NSW fires

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Maybe we should just cut everything down and cover it all in concrete ( painted green of course ). Lots of development opportunities,
and no need for worry in the future.
If you want to see Flora or Fauna, just look it up on your IDevice.

Australia managed to survive for thousands of years
until people moved in and upset the balance.
ie even if you replanted with "different" species, unless its managed, fuel will build up and it will burn.

Nth Europe doesnt have lots of big fires because it doesnt have long dry summers. Watch what happened in Greece/Spain etc recently and you will see that it still burns given the right conditions.

Andrew

Agree. It's us humans that should be adapting to the environment, not the other way around.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

USA has different forest to us, and they still have horrendous bushfires. If a region has hot, dry summers, and is perhaps subject to drought, it will burn regardless of the species of flora.

[glend (Glen)]

Its naive to assume european flora could survive very long in Australia without human care. Australian species are adapted to the environment over millions of years. Australia has always had bush fires whether started by the natives, or nature, and I had to chuckle at the Greens effort to blame Tony Abbott for the Blue Mtns fires but of course some people will believe that rubbish.

Just as sailors that venture to sea must expect waves, wind, storms, etc the people of Australia have to accept the unique environment that makes it special. If you want oak trees and elms etc then move to where they thrive.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

sorry but I am passionate about action on climate change and I make no apologies, not at all!

Soooo... are you gonna send back your jumbo oversized power hungry imaging system and do your bit for the planet? Take up a hobby with a lower carbon footprint? Like singing? Watch out for those CO2 emissions though. Nah... buy a couple of pot plants to compensate. Just don't sing at night.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Larryp

In the '94 fires in Bangor/Menai, the power was turned off and there was no water pressure because the fire services were using so much water-garden hoses were useless, as was our electric pool pump.
After that, we bought a petrol powered firefighting pump so we could access our pool water in an emergency.

Yes that is a common scenario. I have a generator fuelled and ready to go right next to my water pump for the house. I also have a 5.5hp petrol
fire pump with 2 x 36 metre hoses with brass fittings and I practiced with it to see everything worked (that step is important as the supplied hoses were not operational and one failed almost immediately - popped off its fittings, another snaked around and the plastic nozzle split rendering it useless). Brings new meaning to the phrase all messed up like fire drill.

Greg.

[Poita (Peter)]

I've used these and they work.
http://emberdefender.com.au/
But make sure you have your own petrol firefighter pump, and wet canvas-type, not poly, hose for it, the hose stays damp and doesn't melt like poly ones. Also make sure you have an independant water supply to run it.

We also had fire-mesh to put up in the windows when we had the property, if the windows blow out with the heat, then the mesh stops the embers getting inside the house and burning it from the inside out.
If you are going to live in a potential fire zone, you need to be properly prepared and invest some dollars and time in proper prevention measures. No guarantees, but the amount of people whose homes I defended over the years in my time in the RFS, I was constantly amazed how poorly prepared most of them were.
I was up in Blackheath/Bell this week and sadly the same was still true.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I was at Springwood last Thurs and it was semi apocalyptic. Dark clouds of smoke that resembled a huge thunderstorm. I was coming back from Leura and to the North the Lithgow fire was billowing the same way.
During the day it was extremely windy perhaps 50-80kmh winds.

I have gone and put sprinklers on my house roof and my observatory roof, gotten a fire pump operational with 2 x 36 metre 1 inch hose with brass fittings that draw from my pool and shot 2 x 30m plumes of water.

By the way there is a great aussie product on the market called "Ember Defender". This is a sprinkler with a metal frame that fits on the ridge of your roof and will take ordinary garden hose to run it. Brilliant.

Fire is not coming my way particularly but you've got to be prepared.

The fire I saw last Thurs was bigtime wild and it was quite threatening and unpredictable.

Greg.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Just don't sing at night.

Actually the dome acoustics are great, O Sole Mio makes it ring like a bell

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Actually the dome acoustics are great, O Sole Mio makes it ring like a bell

The vibrations can't be good for imaging.

[casstony]

If there was one lesson to be learned from the Victorian fires it would be don't stay to defend against a ferocious fire in strong winds. Even those who did survive such an experience were left traumatized afterwards, not to mention the angst they put their friends and family though during the event.

[hotspur (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Poita

I've used these and they work.
http://emberdefender.com.au/
But make sure you have your own petrol firefighter pump, and wet canvas-type, not poly, hose for it, the hose stays damp and doesn't melt like poly ones. Also make sure you have an independant water supply to run it.

We also had fire-mesh to put up in the windows when we had the property, if the windows blow out with the heat, then the mesh stops the embers getting inside the house and burning it from the inside out.
If you are going to live in a potential fire zone, you need to be properly prepared and invest some dollars and time in proper prevention measures. No guarantees, but the amount of people whose homes I defended over the years in my time in the RFS, I was constantly amazed how poorly prepared most of them were.
I was up in Blackheath/Bell this week and sadly the same was still true.

Some really helpful info there Peter-this 'Ember Defender' looks very good.

Good to see a positive helpful post

Hard to process images seen of these fires,thoughts go out to those in these areas,there are a few IIS members in these areas,hope they are ok.

[Shano592 (Shane)]

The Rutleys Rd fire was about 5km from our house, and but for wind direction, I think we could have been riding up Manure Drive without a saddle. We have almost continuous bushland (except for roads) from where the fire started right up to our back fence.

Funny (peculiar) thing is, Sue and I had just arrived back home from rainy Perth (for a month's work), and were heading out to grab groceries. As we headed out, we were both commenting on how much the ground resembled Perth in February, after a scorching summer.

Less than an hour later, we got an SMS from the Outlaws, saying that a fire was up and possibly headed our way.

The size of the fire was pretty intimidating, even from 5km away. ... I really feel for those in the Blue Mountains, Lithgow and the Southern Highlands. Those fires seem like a few orders of magnitude greater.

And without politicising too heavily, if one group is to blame, then we all are. The Government of the day (especially after a whole month) can't be held responsible for the world's climate! Not when we produce such a small percentage of emissions.

Personally, I think banning cigarettes would have a better effect - sorry Deeno!. Since Monday alone, I have seen a dozen idiots throw lit ciggies from cars, to watch the embers scatter on the road. Where I live there are no kerbs, so they roll off into the roadside grass. Man, I'd just love to have the power to pull them over and write them a ticket.

Maybe smoking outside should be added to the total fire ban?

[gary]

Thank goodness for some rain overnight. I actually can't remember the last time we
had any.

Unfortunately it was not enough and with it now 30C at 11:40am its benefits
will be short lived.

Shane mentioned the hazard of cigarettes.

One behaviour that I have observed is the hotter the weather, the more likely the
smoker/driver is to have the window wound down ashing the cigarette outside.

Anecdotally, I will sometimes come up Pennant Hills Road in Sydney's north
and in the traffic the driver in front of me will periodically stick their arm out - illegal
and distracting in itself - and ash their cigarette.

Then as we all turn into the M1 Pacific Motorway (previously known as the F3)
and accelerate first up to 80km/h and shortly after up to 110km/h, without fail,
out the window the cigarette goes, bouncing and sparking along the freeway.
They then wind their window up to stop the noisy rush of air coming in.

This behaviour is so consistent that I will say to myself or my passenger,
"Wait for it. Wait for it. There it goes", with a near 100% prediction rate.

Unfortunately it is not just an isolated incident but common enough to
be a significant danger.

Perhaps it's pathological.

We have had fires in our own area start in precisely this manner with the grass
on the side of the road becoming set alight. The freeway itself has also been closed
at time due to fires starting in the grass on the sides.

[Liz]

Take care all, scary stuff .

[Shano592 (Shane)]

Apparently, a new fire at the north end of the M1, at Minmi.

M1 closed beyond the Newcastle Link Road. Take care all.

[DavidU (Dave)]

This wind doppler does not look good. The fires themselves are showing.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR71I.loop.shtml#skip

[slowflow (Barry)]

Stay safe you can't be replaced.

[icytailmark (Mark)]

check this out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24627498

fires look bad from space

[Hagar (Doug)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Of course I am concerned about those in the path of these terrible fires, I am even in a high risk area myself.... but we are not allowed to mention the elephant in the room huh?...or we risk being labelled as politicising the reality The IPCC makes it pretty clear but hey what would they and the Royal Society, Australian Academy of Science and NASA etc etc know? all the evidence suggest it will only get worse! God help the Green Army

Firstly my heart goes out to those who are in dire straights and those who are yet to be touched by such disasters.

Mike, your drum is getting very worn. I'm sure you could politisise a piss in the park. Give it a rest.
Try showing some compassion for those who aren't as fortunate as yourself instead ofr pushing party politics at every turn. Stick to imaging. :mad2 ::mad 2::ma d2::m ad2:

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Ah Dougie you ol'cranky pants hope we cross paths at a star party again someday and we can sort our differences out properly over a beer

Not Politics just science.

I feel for the fire victims, as we all do and heck I may yet be one myself this summer (then I will be really mad). Watching the terrible devastation unfold in such fires is very sobering and scary and heartbreaking to watch (as it was only a few months ago when we nearly lost the AAO at Siding Spring in the worst fires to hit the Warrumbugles in white mans history) and to lose most or all of your possessions in an instant would be unimaginably upsetting.

The problem is when all the science tells us that the climate change that is occurring will make these events more frequent and more ferocious, yet so many people still ignore the science including our new conservative government who happily aligned themselves (all be it carefully) with the Climate Change denying clan, yes, I am very concerned and it is this that I make no apologies for pointing out.

I was essentially responding to Gary's post regarding the record temperatures we have been getting, you see, Gary is in that group of individuals who are very insightful and highly intelligent and he knows his stuff

Stay safe Doug and I forgive you

Mike

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Jeez...I feel for Mike (Iceman). All he wanted to do from starting this thread was to have other IIS members spare a thought for those dealing with the recent bush fires and for those IIS members affected by the bush fires to drop us a quick message to let us know how you are doing...it's a shame the original intent of the thread has been somewhat overlooked...possibly forgotten.

The fact that some are unapologetic for steering the thread off topic is even sadder