Bushfire Update

[Frangipani]

Hi,

 

I was just sitting enjoying an evening movie when my daughter got home frantically saying have you seen the fire look out the front a huge fire.

 

As we look across the valley there is a huge bushfire.

 

I was watching the movie thinking I could smell something burning I actually went to check the dishwasher then thought nothing of it.

 

We walk out the front and over the top of the house in front of us you can see this big orange glow here I am freaking out saying to my daughter wheres the fire, is it a house she say no over the valley its huge.

 

I look out our bedroom windows and you can see the flames.

 

We are fine, but as you walk up my street up two houses and look right across the valley its a mountain of flame. So I quickly rang the police to see how serious it is, they said they have had over a hundred calls.

 

Its a controlled burn off, but it so close to all the houses, and to us it looks like its out of control. But, I take their word for it its fine, but we are still shaking.

 

I still havent cleaned out my gutters things are so dry here all we need is a wind storm like we had a few weeks ago and there is going to be huge problems. Hopefully this burn off will do the trick.

 

If only they gave us some warning that they were doing this, instead of scaring us half to death, well my daughters histeria is what really got me shaking.

 

Sigh of relief its just a control burn.

 

Its the Garigal National Park that we are more worried about this hasnt gone up in about 10 years and I fear this year it is going to go up, it usually does at least every 10 years.

 

My house is starting to fill up with smoke, bet the smoke detector goes off.

 

Edited October 10, 2006 by Frangipani

[Frangipani]

Quite frankly I dont think it is that controlled as it looks like this picture

 

http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s1752002.htm?sydney

 

Also we can hear fire engine and their sirens.

 

At least there is no wind. That helps.

 

apparently they were supposed to be burning of 27 hectares, certainly got a bit of a battle on their hands.

 

No problem here just smoke inhalation .

 

Glad we dont like that close to the forest to be at risk but the view is quite scary. From where we are standing.

 

Goonight / Good day over there

Edited October 6, 2006 by Frangipani

[brooke]

hope everythings ok we dont have bush fires over here too many houses!! Looks scary I hope you dont have to leave your house. Do you get them a lot over there?

Brooke

[barefoot wend]

Frangipani

 

Woah! That looks pretty frightening.

 

Barefoot

[lil_me]

Sounds way too scary, we've had fires near where I live all the way through the summer, mostly caused by kids

[Frangipani]

hope everythings ok we dont have bush fires over here too many houses!! Looks scary I hope you dont have to leave your house. Do you get them a lot over there?

Brooke

 

Hi <'>

 

Every Summer we get the bush fires we have had the driest winter on record so they are quite fearful if we dont get the November rain things will get quite serious.

 

Unfortunately Sydney is lush with forests and people and home live along them bordering them enjoying the lifestyle. Lots of National parks within Sydney unfortunately like Lillme says are deliberately lit, sometimes by kids, or simply by throwing one cigarette butt out the car window is enough to set a forest a blaze.

 

When we were kids we lived in a house on the edge of a cliff/ridge that overlooked the forest, this went up and we sat their watching the flames just blobs of fire blown hundreds of feet onto the tops of fresh forests to start up other fires. If there is a strong wind, you can end up with several different firefronts going in different directions.

 

Many a time I remember my father sitting on top of the house with a hose. All his homes have been within the forest. About 10 years about he built his dream home on a ridge with 180 degree water views, had just moved in all the stuff, to be greeted by the fire department one afternoon that their street was closed off and that all the homes up their were more than likely gone, so they had to sit it out and wait, as it turned out the fire came within 30 metres of their home and the wind changed direction so the fire went down the other side of the ridge.

 

We are all forest lovers and all live within vicinity of the forests, just have to learn to live with it. Its when the flames become four times the height of the trees and you see it bearing down on you, all your smarts go out the window on what to do. Just have to remember to remain calm, easier said than done.

 

They say if its white smoke its safe if its black smoke you are in dire straits. You are within the front. Often you cant decipher which direction it is coming from.

 

So do a few rain dances for us. or pray for rain

 

Give me snow anyday

 

Edited October 9, 2006 by Frangipani

[Frangipani]

Hi

 

The Garigal National Park near us is burning out of control, they say its under control but now they have several units and the Water Helicopters trying to stop it.

 

Where I go to church they have had to close off one of the main road. Oxford Falls

 

All I can here is helicopters, huge fire balls everywhere. and its windy not a good combination.

 

This forest hasnt gone up in 10 years so no doubt this is it.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1758221.htm

 

F

[Frangipani]

Hi

 

The Garigal National Park near us is burning out of control, they say its under control but now they have several units and the Water Helicopters trying to stop it.

 

Where I go to church they have had to close off one of the main road. Oxford Falls

 

All I can here is helicopters, huge fire balls everywhere. and its windy not a good combination.

 

This forest hasnt gone up in 10 years so no doubt this is it.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1758221.htm

 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5001021,00.html

 

They say its under control but far from it.

 

F

[Kathryn]

I hope they manage to bring it under control soon - it must be scary.

 

We used to get fires like this in Africa especially in the dry winter months. People were always being warned not to throw down cigarettes.

 

K x

[Frangipani]

Hi

 

 

Its still out of control in Cromer and houses are now at risk. its on the fringed of kilometres of dense forest and lots of homes could be at risk.

 

Its quite windy today being day time all you can see is smoke smouldering around, at night its a different story as it looked like quite a few kilometres ablaze and glowing.

 

Those water helicopters are quite amazing they hold up to 9000 litres of water they call it 'Elvis'

 

I imagine this will continue to be a problem for weeks to come as the heat and wind can rekindle the embers.

 

Beautiful tropical forests around Oxford Falls and many horses etc. They had to close off one of the main roads from the northern beaches which is an access road to the city.

 

Things are looking calm for now. the fire dept have excelled themselves yet again. becoming experts at this. But you can never become complacent.

 

<'>

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/08/1160246001466.html

 

This photo below shows what the sky looked like when I looked out the front door on Friday night when my daughter came in histerically from a night out with friends. So you can imagine how I panicked. At first I thought it was a house.

 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=150729

 

This is what we saw and they were saying it was a control burn, yeah right. Now there is an argument that the fire was the result of the control fire on Friday night that looked like the photo in link above versus a backyard fire lit illegally.

 

If you look on Google Earth type in Garigal National Park Sydney, you will see just how big the forest is. Scroll around and you will see all the homes around it. If you type in Oxford Falls it takes you out west somewhere

 

South Australia are predicting a whole week of high temperatures around 40 degrees, hope its not a prediction for NSW. Global warming, this is Spring, summer starts here 1 December eeekkk!!!

 

Edited October 9, 2006 by Frangipani

[Platefull of Love]

It must of been so scary <'>

Really hope that its beginning to calm down a bit <'>

[smiley]

 

Stay safe OK <'> <'> <'>

[hev]

no wonder you was frightened when faced with that view!!! hope you ok,be waiting for your next update,take care love hev

[UltraMum]

 

for you and yours H

[Frangipani]

Hi

 

Things have settled down for now, but I dont believe for a moment this is the end of it. This fire will eventually make its way through the Garigal National Park. It always starts like this, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

They say it burnt out 400 hectares around Cromer and Narrabeen thats just one smidgen of the forest around here. I am sure there are a lot of residents that havent had a decent nights sleep since Friday night.

 

They are basically at the whim of the weather or arsonists. The burnt out area will regenerate within a year hopefully.

 

This afternoon was nothing but a mass of helicopters, things are still smouldering on several fronts of the ridge.

 

Everytime I hear a siren or helicopter I look out over the valley

 

We need some heavy rain to get this under control no sign of rain at present.

 

They certainly did a great job containing this so far.

 

So much for Awares conference, I havent had a chance to venture over there.

 

At least we can sleep a bit easier. We are not at risk where we are, its just the views of the forest we have we can see it for miles. Its a mass of rolling hills of forest out there. Easier to spot at night by the orange glow or flames. So much smoke around its hard to tell if its old or new, but new is usually black smoke.

 

Hopefully there will be no more updates.

 

Thanks for your posts <'> <'>

 

After midnight here goodnight.

 

[Eva]

Hi,

 

well now half of Victoria is up in flames it seems. It was 37 degrees today!( And it's only spring). That's it, stuff the environment, we're getting an air con!

 

Eva

[Frangipani]

Hi,

 

well now half of Victoria is up in flames it seems. It was 37 degrees today!( And it's only spring). That's it, stuff the environment, we're getting an air con!

 

Eva

 

 

Hi Eva,

 

I noticed that. Were you living in Victoria when they had those bad fires in 1983?? around Mt Macedon all along Great Ocean Road???? Do you remember that big dust storm they had at the same time, I remember it at about 2.30pm in the afternoon the whole city was in darkness. I remember getting home and everything was covered in a layer of dust, red dust,

 

They are predicting heat waves here also, remember Christmas when it was 37.5 at 5am in the mornings. Certainly need an airconditioner.

 

I think we are in for one very smoky summer, that fire was still burning this morning, here I could smell the smoke. As well as an air conditioner, perhaps a gas mask too.

 

F

[Eva]

Hi Frangipani,

 

yes, I remember that dust storm - it was amazing!

 

Victoria still gets covered in a layer of red desert dust every now and again, you notice it first on your car's windscreen. Coming to think of if, that's probably why our house is alway dusty inside .

 

I hope your bushfire has settled down now - how frightening. Do you have a fire plan?

 

I'm not ready for ultra hot weather yet; gotta lose a few of those winter kilos before I get the bikinis out .

 

Cheers,

Eva

[Frangipani]

Hi Frangipani,

 

 

I hope your bushfire has settled down now - how frightening. Do you have a fire plan?

 

 

Cheers,

Eva

 

 

Hi Eva,

 

The RFS put a flyer in our letterboxes as they think we are at risk of the flying embers and because there is so much forest about we could all be at risk. A lot of people are buying those bungs to put in the gutters so you can fill up the gutter with water. Dont panic is the biggest sure, no problem when you see those flames like we did when we opened our front door last Friday the flames were 3 -4 times as high as the trees with a huge orange glow that went of 100 metres. I guess being prepared for the worst, which is no doubt yet to come for us. The winds were up to 60km per hour on Sunday and they said had the weather been hotter and winds stronger they warned us in the local paper that next time the fires could be more ferocious and hard to control.

 

Mainly keeping the roof free of leaves, having a major pruning session around the house, and cutting back any trees that are too close to the house.

 

The other plan is what to do when you are on the road, as every week we are driving through forests around here.

 

My church is right in the middle of this forest and they have been trying to do a huge refurbishment in time for a conference for women which up to 1000 people will be attending, I imagine they are pretty stressed trying to get this renovation finished, in time, its next week. They had the road closed for 3 days. At least they have a good fire break around it. Its just a beautiful location set amongst 10 acres or forest, an absolute paradise on a Sunday morning, and lots of horses around. Lovely bushwalks and waterfalls around. To risky for now though. To go bushwalking that is. I am thinking of joining a bushwalking club, they have lots of them on the northern beaches. Great way to keep fit, and enjoy the company of others.

 

Are you close to those fires at Moe

 

F

Edited October 13, 2006 by Frangipani

[Frangipani]

Hi

 

Was woken from a dead sleep at 2am this morning with a very loud helicopter just hovering over the bushfire area it just sat there hovering and circling for about 10 mins but couldnt see anything. Took 2 hours to get back to sleep.

 

The bush fire is bringing some of the beautiful exotic birds into my garden. Will have to get some seed and water for them, gosh they are noisy. There is this group of them that sound like they are being strangled when they call out and they are much louder than a kookaburra and thats loud, especially at 5am in the morning

 

Obviously the RFS are still patrolling the area, its gone down drove down Wakehurst Parkway I would say only 1/4 of it was burnt.

 

Just trying to get an update on my sleepless night.

 

Got to get rid of about 3 cubic metres of pruning, good kindling for a fire hot and very windy conditions today the council come and take all this away each month free of charge which is good.

 

F

Edited October 13, 2006 by Frangipani

[dooday24]

that must of been so scary hope u r all ok <'> <'>

[Frangipani]

that must of been so scary hope u r all ok <'> <'>

 

Scary is putting it politely. They have warned us that if we dont get some rain, the beast is going to unleash itself. They said this one was easier to control because its spring time and the conditions are mild. If it were summer, extreme temperatures and squally winds it will be hard to control.

 

I know because as I kid I watched a fire through this very same forest and the wind picks up blobs of flame and sets of new fires. Then you get burning embers flying about, virtually impossible to contain. I can see the whole Garigal forest going up this summer. Its been over 10 years since it did. History repeating it usually goes up every 10 years.

 

A few weeks ago they were trying to contain 50 fires in NSW so it looks like another summer of fires.

 

It tends to dominate the media a bit here. We are afterall facing one of the worst droughts on record too.

 

Water recycling and water conservation is the huge thing here. Sydney is running out of water, we believe they put the dam in the wrong place. Its out west, and most of the rain is coastal.

 

How are you with water in the UK??

 

F