Here we go again...

[Opsa]

 

< Let there be umbrellas!

[Pachyderm]

 

[pieces o nine]

¡RAIN MOJO!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

    

And now, this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwrKKbaClME

[youtube=425,350]NwrKKbaClME[/youtube]

[Bluenose]

Thanks guys.

We have been enduring the smell of smoke the last day or two, last night was the worst so far, we woke up this morning to the stench of it right through the house.  Bear in mind that the majority of these fire are 100-200 km away from here.  Today is going to be very hot and windy and a number of the fires in Victoria are being tightly watched.  Apparently the fire fighters have been spending the last few days establishing strong control lines around the main fires to protect towns and so on, but if it really gets going there will be not much they can do.  Many people in places like Harrietville have evacuated, which is a reflection in the change in the way the authorities have been talking about how to deal with fire.  Previously the message was much more encouraging to people to stay and try to defend their property.  Now the message about what makes a property defensible is much more explicitly laid out and only the most well prepared and situated properties are considered OK to stay in.  Also, since Black Saturday, many people have built fire refuge bunkers and there has been established an official building code for these.  We are as prepared as we can be, now it remains to see just what nature has in store for us.

To reiterate, my place is nowhere near under any threat, but I really do feel for my fellow countrymen who are facing potential disaster.  We have still got another couple of months to go of this until the fire season is over.  I just hope it's not another apocalypse.

[Griffin NoName]

........ we woke up this morning to the stench of it right through the house.  Bear in mind that the majority of these fire are 100-200 km away from here. 

We are (apparently) suffering some ghastly smells (bad eggs, cabbage water, etc) from a leak in Rouen, France, which has now been named  Le Pong. It has not penetrated my defence systems.

I tried asking my son in Sydney about the fires, and he more or less said, what fires. I have no idea if he was being ironic; he is hard to read. Or maybe he just doesn't listen to the news.

[Bluenose]

I guess the fires in New South Wales are not really near Sydney, the Warrumbungles National Park is a long way north west of that city and as well, in my experience, Sydney-siders generally don't seem to have as an acute awareness of fires in the way Melbournians do.  This is probably because of the extreme fire risk that some of Melbourne's outskirts are often under with for example the Dandenong ranges, which are just east of the metropolitan boundary, being rated as the equal worst fire risk areas in the world on a par with worst fire risk areas of California.  The fires in Victoria, although not particularly near the Melbourne certainly are on our collective mind.  The smell of smoke no doubt assists with this, plus a lot of people in the outer parts of Melbourne live in or adjacent to bad fire risk areas and are either members or know people who are members of the CFA (Country Fire Authority) which is a largely voluntary fire fighting organisation.  In this State there are three main fire departments, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade which looks after most of Melbourne, the CFA which looks after country areas and outer suburbs of Melbourne and the Department of Sustainability and Environment which looks after public lands (National Parks, State forests and other crown land areas).  The MFB is entirely paid professional fire fighters, the DSE is likewise staffed by paid employees whereas the CFA has some paid fire fighters, especially in outer Melbourne but is mostly comprised of volunteers as I said earlier.  The three services coordinate their efforts and it is not that uncommon for members from different services working side by side.  Add to the mix there is the State Emergency Service, another volunteer organisation, which provides logistical support to the fire fighting effort, for example manning the radio services and providing assistance in clearing up burnt out properties and conducting recovery operations to assist the police after fires, car crashes and so on.  In country areas most people are members of one volunteer organisation or another (and there a lot more than just those I have mentioned), all having their part to play in disaster situations.

It's hard to imagine that anyone in the country would not be aware of the fires, although when I lived in Sydney, I did find that the city is much more parochial than I was used to.  It is not all that uncommon for those living there to simply assume that Sydney equates with the rest of the country and if it does not happen in Sydney it does not happen.  Obviously this is a huge generalisation and no doubt everywhere has people like that, but I have found it more noticeable there.

[Griffin NoName]

It's hard to imagine that anyone in the country would not be aware of the fires, .........

Thanks for explaining. Since the fires have been on our national news, it is hard to see how someone living in Australia would not know about them!!

[Swatopluk]

Well, I am better informed about US than German politics too

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

But then who will explain German politics to us?  
---
Blue, the only thing I can think is this:

[Swatopluk]

But then who will explain German politics to us?  

It's so boring, you would not want to have it explained (if there is any explanation)

Sorry for going

[Bluenose]

Sorry for going

Well, this IS the Toadfish Monastery.  After all, we're the all time champion thread drifters, so nothing new then...   

BTW, the cool change has come early today and it seems that this has resulted in much less likelihood of a breakout of the two main fires.  Keep those toadfish fins crossed that it stays that way.

[Aggie]

Blue, do you hire seasonal firefighters to specifically battle wildfires? This is the way it's handled here.
_{There are occasional rumours of fires being set in low-activity years by seasonal firefighters who aren't getting enough employment (hopefully not true).}
The forests are big business here, and quite a bit of money is spent protecting them.

[Opsa]

Keep fanning your fins, Siblings!!!

[Bluenose]

Blue, do you hire seasonal firefighters to specifically battle wildfires? This is the way it's handled here.
_{There are occasional rumours of fires being set in low-activity years by seasonal firefighters who aren't getting enough employment (hopefully not true).}
The forests are big business here, and quite a bit of money is spent protecting them.

No, the only paid fire-fighters are the metropolitan fire brigade members and the employees of the Department of Sustainability and Environment, roughly equivalent to park rangers, I suppose.  There are paid members of the various volunteer fire fighting organisations but they mostly are back office people.  The overwhelming majority of fire-fighters in the bush are volunteers.

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Well the wedding has been and gone, number  one son has been married off and is now on his honeymoon in Thailand with his bride.  Lucky bastard...

We had a heap of people here the next day for a brunch BBQ - bacon & egg rolls, fresh fruit, orange juice and tea & coffee.  It went very well, got a real chance to chat with people in a relaxing setting.  The weather was mild and it was very pleasant sitting around outside and getting to know everyone.

---

Now, the fires are not so bad, a few days of cooler weather has made all the difference.  The main fires are not yet under control but are no longer threatening property so that is good.  OTOH, the flooding as the remnants of ex tropical cyclone Oswald makes its way down the eastern seaboard are causing much misery to people recovering from similar flooding only a couple of years ago.  So far 4 people have lost their lives in the flood, the latest was a little 3 year old boy who died in hospital last night from injuries sustained when a tree that had been undermined by the flood waters fell on him. So sad.  These floods have arisen after enormous amounts of rain - one area has received over 1.2 metres (4 feet) of rain in just 36 hours.  This truly is, as Dorithea McKellar put it, "a land of drought and flooding rains".