Simone

Yep, that's what it was, only I was nearly next to it!!

Simone

As said in the "moon is red" thread, the smoke is all over Perth now.
Someone just opened the front door here(I'm the receptionist) and I literally felt sick. It looks like it's getting worse down here (Maddington, foothills)

When I drove onto the freeway this morning, I thought, I wonder how well I can see the skyscrapers(it's only 4 km's). I thought, hmm, they should be sort of straight ahead, but must be behind some trees.... 1 km further, oh there they are, in front of me all that time, but not visible!!


Fire is now north east of Mundaring Weir, so Mt Helena, Chidlow etc.
Mundaring Weir Hotel is in the middle of it all(where we went for our anniversary in Nov...) heard the owner on the radio this morning, he's staying with it, but made all the staff leave.

Heard on the radio this morning 2 pet rabbits had died from smoke inhalation, ahhhh.

Larissa

That's a real shame, that place is a treasure... I hope they get the pratt who started them all

Simone

Yeah, I don't know how dangerous it is there exactly.

They're telling people in Sawyers Vally, Mt Helena etc to get ready to maybe evacuate though. They've contained the fire, but there is a bit of a breeze, and it could jump the boundaries.

I read somewhere that one of the fires was from lightning, but don't know which one.
Most were by a fire bug though, probably the same one.


They just said on the news they're expecting the smoke to clear at about lunch, when the Freo doctor comes in.
We're very inland though, and no sign yet of anything clearing, so I think it'll be a while yet for here.

Argh, have to probably go out and get the bosses lunch in a sec, only a 5 min walk though

Teresa

Graham has rang from Leederville and his eyes are stinging with smoke, said he couldn't see city from freeway earlier, I have just been out and smoke is right up here again, coast side, can't see the hill from here by sea that we usually can and smoke is like someone next door having a bonfire, its that bad!! heard on news advising people in Perth and surrounding areas to stay in, especially elderly, children and anyone with respiratory problems.

Simone

Yep, and the seabreeze isn't expected to hit the city (and beyond...) untill about 2/3 pm.

Here's the latest news on the fires:
http://www.abc.net.au/perth/news/200501/s1284870.htm

And just on the news they said if there's a wind change Mundaring could be in danger (in the above story they're talking about Mundaring Weir, where the hotel and youth hostel is, plus some houses)

Simone

And if you didn't know, don't turn your aircons on!!! (though if you had, it's too late now anyway....)

renth

Sea breeze is here at UWA

Siren & Brian

The smoke has been unbelievable here in Duncraig! The whole house smells like a bonfire and outside looks like a fogged in airport.
I dreamt of fire last night... I wonder why?

Siren

Go Banana's !!

SO DID I :scared:

Only my dream had the added delight of being struck by meteors!!

Jill

Simone

OMG, so did I!! Ok, wasn't that suprising then.

Featured my grandma(in Holland!!), apparently her animals(were the goats and chooks I had when I was 13).
We had to evacuate, so we were giving all the animals lots of water. Couldn't take them with us, so had to hope they didn't burn allive :scared:

Siren & Brian

Creepy... although not THAT surprising really.

Mine had to do with a house fire and getting the kids out of thier bedrooms safely. Very scary when you can actually SMELL the smoke :scared:

Siren

Mel Gibson

" l love the smell of Bushfire in the morning"
quote: Banjo Patterson, Bush poet.

unrefined_mind

Check out this site for (almost live) satellite images of the bush fires..

http://www.sentinel.csiro.au

Graham

Simone

Well, the fires are contained/under control. But there's still lots of smoke(espec here in the southeastern suburbs) and the weekend will be about 37C, so they're still very very cautious, making the firebreaks/containment lines bigger.

Jandacot Airport was closed(this morning anyway), and apparently there were cops at some intersections down that way directing traffic!!!
There a breeze going here now, hopefully it'll be gone by 2 pm.

Article from The West:

The fire that has blackened 25,000ha of Perth hills bush could flare again this weekend <snip>
A forecast of weekend temperatures in the high 30s is worrying firefighters, who have had to contend with a massive 150 km line of fire.
<snip>
While the blaze has been contained, it has not been declared safe, posing further danger if winds picks up. The threat to communities around Mundaring, east of Perth, had eased but the fire was still burning in big patches within containment lines.
The massive smoke haze that has shrouded the metropolitan area in the past few days - the worst of its kind recorded in Perth - could stick around much longer. (most expected to dissapear within next few days)
<snip>

Air quality monitoring results from the Dep of Environment showed the Los Angeles-style haze that settled on the city centre on Wednesday created air pollution measuring more than 100 micrograms per cubic metre, more than twice the national air quality standard of 50 micrograms. <snip>

Environment minister Judy Edwards said it was the biggest and most intense fire in the northern jarrah forest since the Dwellingup fire in the 1960's.

The fire has reignited debate on the merits of prescribed burning, which CALM claimed had helped prevent an even bigger blaze.

Mr Walker said the fire had demonstrated the importance of creating wide buffers in forests to stop the run of big fires. Of the 25000ha burnt, the bulk of which was State forest, more than 3000ha had been deliberately burnt in the past 3 years.
Mr Walker said CALM had a target to burn 200,000ha a year in the South-West region.
But Conversation Councill vice-president Beth Schultz said the prescribed burning technique had been created by foresters to protectt timber resources. She said it could be disastrous for many species of flora and fauna. She did not want a blanket ban on prescribed burns but believed many people are unaware of how frequent burns could damage biodiversity.
<snip>