Originally Posted by MrBaldBastard

the pictures were dramatic but that's just one area of a larger problem where getting out by water was the solution, fire went over a hill and down into the bay below cutting of the road out and leaving a water escape as the best alternative.

Yesterday conditions were catastrophic temperatures over 115 in some areas during the day then a 80 mph wind ripping up at night spreading existing fires and lighting new, conditions are better today but still hundreds of fires burning.

To get a mental image of some of these fires think of them as a quarter a mile high and moving at 60 mph, so big they create their own weather patterns including fire tornados strong enough to flip a 10-tonne fire truck.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...10-tonne-truck

“We had a crew working in a paddock that were trying to muster up some cattle that were caught in the corner of the paddock. They were only 50 metres from a gate that they entered and they were on flat ground with very low fuel.

“The crew decided to move away from that area and, quite unexpectedly, very suddenly, they experienced extreme winds, and what could only be described as a fire tornado, that lifted the back of the truck, fully inverted it and landed it on its roof, trapping three people, three crew that is, and unfortunately, one of them fatally.”

Veteran firefighters could not believe what they had seen, the spokesman said.