Fires in Australia

[hey,littlecobra]

hi. reading and watching on our news about the terrible fires sweeping the area down your way. Hoping all our Cobra buddies down under are safe and secure. Keep us posted on any special friends we need to be praying for!

Kristen

[Bryan Wilson]

116*F here yesterday 87 dead thousands of houses lost. Whole towns lost, this is going to be worse than ash Wednesday.
Cheers,
Bryan

[BMK]

Today I awoke to horrific news that over 108 people have lost their lives. Nearly 800 homes have been destroyed and many more businesses and properties.

Andrew from Barwon Heads - GT40 yellow - spoke with me yesterday and indicated his sister was in the middle of the fires. She fortunately lost only out buildings whilst neighbours were wiped out.

Large fires are still raging at Beechworth and Kilmore East.

Entire towns have be destroyed/lost as have residents. The towns of Marysville and Kinglake have been turned into dust.

Television coverage this morning on site reveals damage and reports beyond belief. The coverage a moment ago showed a car on the side of the road that was burnt out. This late model car had pools of magnesium around the brakes where wheel once were.

The heat was furnace temperatures.

It appears that none of our Cobra or GT40 friends have been caught up.

Personally my wife Anne's cousin was totally burnt out with just dirt and ash left where there was once a house, garages, sheds and horse yards.

A few moments ago Police have found a bus or small van with a number of bodies in it. It is feared that the toll will rise to over 250 lives. The Police and rescue workers are searching for people at this time.

The only way to describe this is to use the words ' horror story'.

It is not good news.

Bernie

[xlr8or]

You guys are making the fires here in CA look small. Trust me on this one, the stuff isn't worth trying to save, that is what insurance is for. RUN as fast as you can and get out of the way. Fires like this don't play favorites and it's simply amazing how fast they will move.

Good luck and be safe. Best wishes to you all.

Scott

[Juggernaut]

Heard about them yesterday. A very tragic story.

You all stay safe down there, you all are in my prayers.

Take care,
Randy

[tomcat racing]

these werent bushfires, they are firestorms travelling at up to 100kph and 60 to 100 ft high, from when they were first seen or heard people in their houses had about 3 minutes to escape before theyre houses were burning around them. the 108 lives lost so far were nearly all in cars trying to escape, they havent even searched the 750 or so houses burnt down for bodies yet , its going to get a lot more grim yet. its a crime scene, mass murder. any suggestions for what they should do to the persons responsible for this carnage. tomcat,

[xlr8or]

Originally Posted by tomcat racing

any suggestions for what they should do to the persons responsible for this carnage. tomcat,

What ever they do I hope its slow and painful.

[ferociousfish]

my wife and I were watching the footage last night and we are horrified. My god how do you fight something like that? The footage of the burnt out cars as they were trying to flee the flames made us both weep. Something like this tragedy would be hard enough to bare let alone the thought that the fires were deliberately lit and in some cases re-started after the firemen had risked their lives to bring them under control. I cannot imagine the fear that must have been in the hearts of these firemen, a lot of them volunteers, as they faced this monster but still they stood to protect people they didn't know and property they didn't own. They are the true definition of heroes. In regard to the culprits who are accused of lighting the fires I wish they would bring back the death penalty. These mongrels don't deserve any mercy.My wife and I are donating generously to the appeal, even though at this time we can't afford it, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
Let's hope and pray that this never happens again.

[stuartt]

ironically, as the victoria and NSW to a lesser extent burn northern QLD is being washed away by flooding.

[tomcat racing]

yeah mate, its still pissing down up here, weve only had a couple of days of half sunshine since xmas, you couldnt light a fire up here with a flamethrower. its a real traditional wet season, havent had the cobra out since mid december, it would be a mobile swimming pool in no time. australia, what a land of contrasts. our familys donating $1000 to the appeal, so everybody please dig as deep as you can for those poor poor people. bye tomcat

[hodson]

Stuartt,
You are correct, mother nature acts in strange ways sometimes. We in Townsville have had our entire years rainfall in January. I and my family consider ourselves lucky in that we haven't had too much damage from the water. The town of Ingham (north of us) has really coped it badly. 60% of Qld has been declared a disaster area due to flooding (the biggest in history)
All this pales into insignificance compared to the Victorian Fires. Although this mornings news story was about a five year old who went to the aid of his dog in the Daintree river and was taken by a 4-5 metre croc. The Ingham pub (in the main street) has a photo of a very large croc swimming through its car park.

My heartfelt sympathies go out to the people of Victoria and NSW who have lost a loved one or their properties (although property can be built again).
Every day that I watch the news I wish I could just pick up all the water we have here and send it down south.

Sorry about being a bit mushy, but these fires are a disaster beyond anyone's comprehension, we may have some water damage, but at least we are still alive. I for one will be donating whatever we can afford to the fire appeal.

I urge all fellow Cobrafiles to maybe put off buying that new set of mags or set of tyres and help out our mates down south.

Colin

[BMK]

Tonights news is even worse with many more being found in cars and small buses.

A lot of these people are up in the hill area with one road up and the fires turned so quickly they were trapped.

My wife's cousin lives in Kinglake next to the general store. The store was burned down along with her home and the one next door. She was away, but has told her family the neighbours and their children are missing.

It looks as if the toll will be very high.

[stephen low]

Sadly, talking to a few staff today in a conference that had links to families down in the worst areas, the 108 dead figure might be eclipsed yet, as police haven't been able to get to a large number of burnt out propertys to check them out.

My wife had been talking to parents today and sadly death and life choices had been made as simply as the choice of turning left or right at a T intersection somewhere in the Kinglake area. The husband that had turned left lived and his mates that turned right are now dead!

I hope the police come out empty handed in terms of finding further bodies but I hope they do nail the B**turds that apparently started some of the fires.

Punishment by the slow application of a flame thrower to charcoal stage would be sufficient in my book, and they'd sure as hell not do it again or ever!!

Let's hope it is a long time before we see the likelihood of similar events arising.

[Ron61]

Bernie & all down there,

You certainly have my sympathies and prayers. Fire can be and is a very unpredictable thing. They can jump miles in a minute. We had several killed around me last Summer but nothing like what you have lost. And some of our fires are set by idiots that they can never find. I think if they catch them they should throw them into the fire. I keep hoping to see where they are getting the fires under control. You really need a good hard downpour there for a day or so, as the ground will to hot for several hours after the fires have passed to go in and do much. Best of luck to all of you.

Here is the latest news report that just went on-line here. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090209/...ralia_fires_30

Ron

[Clois Harlan]

My gosh I have been away from the television for a few day's and I can't hardly believe what I am reading. I pray for everyones safety and a good soaking rain for the southlands. Stay safe.

Clois

[BMK]

Sadly at 0930 today the toll is 173 dead. Over 55 in hospital most in a critical condition on life support.

The fires have been called the worst in history. The worst natural disaster in history.

Also sadly, the Green Politicians have jumped on this calling for climate change. It's amazing how they see the fire as a result of climate change.

I'm just not certain the link between climate change and some low life lighting fires.

Some Politicians just seem to jump on the bandwagon for their own ends.

Will keep you updated.

Bernie

[sambo]

If you're sick of the commercial TV network coverage of this disaster as I am, switch on 774 radio. A much more community focused report on events.

Sambo

[Aussie Mike]

A close friend of mine is one of the CFA fire fighters battling the blazes. I got hold of him last night to check he was OK. He'd just got back from Wandong where they had been protecting several farm homsteads, Wandong town and school.



His recount of the experience was harrowing with at one point the fire storm passing over their fire truck whilst they took refuge inside it. Fortunately they were parked on the side of a hill where the fuel load was low (just grass). The thick smoke ash and and embers and what Guy described as lumps of flaming cow sh!t flying around them.

Guy tells it all in a mater of fact, all in a days work fashon but that's what he's like. I reckon it would be pretty terrifying to be there.







It was impossible to hold back the fire. Even just to hold a section of the front to protect a homestead was too much. The flames were just so intense. They had to let the front move through and then put out the flames after it had passed. Constantly on the move trying to protect property and ensure people got out safely.



Working around a large pine plantation this Catepillar couldn't move fast enough to get away from the flames. The driver abandoning it to get to safety.



You'll see there is still a line of trees standing along the edge of the plantation. This is an odd thing about the fire. The fire draws the wind inwards and whilst the inside of the plantation is reduced to ash the're is a thin belt around it almost unharmed.



Guy and the rest of the crew working the Avenel tanker were battling around Wandong Victoria. Their efforts saved Wandong School and surrounding houses. These blokes are true heroes and I'm very proud to call Guy my friend.

Cheers

[BMK]

I spoke with the guys at McDonald Brothers Racing today and was told that one of the members of the Northern Suburbs Street Rodders has lost his partner and children.

Sadly, it was the guy Sam who was on television who was trying to get in too see his home and locate his family.

He was told later that the house was dust.

Anyone that feels they want to help a fellow Street Rodder - car enthusiast - could contact McDonald Brothers I'm sure Ray there would pass on any assistance.

Bernie

[Ron61]

Mike & Bernie,

Keep us updated on the progress. The pictures are really frightening, but the coverage that we get here where I live is very poor. The trees standing are like when we have our big crown fires. In the Fountain fire where over 200,000 acres burned, in places there would be a circle of trees about 100' in diameter that were completely untouched. This was caused by the fire being so intense that it sucked all of the oxygen out of those circles and therefore couldn't burn them. Six of the fire fighters died in one of them from suffocation and not any burns at all. I worked one Summer with our forestry and it is a hot and very hard job at times. And most people don't really know just how dangerous it is to fight those fires. I am praying that you will all be ok and they can get them under control soon. Take care and be careful..

Ron