Australia burns

The devastation is immense; one of the fires in Victoria covers an area of 210,000 hectares. To give you some idea of scale: that's like losing the whole of West Yorkshire.

And that's just one of the fires in one of the states.
 
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To think; one match/cigarette can start something like this (if indeed it was started on purpose, which seems to be the suggestion). :( Worst in their history according to websites (in terms of people dead, not sure about the size of area affected).
 
Jeebus!

Harsh stuff, but I guess that's nature for you.

Apart from the asshats restarting the fires :S
 
yer_averagejoe said:
They dont just "cope", they need it. some trees disperse their seeds in fires, they shed their bark and wait for it to catch fire at the base of the tree. fires as big as this are often a result of areas being deprived of fires. This is why australia carries out controlled fires - to stop the build up of flamable material.
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It's also very good for the soil as well IIRC.

Doesn't make it any better though. So sad about Kinglake :(

Anyone know if insurance pays out for damage caused by forest fires in oz? Or do they have a get out clause like the 'Act of God' thing?
 
Really nasty stuff, its wild how the fires spread so fierce and so fast.

And if anyone photoshops "Facepalm" over that last pic, ill personally slap em!
 
From the BBC website:

"The leader of the Green party, Bob Brown said summer fires would get worse unless Australia and other nations showed more leadership on reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

All I can say is....................... Butt Head!
 
I feel a lot for the people who are suffering out there. Someone I know could see 7 fires from her house where she lives. They were told to evacuate but they have decided to stay and defend the house if need be. In my opinion I'd pack up all my precious things and get the hell out of there... but then it might not be so easy to do that with roads closing and fires getting in the way.

I hope it calms down very soon. I hate the sickness of people who have deliberately re lit fires. The world doesn't need people like that.
 
An Australian friend from another board, had this to say about the news that two men have been arrested on suspicion of arson that started these fires:
For the non aussies it must be noted that while some arson was suspect its important to understand that day was our hottest ever recorded reaching 45 degrees Celsius.

The conditions for the fires was perfect and its almost safe to say it was inevitable for the fires to happen.

The bigger issue is that no one was expecting the fires to be that devastating. We have lived with bush fires every summer in victoria and through proper knowledge and home protection methods most people have been able to survive the fires.

There is no direct evidence linking environment to the fires but we have seen unprecedented days, multiple days of 43 degree+ days that have dried out the grasslands and undergrowth creating a massive amount of fuel for the fires.

Also the greenies in our state blocked a motion to allow house hold owners to clear forest/underbrush close to their homes. So by the greenies law the fuels that helped the fire were legally not allowed to be removed.
The irony of it all is of course now there is no forest at all.

My only problem with this witch hunt is its a way for those who are grieving to blame some one or something for it to overshadow other reasons it all happened.

In the end it is a tragedy with over 200 people dead, some of who died in their cars and quite frankly it scares me as a horrible way to die.
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Dj_Jestar said:
An Australian friend from another board, had this to say about the news that two men have been arrested on suspicion of arson that started these fires:

Also the greenies in our state blocked a motion to allow house hold owners to clear forest/underbrush close to their homes. So by the greenies law the fuels that helped the fire were legally not allowed to be removed.

The irony of it all is of course now there is no forest at all.
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As an Australian, I call shenanigans on this claim. What motion was blocked? When was it raised? By whom was it raised? How was it worded?

As I understand it, the Victorian state government has not prohibited residents from clearing forest and underbrush close to their homes; there is no blanket legislation which states that you are not permitted to clear your own land under any circumstances. Moreover, there have been reports from landowners who were shocked to witness the bushfire sweeping across fields and paddocks which they had recently cleared. So land clearing did occur, but it was often ineffective; the fire was simply too large to be stopped by a temporary shortage of fuel.

I have a mate in Victoria who clears the land around his house scrupulously, every year. Nobody's ever stopped him from doing this. And why would they? It's perfectly legal.
 
:(
Anything I write will not do the suffering any justice at all.
My thoughts & Well wishes go out to all in Australia.
 
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