Lion in Winter

Somewhere called Mallacoota in Victoria.




The people have been taken off in ships. Must be horrible to see that coming for you.

Dorothy

Perhaps not. Neither whinging nor Pom.

Dorothy

A very good friend of mine who lives on Kangaroo Island has likely lost his home. He and his wife are on holiday overseas at the moment so don't know for sure.

old.sparkles

More than one third of the island has burned

rammygirl

We have some rain an SA and cooler weather at the moment. Looks like KI had some too. I live in the Adelaide Hills and fires have been popping up every day Near us from hotspots from the Cudlee Creek Fire, hopefully this will help.

old.sparkles

Further north and away from most of the fires too, but it's also raining here.

Hopefully this will move eastwards to NSW and VIC

Lion in Winter

Never known you to be either

scrubbedexpat098

It's heart breaking seeing some of our favourite places go up in flames. Places we'd go on weekend day trips are buggered it's very sad that the focus seems to be on political point scoring, although it's blatantly obvious that scomo is no leader. .

BadgeIsBack

Problem, Steve, I have is his ad speak and misdirection and sociopathic streaks. By all means go to Hawai before the big issues hit Christmas / New Year, and leave to States: but don't tie up Federal action into an *Ad* sponsored by you as leader of Libs. If tweeted, the points only should be sponsored by office of Pm / leader of commonwealth govt in an executive capacity.

I am a natural Lib voter, Steve, but Sooty / Smoko has rather 1 too many misdirected sound bites for my liking. He has finally been worked out as all marketing.

I resent being told that we can do this because we are Aussies. We do it because we can and despite his buffonery of taking coal into Parliament. I think there is not much we can do to effect climate change, as a matter of fact, but we can start federal responses and leasing a sqn of water bombers.

Pollyana

Just to comment on a couple of your points - back burning and fire breaks only come into play as a means of controlling a fire, rather than fire prevention.

The following is an excellent description of back burning vs hazard reduction burns, taken from the FB page of
‎Fire and Rescue NSW Station 428 Queanbeyan‎

To start, Hazard Reduction burns are exactly as the name suggests. They are specifically designed to minimise hazards (think: heavy ground fuel loading) around urban interface-bush areas. Usually small areas that are designed to lessen the intensity (not stop, that’s key) that a fire will impact that interface. Usually completed in the cooler months when fire behaviour is less intense and much more preferable in a strategic sense than.....
BACKBURNING. Backburning is a tactical option used AFTER a bushfire has started in attempt to burn the fire back on to itself, therefore creating the buffer zone of already burnt ground that can’t be reburnt, obviously. The problem with conducting a backburn is that they’re often done with little time to account for things like flame height, fuel loading, temperature and wind changes and can sometimes increase the size of the fire front. They are often a last resort tactic to again lessen the impact (again, not STOP) of a bushfire.
Political parties of any denomination do NOT influence the decisions of organisations like FRNSW, ACT Fire and Rescue, ACT and NSW Rural Fire Services and Parks and Wildlife Services when choosing when and how to do Hazard Reduction burns. It just doesn’t work like that. The main reason Hazard Reduction burns are cancelled or delayed is due to the predicted intensity of the burn exceeding the limits that would make it safe for firefighters, native flora and fauna and obviously you wonderful people.

Danny B

Looks bloody awful. I'm praying for rain for you tonight.

BEVS

Yes.

The continent needs rain and plenty of that and more. It needs the drought to break. It needs no wind.

I really wish it would.

KJMW

I didn't know it had! I still read plenty of 'shite'!

BEVS

& you read plenty of really good & interesting stuff too I would hope.

This thread is about the dreadful multiple life threatening ( people, wildlife, flora and fauna) bush fire situations in Australia.

Those with feet on the ground there are commenting and posting how it is for them right now faced with this. Same for all those around them or in other states faced with this.

This isn't a game of ping pong posts which I am sure you will know as an ex-fireman . This is real on the ground stuff going down.

What might make sense in some situations is not sensible or practical in others. To a far lesser degree me and him know this from last summer here in NZ when faced with a bush fire. Himself being a 2nd responder.

Pollyana knows her stuff and more. She bothered to post on this from a front line. Please do read her stuff and digest.

KJMW

I read plenty of interesting comments here. I also have, as you raised the subject that as a retired Fireman, I have nothing but admiration for the efforts those Firefighters are putting in. I also know, probably with much more accuracy and knowledge than you could possibly have what sort of stress they are under. I was asked a question and I replied. I'm sure Polyanna, if she didn't"t like my reply, would be more than capable of saying so.