I notice that both CNN and BBC are carrying this story. We're OK, our folks
are OK, and only one of our friends
is MIA - but probably in one of the evacuation shelters,
her house was in Duffy, and only one body was found there.
See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2003/01/18/video/20030118pm_fires.ram
(This video was taken in the middle of the day, yesterday)
The experts are calling this a 1-in-200-year fire. Basically,
a normal bushfire that had been contained suddenly got as bad as it could be
due to freak weather.
Tomrrow, the weather conditions don't look too good. We're 10 miles away from
the nearest fire, which has been contained, but we had Firestorms* on
Saturday, and when they happen, there's
Damn, that looks positively scary. Good to hear you're okay though, and hope
those fires get stopped real soon.
best of luck,
I hope it is over soon! I've fought them in Montana and else
where.......Really, be safe guys!
Don
[quoted original message omitted]
My thoughts and prayers go to you and yours Alan. Thank goodness your family
is alright. I hope your friends turns up okay very soon.
Never a dull moment. You can say that again!
Hi Alan - glad you live in Downer - I'm on Mount Rogers and the flames
got a little too close for comfort here, 500m may seem like a lot unless you
can
actually see the flames at that distance - got some great shots of
"Elvis"
though. Tuesday is expected to be a bad one - we'll all stay home and
prepare for the worst - I'm billeting one of my staff whose house was
lost in Duffy and I had friends staying over after they were evacuated from
Cook
and Hawker - two suburbs from me. Not far really, but there's no where
left
to run....
[quoted original message omitted]
> > Hi Alan - glad you live in Downer -
We're pretty well prepared at this stage - we are on alert status here
and every available receptacle holds water, the gutters are full and the hoses
are ready. I was just out at Glenloch interchange in the centre of town and
saw the
devastation - everything burned - trees, grass, coppers logs, light
poles,
cars, street signs and even sections of road - worse than last year.
We've reached all our staff, friends and family - all of them are okay
but most don't have power so we're making more room for them up here. Anyone
that wants to get some idea of what is happening should check out
www.canberraconnect.act.gov.au
The damage count is now over 400 houses lost with only four deaths -
we've got our fingers crossed that neither figure rises any time soon.
From: "Don M" <dmaddox1@hot.rr.com>
> I hope it is over soon! I've fought them in Montana and
A quote:
-----
Phil Koperberg, chief of the rural fire service in neighbouring New South
Wales state, whose crews helped out on Saturday, said firefighters did all
they could in appalling conditions.
He said: "In some of the areas I have seen... it wasn't just fire, it was fire
accompanied by cyclonic conditions where trees were ripped out of the ground,
huge trees were twisted around and thrown, burning, on to houses and there is
no emergency service in the world that could deal with that."
Our suburb has just been put on high fire alert. More later, but I'll be busy
for awhile.
In message <000701c2c0e4$796788a0$3ff2fea9@webone.com.au>
> "Alan and Carmel Brain" <aebrain@webone.com.au> wrote:
> Our suburb has just been put on high fire alert.
I hope you all come through ok, good luck!
Charles