Hoping all Australian webmasters are okay

[Sarah_Jayne]

Just watching the news of the fires on the BBC. I hope everybody we know here from Australia and their loved ones are okay.

It just looks horrible.

[The Duck]

Indeed. Mad fires.

[Jensen]

looks pretty bad :/

[tranza]

These things are terrible...we're having some problems here in São Paulo with storms...

[pixovore]

yes i heard about these fires, good luck to all aussies!

[Darkhorse]

Fine here, but have family friend and her kids missing. There is 131 confirmed dead so far they expect that toll to pass the 200 mark no worries.

A few of the fires were light on purpose they caught one of the firebugs he was actually in the Country Fire Association...

Fucking losers...

[bhutocracy]

I just rang an oldschool low key gfyer near the affected area today, he and his family are safe thankfully, but one of his extended family members was in the very worst area. I hope he's ok. It's hard to fathom the stories coming out atm, fathers who could only save one child while the rest burnt.. whole families cremated in their cars.. and to see the deathtoll jump from 20 to what they're saying will be closer to 200.. It's currently as bad as two previous worst fires put together. Everyone seems to have really underestimated the conditions. Even discounting the deaths it's not a normal bushfire, it's the hottest on record and it was cyclonically windy. A combination of the worst kind..

[Zorgman]

Luckly im not near any of the fires. But the news said 130 + people now dead. Many more body and lost people to find yet. They said it might hit 200 by friday.

[pornguy]

This was the first I heard about it. So Checked it on CNN.

Sorry to hear this is going on.

Nick. Are you alive. Talk to us man, Talk to us..

[XX_RydeR]

Yeah shit is pretty bad.

[bobby666]

seems as i have to watch the news ...

[fatfoo]

Good luck with the fires. Not only hoping Australian webmasters are okay, but also hoping All Australians are okay, too.

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

Fine here, but have family friend and her kids missing. There is 131 confirmed dead so far they expect that toll to pass the 200 mark no worries.

A few of the fires were light on purpose they caught one of the firebugs he was actually in the Country Fire Association...

Fucking losers...

I will keep you in my thoughts and hope they are found okay.

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by fatfoo

Good luck with the fires. Not only hoping Australian webmasters are okay, but also hoping All Australians are okay, too.

Indeed..was just being specific to members of our community but I would wish everybody well too.

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Sarah_MaxCash

I will keep you in my thoughts and hope they are found okay.

Thanks Sarah, Thankfully they were found late tonight in a shelter. There is pretty much zero communication there atm (phone+power lines down) so hard to contact anyone.

Thanks

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

Thanks Sarah, Thankfully they were found late tonight in a shelter. There is pretty much zero communication there atm (phone+power lines down) so hard to contact anyone.

Thanks

Glad to hear that

[Sarah_Jayne]

Sick to think anybody would set some of those on purpose.

[Calico Jack]

The situation is unbelievable. I sat and watched 9 news last night...the devestation is absolute in some areas. Not a single building survived. How more people didn't die is beyond me. The scenes of livestock and animals that survived is incredulous too.
I simply can't begin to imagine how the people affected must be feeling. How does one come back from losing everything that's near and dear to you?

[Calico Jack]

178 now confirmed dead. 750 houses destroyed. 5000 homeless. 330,000 hectares burnt out (that's 815,447 acres).

[sue]

I normally never read about any disasters in Australia. My 19 year old son landed 2 days ago to study at a university in Australia and since then there are fires, floods and crocodiles eating 5 year olds. Fortunately he is in Perth, so all is good so far.

*hugs and kisses*

[_Richard_]

very sad some of the stories coming of australia RIP

[Tom_PM]

My god it's just amazingly bad news. So many homes and buildings and people lost forever.. I hope it's over and just burns out so our down under friends can start picking up the pieces.

[CDSmith]

Originally Posted by Calico Jack

178 now confirmed dead. 750 houses destroyed. 5000 homeless. 330,000 hectares burnt out (that's 815,447 acres).

Whomever the firebug is who started it, hopefully they fry him for it.

And of course scammers are already at work pretending to be charities to aid the victims:

from the Canberra Times
However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned people to beware of scammers pretending to be bushfire charities.

A legit place to donate, if anyone wants to, is here: https://www.redcross.org.au/Donation...eDonations.asp

[papill0n]

Shit is seriously out of control. We are talking a massive firebomb has destroyed several towns - hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed and nearly 200 people burnt alive.

FUCK.

[Kiwigirl]

I guess I need to be calling my friends and family that all live over there to make sure everyone is alright.

[CDSmith]

What about those floods in N Queensland? Let's not forget that.

The Aussies are getting hit pretty hard with the disaster thing lately.

[HorseShit]

Originally Posted by Kiwigirl

I guess I need to be calling my friends and family that all live over there to make sure everyone is alright.

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by Calico Jack

The situation is unbelievable. I sat and watched 9 news last night...the devestation is absolute in some areas. Not a single building survived. How more people didn't die is beyond me. The scenes of livestock and animals that survived is incredulous too.
I simply can't begin to imagine how the people affected must be feeling. How does one come back from losing everything that's near and dear to you?

If I was still religious I would be praying for you all. So, instead I will just keep you in my thoughts.

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by CDSmith

What about those floods in N Queensland? Let's not forget that.

The Aussies are getting hit pretty hard with the disaster thing lately.

Ya there not that far from me.

It was all over the news before the fires now nobody gives a fuck, it's wrong but I guess the fires are more newsworthy either way still people there lost everything.

[CDSmith]

A legit place to donate, if anyone wants to, is here: https://www.redcross.org.au/Donation...eDonations.asp

I just sent in a few bucks. They're going to need a ton of help down there.

Pages sometimes takes a while to load, they say their site is getting pounded pretty hard right now.

[papill0n]

Originally Posted by CDSmith

A legit place to donate, if anyone wants to, is here: https://www.redcross.org.au/Donation...eDonations.asp

I just sent in a few bucks. They're going to need a ton of help down there.

Pages sometimes takes a while to load, they say their site is getting pounded pretty hard right now.

Hey that's good of you mate.

[CDSmith]

Originally Posted by RageCash-Ben

Hey that's good of you mate.

Well we do certainly know a little something about floods and wildfires here where I live, and if something as insanely devastating as that ever happened here I would like to think others around the world would send help. I have no doubt they would.

And the adult community steps up often when needed I've noticed.

[papill0n]

one woman and her family survived by hiding in a wombat hole while the fire passed over them

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

What happened? The whole country burned down?

[voa]

guess everything is ok now

[AtlantisCash]

i just read it here, a Very sad story, i wish everything turns in to good...

[VicD]

Except for Batts.....no, just kidding

[chodadog]

From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...2-2702,00.html

THEY warn you it comes fast. But the word "fast" doesn't come anywhere near describing it.

It comes at you like a runaway train. One minute you are preparing. The next you are fighting for your home. Then you are fighting for your life.

But it is not minutes that come between. It's more like seconds. The firestorm moves faster than you can think, let alone react.

For 25 years, we had lived on our hilltop in St Andrews, in the hills northeast of Melbourne.

You prepare like they tell you every summer.

You clear. You slash. You prime your fire pump. For 25 years, fires were something that you watched in the distance.

Until Saturday.

We had been watching the massive plume of smoke from the fire near Kilmore all afternoon; secure in the knowledge it was too far away to pose a danger.

Then suddenly there is smoke and flames across the valley, about a kilometre to the northwest, being driven towards you by the wind. Not too bad, you think.

I rush around the side of the house to start the petrol-powered fire pump to begin spraying the house, just in case.

When I get there, I suddenly see flames rushing towards the house from the west. The tongues of flame are in our front paddock, racing up the hill towards us across grass stubble I thought safe because it had been slashed.

In the seconds it takes me to register the flames, they are into a small stand of trees 50m from the house. Heat and embers drive at me like an open blast furnace. I run to shelter inside, like they tell you, until the fire front passes.

Inside are my wife, a 13-year-old girl we care for, and a menagerie of animals "rescued" over the year by our veterinary-student daughter.

They call it "ember attack". Those words don't do it justice.

It is a fiery hailstorm from hell driving relentlessly at you. The wind and driving embers explore, like claws of a predator, every tiny gap in the house. Embers are blowing through the cracks around the closed doors and windows.

We frantically wipe at them with wet towels. We are fighting for all we own. We still have hope.

The house begins to fill with smoke. The smoke alarms start to scream. The smoke gets thicker.

I go outside to see if the fire front has passed. One of our two cars under a carport is burning. I rush inside to get keys for the second and reverse it out into an open area in front of the house to save it.

That simple act will save our lives. I rush back around the side of the house, where plastic plant pots are in flames. I turn on a garden hose. Nothing comes out.

I look back along its length and see where the flames have melted it. I try to pick up one of the carefully positioned plastic buckets of water I've left around the house. Its metal handle pulls away from the melted sides.

I rush back inside the house. The smoke is much thicker. I see flames behind the louvres of a door into a storage room, off the kitchen. I open the door and there is a fire burning fiercely.

I realise the house is gone. We are now fighting for our lives.

We retreat to the last room in the house, at the end of the building furthest from where the firestorm hit. We slam the door, shutting the room off from the rest of the house. The room is quickly filling with smoke. It's black, toxic smoke, different from the superheated smoke outside.

We start coughing and gasping for air. Life is rapidly beginning to narrow to a grim, but inevitable choice. Die from the toxic smoke inside. Die from the firestorm outside.

The room we are in has french doors opening on to the front veranda. Somewhere out of the chaos of thoughts surfaces recent media bushfire training I had done with the CFA. When there's nothing else, a car might save you.

I run the 30 or 40 steps to the car through the blast furnace. I wrench open the door to start the engine and turn on the airconditioning, as the CFA tells you, before going back for the others.

The key isn't in the ignition. Where in hell did I put it? I rush back to the house. By now the black, toxic smoke is so thick I can barely see the others. Everyone is coughing. Gasping. Choking. My wife is calling for one of our two small dogs, the gentle, loyal Gizmo, who has fled in terror.

I grope in my wife's handbag for her set of car keys. The smoke is so thick I can't see far enough to look into the bag. I find them by touch, thanks to a plastic spider key chain our daughter gave her as a joke. Our lives are saved by a plastic spider. I tell my wife time has run out. We have to get to the car. The choices have narrowed to just one option, just one slim chance to live.

Clutching the second of our two small dogs, we run to the car. I feel the radiant heat burning the back of my hand. The CFA training comes back again. Radiant heat kills.

The three of us are inside the car. I turn the key. It starts. We turn on the airconditioning and I reverse a little further away from the burning building. The flames are wrapped around the full fuel tank of the other car and I worry about it exploding.

We watch our home - our lives, everything we own - blazing fiercely just metres away. The heat builds. We try to drive down our driveway, but fallen branches block the way. I reverse back towards the house, but my wife warns me about sheets of red-hot roofing metal blowing towards us.

I drive back down, pushing the car through the branches. Further down the 400m drive, the flames have passed. But at the bottom, trees are burning.

We sit in the open, motor running and airconditioner turned on full. Behind us our home is aflame. We calmly watch from our hilltop, trapped in the sanctuary of our car, as first the house of one neighbour, then another, then another goes up in flames. One takes an agonisingly slow time to go, as the flames take a tenuous grip at one end and work their way slowly along the roof. Another at the bottom of our hill, more than a 100 years old and made of imported North American timber, explodes quickly in a plume of dark smoke.

All the while the car is being buffeted and battered by gale-force winds and bombarded by a hail of blackened material. It sounds like rocks hitting the car.

The house of our nearest neighbour, David, who owns a vineyard, has so far escaped. But a portable office attached to one wall is billowing smoke.

I leave the safety of the car and cross the fence. Where is the CFA, he frantically asks. With the CFA's help, perhaps he can save his house. What's their number, he asks me. I tell him we had already rung 000, before our own house burnt. Too many fires. Too few tankers. I leave him to his torment. I walk back towards our own house in a forlorn hope that by some miracle our missing dog may have survived in some unburned corner of the building.

Our home, everything we were, is a burning, twisted, blackened jumble. Our missing dog, Gizmo, Bobby our grumpy cockatoo, Zena the rescued galah that spoke Greek and imitated my whistle to call the dogs, our free-flying budgie nicknamed Lucky because he escaped a previous bushfire, are all gone. Killed in theinferno that almost claimed us as well.

I return to the car and spot the flashing lights of a CFA tanker through the blackened trees across the road. We drive down the freeway, I pull clear more fallen branches and we reach the main road. I walk across the road to the tanker and tell them if they are quick they might help David save his house. I still don't know if they did. We stop at a police checkpoint down the hill. They ask us where we've come from and what's happening up the road. I tell them there's no longer anything up the road.

We stop at the local CFA station in St Andrews. Two figures sit hunched in chairs, covered by wet towels for their serious burns. More neighbours. We hear that an old friend, two properties from us, is missing. A nurse wraps wet towels around superficial burns on my wife's leg and my hand.

We drive to my brother's house, which fate had spared, on the other side of St Andrews.

The thought occurs to me, where do you start when you've lost everything, even a way to identify yourself. Then I realise, of course, it doesn't matter. We escaped with our lives. Just. So many others didn't.

[underthecovers]

Originally Posted by sue

I normally never read about any disasters in Australia. My 19 year old son landed 2 days ago to study at a university in Australia and since then there are fires, floods and crocodiles eating 5 year olds. Fortunately he is in Perth, so all is good so far.

*hugs and kisses*

Crocs are pretty big north of Perth.
This should cheer you up
http://www.thisperthlife.com/2006/06...l_hazards.html

Really I am just joking... Thats life in Australia. watch where you step, put your fingers and swim.

The weathers great, the woman hot, the men err blokey. the beers cold, the beaches clean. Theres no other place to live.

But these fires make you think twice about living in the bush. its horrifying to watch.

My Dad is near the edge of the fires. in a small town near Healesville. Very unlikely the flames will approach him but the smoke is a worry he has a lot of health problems and has trouble breathing at times.


DC

[CDSmith]

Originally Posted by chodadog

From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...2-2702,00.html

The phrase "holy shit" doesn't begin to cover it after reading that.

I don't know what would.

[$5 submissions]

Stay safe, my Oz friends.

[Spunky]

It's brutal over there,damn 750 homes destroyed and those poor people killed.terrible news

[ExLust]

Such a terrible news. My prayers are with them.

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by RageCash-Ben

one woman and her family survived by hiding in a wombat hole while the fire passed over them

My lord.

I need to stop worrying about paying bills and mundane life stuff. When it boils down to it I didn't have to hide in a wombat hole.