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Holy *(obscenity) *
- Thread starter Wana_make_a_guitar
- Start date
CNN just showed a map of Australia, and it looks like 2/3 of the perimeter of the country is on fire. WTF? Stay safe. Isn't WillyK in Australia, also? Anyone heard from him?
On a different note, I guess 60% of Queensland is experiencing flooding. Residents are urged to be on the lookout for crocodiles.
On a different note, I guess 60% of Queensland is experiencing flooding. Residents are urged to be on the lookout for crocodiles.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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Yes, my family is alright, some of my relatives are under threat though.
WillyK is in Sydney where I don't think there are any fires, he's more closer to the flooding in Queensland.
WillyK is in Sydney where I don't think there are any fires, he's more closer to the flooding in Queensland.
O
OzziePete
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Wana: are you in rural Victoria? If there's fires about please stay safe mate!
I'm up in Central Coast NSW, we had a fire nearby at Peats Ridge. That's near the main linking roads that link the Central Coast region to Sydney metro area.
I got called up to go to work over the weekend but I ignored the call (even though it was overtime).BTW, I am a bus driver.
The problem is that if the Peats Ridge fire had taken over the Pacific Highway and F3 Freeway (*the only two main roads Sydney - Central Coast) I would have been stuck in Sydney!
Besides that, the weather was so damned hot and the atmosphere so smoky (there was another smaller fire north of me at Lake Munmorah Rec. Park that was blowing smoke into Wyong) that I didn't feel too great as I can tend to get a bit of bronchitis, particularly nowadays as I am overweight.
Luckily the Police have charged a male person for the Peats Ridge fire and hopefully, if this person is found guilty in the long term, they throw the book at the maggot. No persons were injured or killed in the Peats Ridge fire but property was damaged.
The State of Victoria is a disaster area. Small towns like Maryville and Kingslake have been completely wiped out by the fires. Just about all structures destroyed. Latest toll I heard was 166 died, and hundreds of houses destroyed.
My eldest sister moved to rural Victoria, north west of the city of Melbourne about two years ago. She and her husband have retired there. They are both about 60/61. They own a small property that has previously been used for spelling paddocks for horses and the like. Since they moved there, they have had a few head of cattle and an old horse or two to mind.
On Saturday morning, I received an sms (text) message from Lyn saying they were on standby for evacuation. Fires were about 1.5 - 3.0 kilometres away. If the wind changed they had only a short time to move. They spent, from what I have since gathered, all weekend with a few bags packed, the radio on and domestic pets very nearby.
Wana, if you know the area, Lyn lives close to Kyneton. Is that near you at all?
Anyways, the latest from my sister was that all was still OK, but they were still on standby as fires were still lingering around the district. The worst seems to have been north east of Melbourne, heading up into the Gippsland area.
Due to climatic conditions, the fire was hitting buildings with the force of a bomb and places were just simply exploding.
Our Prime Minister and the Premier of Victoria have done tours through some of the region. Federal Parliament met today and the House Of Representatives and the Senate both passed Motions of Condolence.
A lot of people have been shocked to the core about the ferocity of the fires and the mounting toll. The Victorian Govt. is going to have a Royal Commission to find what went wrong and if there was some better way to minimise such fire storms.
My guess is that some things may have been done better, but really when this sort of weather is prevalent (Victoria was scorching the week before under 40+ degrees celsius days during most of that week), it would only take one spark and the whole lot would go up in smoke.
Many are suggesting that arsonists lit the main fires that took so many lives. If so, and people end up being charged for the offences, they face a long time in prison. The Prime Minister has already said publicly that such a crime, if found to have been committed, amounts to mass murder.
A southerly cooling change has come through NSW and dramatically cooled the weather down to about 23 or so degrees Celsius today (Monday). I am hoping that Victoria, south of us, got some that cooling change and some of the light rain we have been getting in the last 24 hours.
The fires in Victoria, 2009, are on record as now being the worst 'natural' disaster in Victoria's history, if not Australia's ( I put the natural in ' ' as there is suspicion that a number of these fires were deliberately lit by arsonists). Victoria had two previous bad fire storms in summer, on record. One being in 1939 and the other in 1983.
At the other end of the East Coast of Australia, in the north, there are extensive floods that have cut off towns and stopped the traffic. Part of that traffic is food supplies from the lush tropical areas.
Both disasters are going to cost the Australian people a lot of money but in the end, the buildings will be rebuilt, the roads fixed. What cannot be replaced is the lives of those lost.
I'm up in Central Coast NSW, we had a fire nearby at Peats Ridge. That's near the main linking roads that link the Central Coast region to Sydney metro area.
I got called up to go to work over the weekend but I ignored the call (even though it was overtime).BTW, I am a bus driver.
The problem is that if the Peats Ridge fire had taken over the Pacific Highway and F3 Freeway (*the only two main roads Sydney - Central Coast) I would have been stuck in Sydney!
Besides that, the weather was so damned hot and the atmosphere so smoky (there was another smaller fire north of me at Lake Munmorah Rec. Park that was blowing smoke into Wyong) that I didn't feel too great as I can tend to get a bit of bronchitis, particularly nowadays as I am overweight.
Luckily the Police have charged a male person for the Peats Ridge fire and hopefully, if this person is found guilty in the long term, they throw the book at the maggot. No persons were injured or killed in the Peats Ridge fire but property was damaged.
The State of Victoria is a disaster area. Small towns like Maryville and Kingslake have been completely wiped out by the fires. Just about all structures destroyed. Latest toll I heard was 166 died, and hundreds of houses destroyed.
My eldest sister moved to rural Victoria, north west of the city of Melbourne about two years ago. She and her husband have retired there. They are both about 60/61. They own a small property that has previously been used for spelling paddocks for horses and the like. Since they moved there, they have had a few head of cattle and an old horse or two to mind.
On Saturday morning, I received an sms (text) message from Lyn saying they were on standby for evacuation. Fires were about 1.5 - 3.0 kilometres away. If the wind changed they had only a short time to move. They spent, from what I have since gathered, all weekend with a few bags packed, the radio on and domestic pets very nearby.
Wana, if you know the area, Lyn lives close to Kyneton. Is that near you at all?
Anyways, the latest from my sister was that all was still OK, but they were still on standby as fires were still lingering around the district. The worst seems to have been north east of Melbourne, heading up into the Gippsland area.
Due to climatic conditions, the fire was hitting buildings with the force of a bomb and places were just simply exploding.
Our Prime Minister and the Premier of Victoria have done tours through some of the region. Federal Parliament met today and the House Of Representatives and the Senate both passed Motions of Condolence.
A lot of people have been shocked to the core about the ferocity of the fires and the mounting toll. The Victorian Govt. is going to have a Royal Commission to find what went wrong and if there was some better way to minimise such fire storms.
My guess is that some things may have been done better, but really when this sort of weather is prevalent (Victoria was scorching the week before under 40+ degrees celsius days during most of that week), it would only take one spark and the whole lot would go up in smoke.
Many are suggesting that arsonists lit the main fires that took so many lives. If so, and people end up being charged for the offences, they face a long time in prison. The Prime Minister has already said publicly that such a crime, if found to have been committed, amounts to mass murder.
A southerly cooling change has come through NSW and dramatically cooled the weather down to about 23 or so degrees Celsius today (Monday). I am hoping that Victoria, south of us, got some that cooling change and some of the light rain we have been getting in the last 24 hours.
The fires in Victoria, 2009, are on record as now being the worst 'natural' disaster in Victoria's history, if not Australia's ( I put the natural in ' ' as there is suspicion that a number of these fires were deliberately lit by arsonists). Victoria had two previous bad fire storms in summer, on record. One being in 1939 and the other in 1983.
At the other end of the East Coast of Australia, in the north, there are extensive floods that have cut off towns and stopped the traffic. Part of that traffic is food supplies from the lush tropical areas.
Both disasters are going to cost the Australian people a lot of money but in the end, the buildings will be rebuilt, the roads fixed. What cannot be replaced is the lives of those lost.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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Pete, I'm not in Victoria, but i'm about 40 minutes away from the border, just out of Albury, and i'm plenty safe here. Though, my dad is the Capitan of the local fire brigade in town and he was called out to a number of fires in our area that were said to be deliberately lit, but those were small grass fires that were easily put out. My dad is also being called out to a large fire near beech worth
Lyn lives about 3 and 1/2 hours from me, I think. Was their property destroyed?
Is an absolute shame that someone deliberately lit these firs, it makes me angry.
Lyn lives about 3 and 1/2 hours from me, I think. Was their property destroyed?
Is an absolute shame that someone deliberately lit these firs, it makes me angry.
Yeah, arson in these situations is really horrible. It's one thing to go after someone and burn their house down because you have a beef with them. That is bad enough, but to just light a fire randomly during the dry season to see how many houses you can burn down and people you can kill is pure evil. There are always at least a couple of fires during fire season that were lit intentionally, and it makes me sick.
O
OzziePete
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Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:Pete, I'm not in Victoria, but i'm about 40 minutes away from the border, just out of Albury, and i'm plenty safe here. Though, my dad is the Capitan of the local fire brigade in town and he was called out to a number of fires in our area that were said to be deliberately lit, but those were small grass fires that were easily put out. My dad is also being called out to a large fire near beech worth
Lyn lives about 3 and 1/2 hours from me, I think. Was their property destroyed?
Is an absolute shame that someone deliberately lit these firs, it makes me angry.
Luckily their property sustained no damage.........I wish your Dad well if he's heading to Beechworth, that is the biggest mother of a fire lately after the one that ripped through West Gippsland, no wonder they are calling in units from as far away as you are.
The latest toll is about 180, and there are small towns that are simply all closed off as crime scenes, such is the damage and the number of lives lost or people missing.
There's been stories around in the media about people trying to escape and being engulfed by the firestorm, and authorities fear that as they forensically sift through ruined houses in decimated towns they'll find many more.
Wana_make_a_guitar
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Good to hear that they're all right. My dad is actually coming back form the fire, he got there and went to the pub thanks to Mr. Brumby and now he's coming home. :laughing7:
Superlizard
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It's been noted that earlier, Islamist terrorists called for a "forest fire jihad".
http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-20080906-4b53.html?page=-1
http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-20080906-4b53.html?page=-1
US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to "start forest fires", claiming "scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands".
The website, posted by a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network, argues in Arabic that lighting fires is an effective form of terrorism justified in Islamic law under the "eye for an eye" doctrine.
Superlizard
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rounce55 said:So are they not sure if it was natural or not? Or has it been proven?
Obviously events haven't unfolded enough, but they are definitely considering arson.
O
OzziePete
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One person has been charged with arson for a fire that ripped through the Churchill area. He is in protective custody for his own safety! Also charged with possession of child pornography. It's claimed the fire he is alleged to have started claimed about 21 people, so he has been charged with the most serious arson charge and could face a very long stretch in prison if found guilty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7887561.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7887561.stm
O
OzziePete
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Superlizard said:It's been noted that earlier, Islamist terrorists called for a "forest fire jihad".
http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-20080906-4b53.html?page=-1
US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to "start forest fires", claiming "scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands".
The website, posted by a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network, argues in Arabic that lighting fires is an effective form of terrorism justified in Islamic law under the "eye for an eye" doctrine.
The fact is that many countries have 'weaknesses' if you analyse their topography, the population spread, their dependence on their trade etc.
If one was to say to themselves, ' What was a good way to launch a major attack upon the Australians?' the answer would very easily come back to probably two main issues.
1) lack of water
2) prone to bush fires that can turn into firestorms in the worse possible conditions.
So if you were a terrorist and wanted to make some sort of statement to the people of Australia, you'd look at our main cities' water supplies and our areas of forest bush.
But really, it would seem that these fires were caused by very bad weather conditions, and started by arsonists and natural means.
The week prior was one of the hottest ones in the State of Victoria's history, and there has been raging debate on talkback radio about national parks and forestry areas not being backburned for some time, with the result being a heap of fuel waiting to go up on the forest floor.
It probably only took one spark.............
Wana_make_a_guitar
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Those two points could have been knocked off with one stone. The fire to destroy hundreds of hectares of bushland and towns, then debris from the brushfire goes into the catchments making it toxic to drink, which was a worry on the news 2 days ago, but nothing about that has been said lately.
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