Quote:
Originally Posted by WadeH
Viewed through my eyes as a 10 year WA VFS member, it looks as though the out buildings were mostly lost by ember attack and not direct flame, typical of older designs. The grassed and paved areas seemed to have done their job well, and even the tree'd areas. You will always get a more intense and fast fire running up hill which is evedent in these images.
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Hi Wade,
Looking at the couple of seconds of video on ABC News 24, it appears as if the fire has
raced up the south-west side, which was to be expected, as that is the side the
fire originated from and that the steepness of the ridge itself may have acted
as a shield for the observatory site on the top. As seen in the dramatic photo yesterday,
a lot of the heat and smoke of the fire may have been directed nearly vertically
by the time it got to the top of the ridge. The trees at the top and on the
eastern side look relatively little affected.
Indeed, the structures that have been reported lost were mostly quite old and
it will probably transpire they succumbed to ember attack.
There is no way you would have wanted to be up there at the time with potentially
unsurvivable radiant energy if you were in the line of sight, but structures such
as the Lodge might have been defendable if one had been unlucky enough to
have been stuck in it. All of them had fire hoses that may have been sufficient
to put out ember attack spot fires if you had the misfortune to find yourself
faced with the challenge.
The building code has moved on and hopefully the replacements for buildings
such as the Lodge will also be a more comfortable and pleasant place for astronomers
and staff to rest. The Lodge wasn't something many looked forward to spending more
than a night in.
Sad to hear of the loss of life for the Victorian firefighter in Tasmania.
