Southern Australia bush fires
Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:37 pm
I just heard about the horriffic brush fires in South Aust. Are all our Ozzie members from that region safe?
Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:47 pm
My state of Queensland is more than 60 per cent or 1 million square kilometres under water Its the worst wet in more than 30 years. Australia is a land of extremes.
While Victoria in the south faces this
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html
While Victoria in the south faces this
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html
Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:51 pm
There are significant bush fires in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
Victoria (my state) confirms 26 dead and possibly as many as 40. Yesterday was the hottest and windiest day in recorded history in Melbourne with 47 degrees C (116.6F) and high winds. Thankfully today is a lot cooler at about 25 degrees with much more moderate winds. Last week we had four days over 43 degrees.
It looks like several rural towns have been burnt out, including Marysville.
AFAIK, most Aussie WIX members are resident in the cities, and unlikely to be under threat.
News here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
And here:
http://www.theage.com.au/
Thanks for asking.
Regards,
Victoria (my state) confirms 26 dead and possibly as many as 40. Yesterday was the hottest and windiest day in recorded history in Melbourne with 47 degrees C (116.6F) and high winds. Thankfully today is a lot cooler at about 25 degrees with much more moderate winds. Last week we had four days over 43 degrees.
It looks like several rural towns have been burnt out, including Marysville.
AFAIK, most Aussie WIX members are resident in the cities, and unlikely to be under threat.
News here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
And here:
http://www.theage.com.au/
Thanks for asking.
Regards,
Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:41 pm
Death toll in Victoria confirmed at 35 so far. Fires and fire conditions look set to continue into next week.
Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:12 pm
West-Front - I believe Queensland is where Iron Range Airbase is located. I would think there is a good chance all that water might reveal some buried aircraft parts. I recall that a P-40, as well as large sections of a B-26, have been recovered from there. Aren't there supposed to be burial pits at Iron Range, although they have been elusive up til now? Have you ever had a chance to explore the base?
Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:16 am
The reports and video footage of the fires look terrible.
My two cousins live VERY close to Kinglake, Victoria, which you have probably read about or seen in the reports from the area.
The news says that Kinglake was almost entirely destroyed and that the area is a burning wasteland now.
Thankfully I was in touch with my family in Melbourne and they've assured me that both my cousins are fine, but are evacuating out of the area.
My thoughts are with the people fighting for the lives in fire effected areas. But, let's not forget the people fighting flooding in Queensland.
Cheers,
David
My two cousins live VERY close to Kinglake, Victoria, which you have probably read about or seen in the reports from the area.
The news says that Kinglake was almost entirely destroyed and that the area is a burning wasteland now.
Thankfully I was in touch with my family in Melbourne and they've assured me that both my cousins are fine, but are evacuating out of the area.
My thoughts are with the people fighting for the lives in fire effected areas. But, let's not forget the people fighting flooding in Queensland.
Cheers,
David
Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:24 am
Hi David,
It seems calm and quiet here in Melbourne, only 21 degrees C (70F) after yesterday's horror temps. We've even had some showers this morning.
But it's clearly a different story up country, with reports now saying over 50 deaths. More shockingly, some of the fires may well have been arson. Only a few days ago a young man was charged with setting bushfires - it appears he wanted his (volunteer) fire brigade called out. Let's hope the cops pick them up before anyone else does.
With the Queensland floods, it's a salutary reminder than nature still has the upper hand.
Glad to hear your relatives are OK.
Cheers,
It seems calm and quiet here in Melbourne, only 21 degrees C (70F) after yesterday's horror temps. We've even had some showers this morning.
But it's clearly a different story up country, with reports now saying over 50 deaths. More shockingly, some of the fires may well have been arson. Only a few days ago a young man was charged with setting bushfires - it appears he wanted his (volunteer) fire brigade called out. Let's hope the cops pick them up before anyone else does.
With the Queensland floods, it's a salutary reminder than nature still has the upper hand.
Glad to hear your relatives are OK.
Cheers,
Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:13 am
Update.
At least eighty four Victorians didn't make it. 700+ homes gone including a couple of small towns. Fires still burning.
Probably the worst bushfires in the country's history.
Wishing the best of luck to those up country and the CFA volunteer fire fighters.
At least eighty four Victorians didn't make it. 700+ homes gone including a couple of small towns. Fires still burning.
Probably the worst bushfires in the country's history.
Wishing the best of luck to those up country and the CFA volunteer fire fighters.
Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:21 am
I've been listening to the Australian ABC radio online (774 Melbourne) and the death toll is at least 84. Also looked up Marysville's website - it was a nice little town; reminded me of Julian, CA which was almost lost in a wildfire several years ago. Looks like Marysville's nearly all gone now. 
http://www.abc.net.au/centralvic/radio/?nav=true
I haven't heard about air tankers over there; do they have any?
http://www.abc.net.au/centralvic/radio/?nav=true
I haven't heard about air tankers over there; do they have any?
Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:35 am
Yes, Marysville was a lovely alpine place.
A Marysville church - probably now lost.
The CFA are using several Erickson air cranes (brought over from the USA) and smaller fixed wing and helicopters. The problem is that there's a major drought on, and few large catchments available. While I'd love to see a Mars here, it would only be able to pick up salt from the sea or Port Philip Bay. Melbourne's dams are at less than 1/3, full and I doubt any are large enough for fixed wing pick up at the best of times.
Yesterdays problem was extreme heat and high winds - very fast moving fires, beating containment efforts I suspect.
The death toll will rise.
Black day.
A Marysville church - probably now lost.
The CFA are using several Erickson air cranes (brought over from the USA) and smaller fixed wing and helicopters. The problem is that there's a major drought on, and few large catchments available. While I'd love to see a Mars here, it would only be able to pick up salt from the sea or Port Philip Bay. Melbourne's dams are at less than 1/3, full and I doubt any are large enough for fixed wing pick up at the best of times.
Yesterdays problem was extreme heat and high winds - very fast moving fires, beating containment efforts I suspect.
The death toll will rise.
Black day.
Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:04 am
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 52,00.html
LATEST: THE death toll from Victoria's horror bushfires has hit 84, police say - making it the worst bushfire disaster in Australian history.
Seven of the latest reported deaths were in Steels Creek, southeast of Kinglake, with two deaths in Mudgegonga, near Beechworth in the state's northeast, and one at St Andrews, also near Kinglake, Victoria Police confirmed.
The revised death toll makes the Victorian bushfires the worst in Australian history. The Black Friday blaze in 1939 claimed 71 lives, while the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires had a death toll of 75.
Victorian Premier John Brumby this afternoon asked Australians to "dig deep" and donate to appeals for the "state in mourning".
Donations can be made to The Salvation Army's Victorian Bushfire Appeal by calling 13 SALVOS (137258) or online to www.salvos.com.au.
Those who wish to donate to the Red Cross can do so at their website, www.redcross.org.au.
Fires still burn around the state.
The threat to townships from the Bunyip Ridge and Churchill fires in Gippsland has subsided, but residents need to remain alert, fire authorities say.
At least another eight people are in critical condition in hospital, and as emergency services move back into areas which had been isolated by fire they have warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
Graphic pictures: Fire fronts
More pictures: Dramatic images from the fires
Video: Grim search for bodies
Video: Bunyip Park fire threatens towns
Witness tells: 'It was like a holocaust'
Interactive map: Victorian fire disaster
Are you there? Send us pictures
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said "Hell and all its fury" had come to Victoria and pledged a $10 million federal and state emergency relief fund.
"Many good people now lie dead. Many others lie injured. This is an appalling tragedy ... for the nation," he said.
Police say arsonists could face murder or manslaughter charges if the fires were found to be deliberately lit.
Nine of the dead were from the Churchill fire in the Gippsland region in Victoria's east.
Four people were killed in the Gippsland town of Callignee and one more in Upper Callignee, three have died in Hazelwood and one at Jeeralang.
The four killed in Callignee were believed to be found in the same car.
Other deaths were all the north of Melbourne - one in the major regional city of Bendigo and many from the massive blaze around Kinglake.
Six were killed at Kinglake, six at Kinglake West, four at Wandong and St Andrews, three at Humevale, and one in Arthurs Creek.
The ages and sex of the deceased is not known in all cases, however police expect that some of the lives lost will include children.
"We are sadly predicting more deaths,'' Victoria's police chief commissioner Christine Nixon told reporters in Kangaroo Ground in the fire-ravaged Yarra Valley.
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed across the state.
Premier John Brumby said at least 20 people were in The Alfred hospital in Melbourne with serious burns.
The path of the Victorian bushfires
More than 20 fires continued to burn across Victoria on Sunday after horrific heat and wind on Saturday set the state ablaze.
Virtually the entire township of Marysville in the Yarra Valley was destroyed overnight as the East Kilmore and Murrindindi Mill fires merged into a massive blaze.
Earlier today, authorities feared about 100 homes had been destroyed as nine major blazes burnt out of control across Victoria in the worst fire conditions in the state's history - but reports this morning suggest the fires may have claimed at least 400 properties.
An ABC reporter who flew over one of the communities devastated by the fires said the township had been 'obliterated'.
The reporter told ABC television it was "fair to say the town of Marysville no longer exists".
One witness to the fires told how the disaster was "like a holocaust".
Thousands battle fires
More than 3000 firefighters and many more residents battled major fronts at Horsham, Coleraine, Weerite, Kilmore East, Bunyip, Churchill, Dargo, Murrindindi and Redesdale in all corners of the scorched state as the searing heat in the mid 40s and high winds exceeded authorities' predictions of the worst fire conditions in the state's history.
The Kilmore region in the north and several areas of Gippsland in the east were on high alert as an uneasy dusk fell, while the Horsham fire was downgraded early in the evening.
Fifty houses were reportedly lost in the Bendigo area in the Redesdale blaze and up to 30 houses went up in the Kilmore fire which pushed across Whittlesea and into the town of Kinglake, northwest of Melbourne, which one resident said had gone up in flames.
"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell told ABC Radio.
"There was was no time to do anything . . . it came through in minutes.
"There'll be a massive loss of houses . . . there'll be a lot of us homeless.
"All those who have made it into town will be fine. The others will be sheltering and working on their fire plans, God help them."
Fire trucks 'could not get through'
Mr Mitchell said he was with around 200 residents holed up in the local pub and that no fire trucks could get into the town.
Thousands more residents in the region were sheltering wherever they could find cover as they were warned the worst was to come overnight.
A cool change early Saturday evening did not bring any respite but, in fact, was expected to create more volatile conditions.
"It hasn't helped the firefighters, only presented them with new fronts," the Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokeswoman said.
La Trobe Valley power stations were under threat as a fire on the eastern fringes of the Strzelecki Ranges spread toward the Gippsland coast, threatening towns such as Yarram, Langsbrough and Manns Beach.
"It is pretty well every part of the state except the far northwest," CFA Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Haynes said.
The Horsham fire burnt 5700 hectares and claimed at least three homes, the town's golf club and several sheds.
The Bunyip State Park fire reached 2400 hectares, and one at Kilmore burned 2000 hectares.
CFA deputy chief fire officer John Haynes said it would be about midnight, after the cool change had swept across the state, before fire fighters knew whether they had got on top of the blazes.
"Our guys have been flat out trying to fight the fires and trying to pin them down a bit," Mr Haynes said.
"The fire weather . . . was extreme and off the scale."
By 6pm, at least one house was destroyed at Coleraine in Victoria's west, in Melbourne's southeast three homes were destroyed at Lyndbrook; and north of Melbourne six houses were destroyed at Wandong and one at Whittlesea.
Homes were also lost in Labertouche, near the Bunyip State Park east of Melbourne.
"There will be more to come," Mr Haynes said.
The fires came as Melbourne reached its hottest ever temperature of 46.4 degrees, while nearby Avalon recorded the state's high of 47.9.
New South Wales fires
Firefighters have been pushed to the limit as more than 40 fires raged throughout NSW in difficult hot, dry and windy conditions.
Police said they were questioning a man after he was arrested for allegedly lighting fires which threatened dozens of homes on the NSW Central Coast.
Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews were most concerned about a series of fires near Peats Ridge as several fires moved rapidly through Brisbane Water National Park.
About 250 firefighters battled the blaze with five aircraft and more than 20 fire tankers.
New South Wales fire investigation
However, in South Australia, the Gawler bushfire has been downgraded and authorities say people can return to their homes.
South Australian bushfire advice
A spokeswoman from South Australia's Country Fire Service said about 155 fire fighters, assisted by four fixed-wing waterbombing aircraft and helicopters, helped contain the fire.
LATEST: THE death toll from Victoria's horror bushfires has hit 84, police say - making it the worst bushfire disaster in Australian history.
Seven of the latest reported deaths were in Steels Creek, southeast of Kinglake, with two deaths in Mudgegonga, near Beechworth in the state's northeast, and one at St Andrews, also near Kinglake, Victoria Police confirmed.
The revised death toll makes the Victorian bushfires the worst in Australian history. The Black Friday blaze in 1939 claimed 71 lives, while the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires had a death toll of 75.
Victorian Premier John Brumby this afternoon asked Australians to "dig deep" and donate to appeals for the "state in mourning".
Donations can be made to The Salvation Army's Victorian Bushfire Appeal by calling 13 SALVOS (137258) or online to www.salvos.com.au.
Those who wish to donate to the Red Cross can do so at their website, www.redcross.org.au.
Fires still burn around the state.
The threat to townships from the Bunyip Ridge and Churchill fires in Gippsland has subsided, but residents need to remain alert, fire authorities say.
At least another eight people are in critical condition in hospital, and as emergency services move back into areas which had been isolated by fire they have warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
Graphic pictures: Fire fronts
More pictures: Dramatic images from the fires
Video: Grim search for bodies
Video: Bunyip Park fire threatens towns
Witness tells: 'It was like a holocaust'
Interactive map: Victorian fire disaster
Are you there? Send us pictures
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said "Hell and all its fury" had come to Victoria and pledged a $10 million federal and state emergency relief fund.
"Many good people now lie dead. Many others lie injured. This is an appalling tragedy ... for the nation," he said.
Police say arsonists could face murder or manslaughter charges if the fires were found to be deliberately lit.
Nine of the dead were from the Churchill fire in the Gippsland region in Victoria's east.
Four people were killed in the Gippsland town of Callignee and one more in Upper Callignee, three have died in Hazelwood and one at Jeeralang.
The four killed in Callignee were believed to be found in the same car.
Other deaths were all the north of Melbourne - one in the major regional city of Bendigo and many from the massive blaze around Kinglake.
Six were killed at Kinglake, six at Kinglake West, four at Wandong and St Andrews, three at Humevale, and one in Arthurs Creek.
The ages and sex of the deceased is not known in all cases, however police expect that some of the lives lost will include children.
"We are sadly predicting more deaths,'' Victoria's police chief commissioner Christine Nixon told reporters in Kangaroo Ground in the fire-ravaged Yarra Valley.
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed across the state.
Premier John Brumby said at least 20 people were in The Alfred hospital in Melbourne with serious burns.
The path of the Victorian bushfires
More than 20 fires continued to burn across Victoria on Sunday after horrific heat and wind on Saturday set the state ablaze.
Virtually the entire township of Marysville in the Yarra Valley was destroyed overnight as the East Kilmore and Murrindindi Mill fires merged into a massive blaze.
Earlier today, authorities feared about 100 homes had been destroyed as nine major blazes burnt out of control across Victoria in the worst fire conditions in the state's history - but reports this morning suggest the fires may have claimed at least 400 properties.
An ABC reporter who flew over one of the communities devastated by the fires said the township had been 'obliterated'.
The reporter told ABC television it was "fair to say the town of Marysville no longer exists".
One witness to the fires told how the disaster was "like a holocaust".
Thousands battle fires
More than 3000 firefighters and many more residents battled major fronts at Horsham, Coleraine, Weerite, Kilmore East, Bunyip, Churchill, Dargo, Murrindindi and Redesdale in all corners of the scorched state as the searing heat in the mid 40s and high winds exceeded authorities' predictions of the worst fire conditions in the state's history.
The Kilmore region in the north and several areas of Gippsland in the east were on high alert as an uneasy dusk fell, while the Horsham fire was downgraded early in the evening.
Fifty houses were reportedly lost in the Bendigo area in the Redesdale blaze and up to 30 houses went up in the Kilmore fire which pushed across Whittlesea and into the town of Kinglake, northwest of Melbourne, which one resident said had gone up in flames.
"The whole township is pretty much on fire," Peter Mitchell told ABC Radio.
"There was was no time to do anything . . . it came through in minutes.
"There'll be a massive loss of houses . . . there'll be a lot of us homeless.
"All those who have made it into town will be fine. The others will be sheltering and working on their fire plans, God help them."
Fire trucks 'could not get through'
Mr Mitchell said he was with around 200 residents holed up in the local pub and that no fire trucks could get into the town.
Thousands more residents in the region were sheltering wherever they could find cover as they were warned the worst was to come overnight.
A cool change early Saturday evening did not bring any respite but, in fact, was expected to create more volatile conditions.
"It hasn't helped the firefighters, only presented them with new fronts," the Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokeswoman said.
La Trobe Valley power stations were under threat as a fire on the eastern fringes of the Strzelecki Ranges spread toward the Gippsland coast, threatening towns such as Yarram, Langsbrough and Manns Beach.
"It is pretty well every part of the state except the far northwest," CFA Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Haynes said.
The Horsham fire burnt 5700 hectares and claimed at least three homes, the town's golf club and several sheds.
The Bunyip State Park fire reached 2400 hectares, and one at Kilmore burned 2000 hectares.
CFA deputy chief fire officer John Haynes said it would be about midnight, after the cool change had swept across the state, before fire fighters knew whether they had got on top of the blazes.
"Our guys have been flat out trying to fight the fires and trying to pin them down a bit," Mr Haynes said.
"The fire weather . . . was extreme and off the scale."
By 6pm, at least one house was destroyed at Coleraine in Victoria's west, in Melbourne's southeast three homes were destroyed at Lyndbrook; and north of Melbourne six houses were destroyed at Wandong and one at Whittlesea.
Homes were also lost in Labertouche, near the Bunyip State Park east of Melbourne.
"There will be more to come," Mr Haynes said.
The fires came as Melbourne reached its hottest ever temperature of 46.4 degrees, while nearby Avalon recorded the state's high of 47.9.
New South Wales fires
Firefighters have been pushed to the limit as more than 40 fires raged throughout NSW in difficult hot, dry and windy conditions.
Police said they were questioning a man after he was arrested for allegedly lighting fires which threatened dozens of homes on the NSW Central Coast.
Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews were most concerned about a series of fires near Peats Ridge as several fires moved rapidly through Brisbane Water National Park.
About 250 firefighters battled the blaze with five aircraft and more than 20 fire tankers.
New South Wales fire investigation
However, in South Australia, the Gawler bushfire has been downgraded and authorities say people can return to their homes.
South Australian bushfire advice
A spokeswoman from South Australia's Country Fire Service said about 155 fire fighters, assisted by four fixed-wing waterbombing aircraft and helicopters, helped contain the fire.
Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:10 am
george wrote:West-Front - I believe Queensland is where Iron Range Airbase is located. I would think there is a good chance all that water might reveal some buried aircraft parts. I recall that a P-40, as well as large sections of a B-26, have been recovered from there. Aren't there supposed to be burial pits at Iron Range, although they have been elusive up til now? Have you ever had a chance to explore the base?
Sadly no, when I first started collecting MV's in the mid to late 80's I heard the Sid Beck story of the recovery of the P-39, (which always quickened the pulse about such discoveries) but I'm now based in South East Queensland.
I had family up in Cairns until quite recently and Ingham suffered signifcant cyclone damage in 2006 so they were techincally just getting back on their feet from that, reports are that the rain has resumed and there is more flooding there.
Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:44 pm
Glad to hear your friends and families are safe, fellows. I looked at the media slideshow on the web and the big fire pictures from Bunyip Star Park are pretty scary to say the least.
WestFront- we know how you feel on the flood issue. Are you in the Cairns area? I have an acquaintance there from the PBY website, Wynnum Graham. Knowing him, he's probably out volunteering with the disaster relief.
One thing the American media had muddled a couple of days ago was that they didnt' clarify between southern Australia and the actual state of South Australia. The fires are in Victoria. I've never been down under but I do have at least some idea of your nations geography.
Stay safe mates.
regards
Doug
WestFront- we know how you feel on the flood issue. Are you in the Cairns area? I have an acquaintance there from the PBY website, Wynnum Graham. Knowing him, he's probably out volunteering with the disaster relief.
One thing the American media had muddled a couple of days ago was that they didnt' clarify between southern Australia and the actual state of South Australia. The fires are in Victoria. I've never been down under but I do have at least some idea of your nations geography.
Stay safe mates.
regards
Doug
Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:55 am
Hi Doug
My wife and I live in Redlands shire, about 15mins drive to the bayside
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/see-and-do/p ... nds-region
Large sections of Australia are drought effected,the irony is now that North Queensland is flooding, yet the south east corner has little rain. If you look at this site
http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/
You can read all the flood warnings further down stream, its very hard to concieve the devastation thats being wreaked North of where we are. Today was extremely hot, no wind, the ground is literally baking.....
One thing to keep in mind is that when the fires sweep thru the Australian bush, it literally explodes. 150KPH winds, lots of dry material for the fire to consume (as a result of no rainfall) little or no warning for people to escape. The death toll is 131 but estimates are it will be at least 230.
Awful, truly awful
Cam
My wife and I live in Redlands shire, about 15mins drive to the bayside
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/see-and-do/p ... nds-region
Large sections of Australia are drought effected,the irony is now that North Queensland is flooding, yet the south east corner has little rain. If you look at this site
http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/
You can read all the flood warnings further down stream, its very hard to concieve the devastation thats being wreaked North of where we are. Today was extremely hot, no wind, the ground is literally baking.....
One thing to keep in mind is that when the fires sweep thru the Australian bush, it literally explodes. 150KPH winds, lots of dry material for the fire to consume (as a result of no rainfall) little or no warning for people to escape. The death toll is 131 but estimates are it will be at least 230.
Awful, truly awful
Cam
Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:09 am
Terrible. During the California fires near San Diego, I think only a few killed. What's the problem in terms of timely evacuations? Are the fires moving too fast from high wind? I heard on the radio, that a family tried to outspeed the flames in their car, but they caught up and killed the family.