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goodwoodrw -> RE: How come no Xmas banner for the forums? (12/16/2006 4:12:11 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Raverdave
Snowflakes??????????? What about the "other" half of the world that does not have a white Christmas? With the current rate of bushfires burning down here I would think that whisps of smake would be better.[;)]
Forget the snow, at the moment I'd be happy for some clear air, for the past 2 weeks down in this part of Gippsland smoke and haze is the norm, some rain would be better. On Thursday I went to work around 9.30am apart from the normal smokey day, things were pretty much normal, about 3pm my wife phones me to say get home quickly as our primary schools needs to be evacuated. When I got home, the sky was black, visibilty was poor and the air was full of thick smoke. With military precission my wife 10 year old son and 13 yo daughter had strategically several hundred litres of water in buckets wheely bins and other containers, moved LP gas cylinders and other flamable item into the open, organised important documents and other important items and placed them in the back of her car, they had changed into long sleeved woollen clothing.Can a dad or a husband be more proud of his family in the manner they handled the situation in a time of crisis. My wife briefs me on whats she has done, I walk around the house to assess the situation and stand at the front of the house and watch flames of the fire just a couple kilometres away on the hills. I tell the family how we will move out and route we will take if we decide to leave. I told my wife our house is defendable and she and the kids have done well, then the strength of my daughter breaks, she begins to cry and said she was scared. Suddenly I broke into CSM mode barking orders, chastising my daughter, telling her to there's no time for sooking things are fine there's things to do, I'm on the outside of the house improving the defences, my wife has things to do inside, checking the windows getting things together,and my daughter has regained her composure and is steady as a rock, grabs her little brother and checks the area for burning embers, the southerly change starts to push the fires north, the immediate threat has gone for now, sadly though, it increases the risk for those north of the town. Edit: I need to add I was concerned as well as being a fair bit uncomfortable, but I couldn't show this to the other members of the family, I guess this where I needed to bark out the orders to re-assure myself I guess.
Tragically, earlier in the day a deliberately lit fire 15kms away had spotted to the hills, a couple of clicks to the west of our town into forest plantation of pine and Eucalyptus. The ridge was ablaze, strong westerlys had brought the fiercly burning fires to the door step of our little town. the fire had spotted into several places within the town limits, a vacant block near our primary school, the cemetary, the golf course, and several backyards, the only the efficiency of our volunteer fire services, the town folk and of course Elvis (Elvis saved several properties this day) saved the day briefly for those in the town its self. Fortunately for my immediate area, the predicted wind change and cooler front saved the day, but sadly this change only push the fire into the path of other houses to the north of town. Tragically by the time the fire had passed beyond our community as many as 12 homes had been destroyed, fortunately no loss of life has been recorded. Stock and animal losses have not been determined.
For those unaware of the situation here in the state of Victoria, we have bushfires spanning over 500,000 hectares (2.5 acres= 1 hectare) between 9 and 16 fires, most started by lightening strikes 2 weeks ago which have joined in some areas to make mega fires, sadly the one, on Thursday in my area was started by two wayward youths.
Sorry for the rambling
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