more personal stuff
Feb. 11th, 2009 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hnpccI had an e-mail from my cousin telling me that my uncle had spent most of Sunday and Monday at another relative's farm at Chum Creek fighting the fires. This was after spending Saturday at his farmlet (it's not big enough to be a farm!) keeping watch and helping put out a fire at the end of the road. The good news is that the relative's house is safe, and they don't think they're in any danger of being burnt out now - there's basically nothing flammable left anywhere near them. They were heading off to replace parts of the water system that burned - though apparently the pump is fine, just the plastic on the buttons melted a bit.
I rang my Dad last night - he had to scramble up ladders on Sunday morning when a thunderstorm hit and unblock the gutters because they actually got rain. Seriously, I think they may have been the only place in Victoria that got enough to warrant unblocking the gutters! It's being reported locally that live embers fell very close to the centre of Warragul, which amazes me. God knows how true that is - there were only dead ones falling on my parents house. The Robin Hood motel burned to the ground. There's a map of the current extent of the Bunyip fires here.
E-mails from three friends confirming that their families are safe and that the fires missed them. One I was very concerned about, considering where her family live.
News from another whose family is still in a town under threat, although they are currently safe.
Still waiting on news of another couple of people.
The hospital has been very quiet the last few days. At first I thought it was just my mood projecting, but no, we're on emergency bypass and quite a bit of elective surgery's been cancelled apparently. We currently have 16 burns victims, 9 in ICU, 6 in the burns unit. Oh and the morgue's full.
The death toll keeps rising (currently 181), and is now projected to reach as high as 300.
They're estimating 1 in 5 Marysville residents died.
The Narre Warren fires were apparently caused by someone using an angle grinder on the Saturday. I had no idea until I listened to the radio on Saturday morning that that's banned on total fire ban days. Obviously the person using it didn't know either. So is using a chainsaw (except in emergencies) or anything else that could create sparks.
The Bendigo fires may have been started by a lit cigarette butt being chucked out a car window. On a 47oC day with high winds. You can legislate but you'll still have stupidity.
The Churchill fires are almost definitely the products of arson.
Haven't heard about the Kilmore or Bunyip fires.
Oh and looting's started. At least the story out of Wandong reported on Nova yesterday made me laugh. Apparently some looters rocked up in a van to a house that was still standing, kicked the door open and started taking stuff out. Unfortunately for them they'd been noticed by a nearby group of locals, who then proceeded to beat the shit out of them. It wasn't put in quite those words on air of course.
I rang my Dad last night - he had to scramble up ladders on Sunday morning when a thunderstorm hit and unblock the gutters because they actually got rain. Seriously, I think they may have been the only place in Victoria that got enough to warrant unblocking the gutters! It's being reported locally that live embers fell very close to the centre of Warragul, which amazes me. God knows how true that is - there were only dead ones falling on my parents house. The Robin Hood motel burned to the ground. There's a map of the current extent of the Bunyip fires here.
E-mails from three friends confirming that their families are safe and that the fires missed them. One I was very concerned about, considering where her family live.
News from another whose family is still in a town under threat, although they are currently safe.
Still waiting on news of another couple of people.
The hospital has been very quiet the last few days. At first I thought it was just my mood projecting, but no, we're on emergency bypass and quite a bit of elective surgery's been cancelled apparently. We currently have 16 burns victims, 9 in ICU, 6 in the burns unit. Oh and the morgue's full.
The death toll keeps rising (currently 181), and is now projected to reach as high as 300.
They're estimating 1 in 5 Marysville residents died.
The Narre Warren fires were apparently caused by someone using an angle grinder on the Saturday. I had no idea until I listened to the radio on Saturday morning that that's banned on total fire ban days. Obviously the person using it didn't know either. So is using a chainsaw (except in emergencies) or anything else that could create sparks.
The Bendigo fires may have been started by a lit cigarette butt being chucked out a car window. On a 47oC day with high winds. You can legislate but you'll still have stupidity.
The Churchill fires are almost definitely the products of arson.
Haven't heard about the Kilmore or Bunyip fires.
Oh and looting's started. At least the story out of Wandong reported on Nova yesterday made me laugh. Apparently some looters rocked up in a van to a house that was still standing, kicked the door open and started taking stuff out. Unfortunately for them they'd been noticed by a nearby group of locals, who then proceeded to beat the shit out of them. It wasn't put in quite those words on air of course.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 04:02 am (UTC)Considering that there have been a few fires in recent years around the Churchill/Mirboo North & South areas, and locals have been saying "There's a firebug here, can you do something!" to the police for ages and ages... I'm not surprised that they're annoyed. Also, did you see that a CFA volunteer had his uniform stolen while he was on respite in that area? I bet you the firebug's got it.
The CFA website has a list of what you can/can't do on Total Fire Ban days, and using power tools likely to create sparks is definitely on there. But I suppose he thought "I'll just get this grinding done" and didn't follow up with "even though it creates a hell of a lot of sparks."
no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 04:11 am (UTC)The CFA website has a list of what you can/can't do on Total Fire Ban days, and using power tools likely to create sparks is definitely on there.
Yeah, but I'll guarantee a large number of people don't know about it! And more to the point, how does anyone get anything done up north all summer where they're on Total Fire Ban every second day?!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 11:39 am (UTC)It's part of the standard warning that gets repeated everywhere on total fire ban days. (really - every time a total fire ban is in effect they tell you what you can and can't do...well the ABC does, the others are supposed to) Use of angle grinder, welders and soldering equipment is banned. Only use tractors, mowers and chainsaws if absolutely necessary (I suspect they mean for cutting firebreaks or clearing fallen trees)
The one i didn't know was that extracting honey is banned. Amazing what you find out at staff de-briefs.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 06:16 am (UTC)Mum and her sisters hated the Robin Hood motel because they used to take family holidays there. But when the highway still went past it (when I was quite young) I thought it looked amazing.