Victorian bushfires (3 Viewers)

[katie tully]

We used to get bushfires every year on the farm.

Heaps scary

 

[Kwayera]

Haha, my friend was doing some trash burning on her property, and a southerly came out of NOWHERE. Suddenly we were all donning 20L firefighter packs and stomping out fire with shoes and shovels.

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

Haha, my friend was doing some trash burning on her property, and a southerly came out of NOWHERE. Suddenly we were all donning 20L firefighter packs and stomping out fire with shoes and shovels.

Shoulda fuckin seen dat one cumming dirty dero Aussies eh?

in the world of waf...

 

[Kwayera]

Shoulda fuckin seen dat one cumming dirty dero Aussies eh?

in the world of waf...

Actually it was pretty fun, running around the paddocks stomping out fires. It never got near the house - which is insured.

 

[blue_chameleon]

I know of many cases where people skimp on living expenses to pay their insurances. Some are complete scrooges normally, but when it comes to insurance, they get the best deal whilst making sure they don't under-insure themselves.

Those that take the risk on not paying insurances know the risks they are taking, be they however small.

Sure, it wasn't well known that this would happen. But these people live in scrub, and Victoria had temperatures that were constantly in the 40's for quite a few days. Only a matter of time, really.

 

[ZaraKu]

No offence but it was really all our own faults. Global warming much? but I do hope they catch whoever lit the fires and torture them, they do deserve it, killing 130 odd innocent people, psychotic I say.

 

[Rafy]

Death toll now at 171.

 

[Slidey]

Death toll now at 171.

Holy shit. It's basically doubled since I checked it last.

Wow:
http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/1591689/0162799655085.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/09/article-1138607-035A8F46000005DC-852_468x402.jpg

 

[katie tully]

No offence but it was really all our own faults. Global warming much? but I do hope they catch whoever lit the fires and torture them, they do deserve it, killing 130 odd innocent people, psychotic I say.

ffs

 

[veloc1ty]

I never quite thought of bushfires like this:

The most disastrous factor in the Ash Wednesday fires occurred just before nightfall when a fierce and dry wind change swept across South Australia and Victoria. This abruptly changed the direction and dramatically increased the intensity of the fires. The long corridors of flame that had been driven all day by the strong northerly were suddenly hit by gale force south-westerly winds and became enormous fire fronts, many kilometres wide, reportedly moving faster than 110 km/h.[21] A dust storm similar to that experienced in Melbourne a week before shrouded the city of Adelaide.[22]

The near-cyclonic strength of the wind change created an unstoppable firestorm that produced tornado-like fire whirls and fireballs of eucalyptus gas measuring over three metres across. Survivors reported that the roar of the fire front was similar to that of a jet engine, though multiplied fifty, a hundred times. The change in temperature and air pressure was so savage that houses were seen exploding before fire could touch them.[23] A resident of Aireys Inlet, on Victoria's western coast, was quoted:

“ It was just this bloody great force. It wasn't fire by itself. It wasn't just the wind. It was something different to that... a monster.[23] ”

The freakish conditions spawned unique effects: a car was forced 90m along a road with its handbrake on, burning mattresses were seen hurtling through the air[24], steaks were cooked well-done in deep freezers, road surfaces bubbled and caught fire and sand liquefied to glass.[23]

CSIRO experts later reported that, from evidence of melted metal, the heat of the fires after the change rose to 2000 °C; exceeding that recorded during the Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II. In fact, the Ash Wednesday fires were measured at around 60,000 kilowatts of heat energy per metre, leading to similarities with the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.[23]

Whole townships were obliterated in minutes. In the Dandenong Ranges, the villages of Cockatoo and Upper Beaconsfield were devastated, with twelve volunteer firefighters losing their lives after being trapped by a wall of flame when the wind change struck. Most of Macedon and much of historic Mount Macedon to the north west of Melbourne was razed, including many heritage listed 19th century mansions and famed gardens. The morning after Ash Wednesday, popular coastal towns along the Great Ocean Road such as Aireys Inlet, Anglesea and Lorne resembled barren moonscapes. The fire on the coast had been so intense that firefighters were forced to abandon all control efforts and let it burn until it reached the ocean, destroying everything in its path.

And the current bushfires are considered worse than the Ash Wednesday ones. It's really hard to imagine.

 

[the-intercepter]

they knew what the conditions were going to be like. poor souls, fire education needs to be drilled into every one. but hey, it will happin again

 

[withoutaface]

Wow this is an acceptable situation. A decision between insurance and skimping on day-to-day expenses. Wait, no it's not. When someone cannot comfortably pay for both insurance and day to day expensies then the taxpayer ought to step in.

By skimping on day to day expenses I meant buying home brand instead of kelloggs, or buying a slightly smaller house. Hedonistic consumerism isn't a "right".

That's what's happening. Only hyper-right liberal fucktards like yourself are bothering to cry "WELFARE STATE" over $10 million to help out a few folks that have lost everything, who could not have possibly foresaw a firestorm of that size wiping out everything they owned.

The fact remains that hundreds [citation needed] of other homes are destroyed every year in isolated incidents, and there's no special government relief for them. I don't have an issue with shelter being given to these people but over and above that it's the job of private charities, which appear to be doing quite well at the moment.

 

[Kwayera]

they knew what the conditions were going to be like. poor souls, fire education needs to be drilled into every one. but hey, it will happin again

No, they didn't, and you can bet your arse that every one of those people who died thought they knew how to survive.

 

[Gerald10]

Yeah from what I have heard some people did everything right in terms of fire safety. On the 730 report last night a guy said that the only way everyone could have been saved in his area was if they cleared everyone out on the basis that it was going to be a bad day for conditions.

 

[Kwayera]

Death toll is now 173.

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

By skimping on day to day expenses I meant buying home brand instead of kelloggs, or buying a slightly smaller house. Hedonistic consumerism isn't a "right".

Seems to me that it would be more convinient for government assistance to be provided in these isolated incidents, rather than everyone in Australia paying however much into an insurance fund for an unlikely event to occur.

The fact remains that hundreds [citation needed] of other homes are destroyed every year in isolated incidents, and there's no special government relief for them. I don't have an issue with shelter being given to these people but over and above that it's the job of private charities, which appear to be doing quite well at the moment.

Hundreds of homes my foot. It's incredibly rare for homes to be destroyed by bushfires. If a bushfire destroys a house you hear about it on the news, and you'll only ever usually hear that firefighters stopped the fire before it engulfed houses. This is an extreme event. It is not a big deal for the government to be giving a relatively small amount of assistance to people in such an extreme event. Find a bigger fish to fry.

 

[cowgirl09]

i think this fire is aweful, i know what its like to loose my house in a bush fire, i lived through the junee bush fires in 2006. my family lost everything, kindly the town came together and helped us get our lives back on track, at the moment, junee is covered in smoke and it brings back aweful memories, the death toll just continues to rise.

as for the loser who has no heart and *boxes* GROW UP

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

omg I agre wiyh u sooo much sum ppl here have no heart it maeks me sooo sad



(''~-..::Nebz::..-~'')

 

[incentivation]

The greenies and pandering politicians can be held partially responsible for the ferocity of the fire. Without the extensive fuel for the fire (i.e. ground cover), it would not have spread anywhere near as quickly.

We should be taking a leaf out of indigenous custom. Backburning is not a modern concept.

As far back as the late 1980's, government was being criticised for not allocating enough resources to backburning efforts in the Kosciuszko National Park. It was said then that one day, the park would be completely engulfed by fire. It's a shame such warnings were not heeded by governments all across Australia.

 

[withoutaface]

Seems to me that it would be more convinient for government assistance to be provided in these isolated incidents, rather than everyone in Australia paying however much into an insurance fund for an unlikely event to occur.

That's incongruous. Either all victims of natural disaster deserve a pay out, or none do.

Hundreds of homes my foot. It's incredibly rare for homes to be destroyed by bushfires. If a bushfire destroys a house you hear about it on the news, and you'll only ever usually hear that firefighters stopped the fire before it engulfed houses. This is an extreme event. It is not a big deal for the government to be giving a relatively small amount of assistance to people in such an extreme event. Find a bigger fish to fry.

You're skirting the fringes of my argument without attacking its core. How are these bushfire victims any more worthy than those who lose their homes to any other fire or have a tree branch crash through their roof?