 05:35 AM

We've just opened a chicken evacuation centre for our friends at Tambo Crossing. The 9 little ones needing care will be arriving tomorrow morning along with their carer. The worry is a fire to the west of their property being driven eastwards as we speak.

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Dec 19 - 09:31 AM

'Smells like it's time to go to work': American firefighters arrive in Sydney

I was wrong earlier, I thought Americans firefighters had been here in the past.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: JennieG
Date: 08 Dec 19 - 04:58 PM

Re Jack's comment of a couple of days ago about media coverage of the fires:

Remember, the media will always go for the dramatic "flames reaching for the sky" photos - not the photos showing ordinary people going about their daily business. Yes, there are a lot of fires right now after an early start to the annual - remember that word, annual - fire season. This year is a bad year, exacerbated by the ongoing drought.

Australia has millions upon millions of eucalyptus trees, and they burn. Nature designed them to burn; the leaves don't break down in mulch, they are full of oil. Distilling eucalyptus oil is an industry which has been going on for many years. These trees can erupt in flame - there's that wonderful photo opportunity! Once the flames are out many of those trees prepare to regenerate, which they do at the first sign of rain.

Seeds of other Aussie plant species, banksias for one, need the heat of fire to break open hard woody pods to release the seeds inside.

In recent years fires in California have been very bad. Some time ago someone decided that, as parts of California and parts of Australia have similar climates, eucalyptus trees could also grow well in California! Well - guess what?

I'll get off me soap box now and have brekky.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Dec 19 - 07:20 AM

Australia Burns Again, and Now Its Biggest City Is Choking - New York Times

Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejects calls for more bushfire help, saying volunteer firefighters 'want to be there' The prime minister disagrees the federal government could do more as ‘nationally coordinated effort’ is in place
The prime minister has rejected calls for more help for firefighters as the New South Wales bushfire crisis is expected to worsen.

There were 85 fires burning across NSW on Tuesday, and 42 were uncontrolled. With predictions of temperatures surpassing 40C and a wind change for the afternoon, firefighters expected conditions to deteriorate.

About 2,700 firefighters are in the field, many from volunteer NSW Rural Fire Service brigades.

As smoke brought the city’s air quality to more than 11 times the hazardous level, Scott Morrison spoke in Sydney about the religious discrimination bill.
Asked about concerns over how long the tens of thousands of volunteer firefighters – many who have been away from work for weeks now – were expected to continue without pay, Morrison said they “want to be there”.

“These fires have been going on for some months now and when I was speaking with the commissioner on the weekend out where we have the megafire at the moment we were talking through the crew rotations,” he said.

“And the fact is these crews, yes, they’re tired, but they also want to be out there defending their communities. And so we do all we can to rotate the shifts to give them those breaks but … in many cases you’ve got to hold them back to make sure they get that rest. And I thank them all for what they’re doing, particularly all those who support them.”

He rejected suggestions that volunteer firefighters – who reportedly make up the largest volunteer firefighting force in the world – should be professionalised

“The volunteer effort is a big part of our natural disaster response and it is a big part of how Australia has always dealt with these issues,” Morrison said.

“We are constantly looking at ways to better facilitate the volunteer effort, but to professionalise that at that scale is not a matter that has previously been accepted and it’s not currently under consideration by the government.”

There are reports of RFS brigades crowdfunding or seeking donations for water and food for those in the field.

Read on if you feel so inclined. I was listening to a volunteer today, who had put in a 10 hour overnight shift fighting fires (not his first such shift), had 2 hours sleep then went to his office, he's a small businessman & needs his income.

The Bawley Point Rural Fire Brigade & another village brigade (Kiola) set up a crowd funding page wanting $5000 & got $45,000.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 08:26 PM

Post by wife of a volunteer goes viral - This post has now had more than 80,000 views.

Open letter by firefighter to Prime Minister in Murdoch paper

Govt responds to calls for more water bombers with $11m for aerial firefighting Funding injection to National Aerial Firefighting Centre comes days after Morrison rejected calls for more help for firefighters

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Bruce D
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 04:49 AM

........" 'Smells like it's time to go to work': American firefighters arrive in Sydney

I was wrong earlier, I thought Americans firefighters had been here in the past. "...........


There is a regular exchange program between USA and the various Australian States, for firefighers to assist each other country in times of extreme fire. The first time I heard of American firefighters was for the 1994 NSW fires. At the monment I believe there firefighters from New Zealand, USA as well possibly Greece and Spain.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 05:04 AM

Canadians too, Bruce - they have come here, and our fire fighters have also gone over there.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Dec 19 - 04:02 PM

The WHOLE COUNTRY at 50 degrees for a week?

Indy 100 article

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Dec 19 - 07:23 PM

not the whole country - the areas affected are inland, mainly in South Australia Bureau of Meteorology

news article published 2 days ago - 'Like a furnace': Massive heatwave could roast Australian records Almost all of mainland Australia will be roasted in a huge heatwave next week, with the mercury likely to nudge 50 degrees in parts of the south ....
On present forecasts, the hottest places may be in South Australia, with the Bureau of Meteorology indicating back-to-back days of 49 and 50 degrees in some remote regions for next Wednesday and Thursday ...
Much of the country's south will exceed 45 degrees by midweek, or 12-16 degrees above the December average, she said ...
Melbourne and Sydney will most likely be spared the worst because of sea breezes, but inland suburbs might still swelter ...
In Sydney, updated forecasts have the city reaching 33 degrees on Thursday while western suburbs such as Penrith could reach 44 degrees, the bureau said ...
The hottest December day was marked in Birdsville, Queensland, on Christmas Eve, 1972, with a 49.5 degree reading ...
Two of Australia's only three reliably measured temperatures above 50 degrees were recorded at Oodnadatta in South Australia, with 50.7 on January 2, 1960, and 50.3 the following day. Mardie in the WA's Pilbara hit 50.5 degrees on February 19, 1998. Oodnadatta is forecast to reach 46-47 degrees for the three days from Tuesday, while Mardie is already in the midst of at least eight days at least 40 degrees.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:14 AM

New South Wales bushfires burn an area greater than Wales Bushfires this season have officially burnt the most land on modern record across eastern New South Wales.
In a special climate statement released on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said spring 2019 saw Australia's highest fire weather danger on record. Even by the end of spring, the extent of the fires this season was exceptional; more than 1.65 million hectares had been burnt in New South Wales.
On December 9, NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons tweeted that fires had burnt about 2.7 million hectares — an area greater than Wales.
Yes, Wales, the country (read on)
Australia's heatwave registers new hottest day on record, BOM says Tuesday was Australia's hottest day on record, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
The average maximum temperature across the country was 40.9 degrees Celsius, breaking the mark of 40.3C set in January 2013, but it's a record unlikely to last for long.
Temperatures got up to well over 45C for much of the interior — the location record (50.7C at Oodnadatta) is still safe — but the wide spread of exceptional heat meant the national average record was broken.
The heat is expected to keep building over the next few days as the air mass moves across the country (read on)

Today in Sydney, on the edge of the CBD with the harbour influence, we got to 24.7, with the western suburbs getting to 35.4 but tomorrow the harbour city will probably hit 40, the western suburbs are expecting 45 & Bondi Beach will likely hit 37.

For those who are not accustomed to Celcius temperatures, 37 is 100.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 09:36 AM

a good news bushfire story bushfire victims return home for Christmas thanks to tiny house win Nina Jongen wins tiny holiday house after friend enters her family in reality television competition

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 03:30 PM

As I've done the last few years, I just visited my family in Sydney (sadly, this time, my main tasks were to help them sell their home and move into care, but we still enjoyed some family time and brief outings), and some days we saw a lot of smoke over the Sutherland Shire; also, as my plane headed north over Aus. to Hong Kong (I had a 4 day stop-over there, before flying back to Manchester) smoke was clearly billowing from large areas of land - as per this slightly out-of-focus photo.

And now, sadly, we hear on the Beeb news and from Sandra, above, of record temperatures, rather than the much needed rain.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Bruce D
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 06:42 PM

Now that the NSW Government has declared a State of Emergency, and formally asked for defence assistance, the Australian Military can formally deploy to assist, before now various military bases could assist in local area, but wern't able to deploy as a united force.

I believe reserve units are being recalled to active service to assist.
In Sydney are sending large numbers of their trained firefighters and the army, airforce and the Navy can use Military Helecopters to assist in firefighting, (during the 1994 bushfires a Navy Safety Equipment specialist designed the first water bucket for use by Helecopters).

About time.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Bruce D
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 07:06 PM

The Australian BOM is saying that this week is the hottest on record, unluckily they are only using corrected data going back to 1939 to obtain the Record.


According to their own original records, un-altered or modified (and also published, 1896 had the hottest days on record, with temperatures ranging between 115 to 125 degrees F across Australia (46 to 51 degree C). This data was logged in official logbooks and then telegraphed back to the BOM offices) and then published in the various newspapers of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Dec 19 - 08:33 PM

Sydney temperature, measured at Observatory Hill on the harbour, was 21.1 at midnight & 37 at noon (20 mins ago)

Penrith was 21.5 at midnight & 39 at noon.

Revised forecasts - Sydney 41 & Penrith 45 & Bondi 33

something beautiful to look at - Cloud-surfing at 3,000ft captures the perfect perfect morning glory clouds Like a surfer on a wave, Mike Zupanc balances high in the sky on a glider while taking photos of cloud formations that many of us can only ever imagine seeing.
The gliding enthusiast-turned-photographer's image of a morning glory cloud titled On Cloud Nine, will feature in the Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) 2020 calendar.
    "People surf waves and for hang gliders we do the same thing," he said.
"We use an engine to help us launch off with power then we get to where the wave is and switch the engine off and just ride the waves of the cloud." (read on)

google image search on "morning glory clouds"

no doubt I'll be posting more fire images soon, but in the meantime enjoy these pics

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Dec 19 - 05:40 PM

2 volunteer firefighters die during fires after RFS truck truck rolls off road Two New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers have died and three other firefighters are injured after their truck rolled in Sydney's south-west.
RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said the truck rolled on Wilson Drive, Buxton as it was travelling in a convoy to battle blazes.
The crash was on the front line of the Green Wattle Creek fire, which is still burning at emergency level.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Dec 19 - 07:45 AM

silence didn't mean nothing happened, mudcat wasn't available when I was on line. national fire map - fires are still across Australia

fires around Sydney
Live bushfire updates: 'Enormous amount of fire' still burning

line of fire trucks   ABC Sydney radio facebook page
NSW bushfire ravages town of Balmoral during devastating day of blazes small village of 400+ residents

the mega fires is still burnings in the wider region where my friends live, tho not near their village Cool change brings relief after catastrophic fire rating day in South East (NSW)

Adelaide Hills bushfire destroys more than 70 homes (South Australia)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Dec 19 - 07:05 AM

VIDEO - fire filmed climbing up 200 metre cliff face in NSW Grose Valley

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Dec 19 - 03:38 PM

The Prime Minister returned from what seems to be a poorly-timed vacation and has made various announcements. How is it going now?

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 04:12 AM

well, the cartoonists & meme creators had a field day Political Cartoons Australia facebook page

One cartoon showed an exhausted firefighter lying in a burnt out clearing, the other side shows the prime minister sunning himself on a lovely beach. Another shows him being returned by his party members to a shop after the Christmas sales.

Back in the olden days one of our Prime Ministers went swimming in rough seas & was never seen again - "I wish people would stop comparing Scott Morrison to Harold Holt. When Holt went missing people actually wanted to find him"

Australian bushfires: the story so far in each state (3 days ago)

Up to 30% of koalas killed in NSW mid-north coast fires as 30% of habitat burnt

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Dec 19 - 09:18 PM

After drought & bushfire, sweet potato is among measures keeping wildlife fed

Bushfires devastate rare wildlife as 'permanently wet' forests burn for the first time. The rainforests along the spine of the Great Dividing Range, between the Hunter River and southern Queensland, are remnants of Gondwana, the ancient supercontinent that broke up about 180 million years ago.
"Listening to the dawn chorus in these forests is literally an acoustic window back in time," ecologist Mark Graham tells RN's Saturday Extra.
"It's like listening to what the world sounded like in the time of the dinosaurs."
The forests are mountaintop islands that have been "permanently wet" for tens of millions of years.
But now, some of these forests are being burnt for the first time. (read on)

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 04:57 AM

Can't paste the link right now, but there was a heartbreaking piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by a rural vet who had seen her entire world burn. Farm animals, pets, wild animals, all gone. Cattle would no longer breed because the heat had killed the sperm in the bulls' testicles. No prospect of anything but ash and desert.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 05:54 AM

Cattle have stopped breeding, koalas die of thirst: A vet's hellish diary of climate change

this story has attracted a lot of attention

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 06:28 AM

Catastrophic ocean warming around Tasmania

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 08:02 AM

thanks, Jack I wasn't aware of the situation in Tasmanian waters.

I can't find any current articles about the kelp, most recent is from May, others from a couple of years ago & I would have seen/heard about it, but I'd forgotten.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Dec 19 - 08:36 AM

I got that story from my brother, who is a biologist who spent most of his career working in Tasmania in stuff relating to commerce and the environment - and the first *he'd* heard about it was via that American newspaper article. The implication being that the Australian media have been appallingly negligent.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Dec 19 - 05:19 AM

Sydney Fireworks go ahead petitions to stop them, on grounds of insensitivity. In my mind I keep hearing "Nero fiddling, while Rome burns".

When I lived in NZ, bonfire night was their summer and sporadic fires from rockets falling on tinder-dry grassland and creating pockets of fire that the fire brigade had to deal with. Professional firework displays would never have that problem would they? Hmmmm, the word hubris is now rattling round my cranium (bumping into insensitivity)

The UK has had some pretty bad fires on the moors in recent years. California?

A pattern is emerging.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 Dec 19 - 06:48 AM

Further away, but much bigger and much hotter:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/27/hot-blob-vast-and-unusual-patch-of-warm-water-off-new-zealand-coast-puzzles-scientists

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Dec 19 - 07:55 AM

thanks Jack & Mr Red

Falls Festival in Lorne cancelled due to forecast extreme bushfire risk About 9,000 disappointed festival-goers have been told to pack up and leave Falls Festival in Lorne on the Great Ocean Road due to predicted extreme weather conditions.
Some people who drove across state lines to attend the annual music festival said they were frustrated the call to cancel was not made earlier.
In a statement announcing the decision, organisers said conditions forecast for the Otways and the surrounding region tomorrow had worsened in the past 12 hours, creating "a risk to health and safety due to potential fires, smoke, severe winds and tree hazards".
We are gutted to make this call but the safety of our patrons, artists and staff is our main priority," said Jessica Ducrou, the co-chief executive of festival organisers Secret Sounds.
Punters will receive full refunds on tickets, including booking and payment-processing fees, as early as 9:00am on Monday. (read on)

Seven artists from the Lorne line-up have arranged last-minute gigs in Melbourne for Sunday and Monday night to alleviate disappointment.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Dec 19 - 08:05 AM

Objectively the Earth is on fire. Personally, do not panic unless you are told "do not panic" by the governmnt.

Subject: RE: BS: Bushfires in Australia - Feb 2009
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Dec 19 - 02:33 AM

How hot will it be today? Christopher Downes often includes a Tasmanian devil in his cartoons.