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A small piece of good in the Australian fire news
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 244524" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>We're fine. It's overcast here with an occasional light drizzle of rain. Actually, they've had the same weather in Victoria which is helping the firefighters, although the winds and the heat is due to pick up again on the weekend. For them and for us.</p><p></p><p>Currently the township of Healesville is in danger, although the Healesville Zoo is currently safe. It is closed though, although they are bringing wildlife to Healesville Zoo for vet treatment. It's an old established zoo with one of the first successful breeding programs in the country.</p><p></p><p>The story of Sam the koala is a special one. Koalas generally get all the water they need from the eucalypt leaves in their diet. They will drink, but only if really thirsty. From the sound of it and from what we've seen, Sam was dying. She would have been dangerously dehydrated if she drank so much, without that water she probably would have been dead of kidney failure within hours. And for a wild koala to be so apparently tame - she must have been desperate, they won't allow any person near them, as a rule. And she put her paw on his hand! He told our news that some of the water was dribbling down her fur and pooling in his hand, so when she put her paw there, she would have been getting some pain relief from the water in his hand. He went through three bottles of water (each one about half a litre) but she was wearing a fair amount of it. The film was taken by his daughter using the mobile phone; she filmed it so they could take a record of it home to show family. But interest in it has been so strong that the film is now gonig around the world.</p><p></p><p>Like a lot of our firefighters, David Tree is a volunteer. Sam was found before the worst of the fires on Saturday last week. The tragedy of Saturday's fires is amplified when you realise there really isn't much wildlife to rescue. Again, this reflects what we went through in Sydney in '94 - while the human rescue swung into action, so did the wildlife rescue. But the sad thing was, the wildlife rescuers were left with little to do. I remember a large Swamp wallaby that took refuge in the garage next door, it was fleeing ahead of the fire and was uninjured (although with the intense heat and gale-force searing winds, it would have been badly dehydrated). But the adrenalin shock probably finished the creature - the neighbours said it died half an hour later. By then the kids & I were evacced out on the boat.</p><p></p><p>I've been watching the coverage on TV, our media have been (in general) very sensitive and generous. There have been the usual parasites, especially the usual culprits in the print media (Miranda Devine, you've really outdone yourself!). But today the TV programs were discussing the necessary emotional recovery needed. The current CEO of the Red Cross was our local MP at the time of the '94 fires, he also lived in the area so he experienced the same conditions first-hand. They had a bloke on this morning, right after the Red Cross CEO, who shared about the recovery process. The Red Cross CEO gave the bloke a really supportive introduction. It was heartwarming.</p><p></p><p>The biggest problem I found in '94 was the anger and sense of being ignored, because for us no lives were lost (in our village) but the devastation around us was immense. However, because we lost no lives or property, there was a sense that we should be grateful, when in fact we were still badly traumatised. When a few days later, lives WERE lost, we felt guilty for feeling lost, guilty for having survived. </p><p>This time - the emphasis is very much on getting support in there, getting some sort of recognition of what people have gone through, getting people talking and having communities work together towards recovery. As I watch all this, I finally feel my own sense of recovery at last. A good thing. I can now openly acknowledge that I had a right to feel angry and overlooked before, but since then I have dealt with it.</p><p></p><p>Of course people will still be very angry. at the moment a lot of that anger is being directed at firebugs. Some firefighters have been copping abuse, but mostly for telling people to do what they should be doing anyway. In the paper today there was an interview with one very traumatised firefighter who lives in the fire zone. He spent Saturday trying to help, rushing from house to house telling people to go, trying to redirect traffic away from the fire front (some people were heading the wrong way) and getting abused for his pains. In one area he tried to tell people to get out, to just go, but they refused and claimed they were prepared. he said a number of people claiming to be prepared were not, they were wearing the wrong clothing, for a start. And that area was razed, those lives gone. He now feels a great deal of guilt - his house was saved. He was crying that as he fought to save his house, the family in the next street were dying. But as his wife said, he had no way of knowing, he can't live for other people and make their decisions, and anyway, their hoses wouldn't have reached to the next street.</p><p></p><p>There is some discussion now, about possibly changing the procedures, perhaps refining them. The recommended procedure is still to make a decision - stay to defend, or leave early. But now they're thinking of adding an alarm system, perhaps to be powered by back-up battery and triggered remotely by spotter plane - an alarm system which, when you hear it, tells you to get out, fast. Now. Or get into underground shelter (another possible regulation that could come in). Because fires like last Saturday's are unsurvivable. Those who survived were just plain lucky, in most cases. Or they got out erly enough to be well ahead. For a lot of people, they had no idea it was so bad. And again, I remember this too. I was angry at the lack of information we had, it was part of the "we're not important enough to consider" feelings. But now I can see, when they're busy fighting a fire this big, they just don't have enough people spare on the ground to simply sit and watch, to see where it's going. Also the fire can change direction so fast. A really huge firestorm makes it's own weather around it. The intense hot wind is not only driving the fire, it's being made by the fire's heat, the updraft, the hungry search for more fuel. we saw the fire change direction to follow the fuel, and the wind changed direction with it. In our case, the fire followed the town borders. We are fortunate in our own town design - we have a clear border arond the town, while in most areas the town spreads loosely over a larger area. In our place, there is a clear demarcation between town, and bush. As a result the edges get singed but otherwise we're generally OK. It often has taken lines of residents with wet sacks beating out flames on the ridge, but there is no way we could have done that in '94, that was just too huge. And that is the difference - the decision to stay and fight the fire is a sound one, if you're fit, strong, equipped with suitable weapons to fight that particular fire. But with fire storm - forget it. Get out. It's not worth losing your life to save possessions.</p><p></p><p>Again, this confirms for me - fire storms are different. We need to respond to them differently.</p><p></p><p>Since '94 we've had other fires (although it took quite a few years for things to grow back enough to be flammable). The last one was just acouple of years ago, difficult child 3 took photos from the balcony of the neighbour's house. The house was hit by foam from the Elvis tanker-chopper, just in case. The fire was out in a few hours and didn't get much chance to spread.</p><p></p><p>We've also been through fires before. every summer there were fires. You'd look up and check out how many smoke smudges you could see on the horizon, and watch them to see how fast they moved. Generally we'd stay put, double-check the gutters have been cleaned out, if the fire gets nearer you stuff a tennis ball down the guttering downpipe and fill the gutters with water. But the fire storm - never stick around. For years I wished we hadn't been evacced out from the '94 fires, but now I am glad we were. These fires and the coverage I've seen, have shown me how we were just darn lucky.</p><p></p><p>In the fire storm, you don't smell smoke. We've always counted on the intensity of the smoke smell to tell us to get out. When someone says to you, "The fire's at the end of the street!" you expect to be able to smell smoke. But the updraft was just so strong, that smoke and debris is all drawn upwards, miles into the air. We had fire at the end of the street, I went outside to let the neighbours know we had been told to leave and saw with disbelief the fireballs exploding. That is when I was shown the panicked roo in the garage next door.</p><p></p><p>The news was just on - Bunyip Ridge fire is now contained. Healesville fire is expected to flare up and down for the next couple of days, fluctuating as the winds shift through the day. They're hoping for lighter winds over the weekend and they're hoping to consolidate fire breaks and containment lines. Fingers crossed. I suspect these fires, like last year's, will have to be left to burn until they get rained out or they run out of fuel. I think they'll be burning for weeks.</p><p></p><p>A man has been charged over the Churchhill blaze. I hope they've got him in protective custody. People must have their day in court, he can't get off that easy.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 244524, member: 1991"] We're fine. It's overcast here with an occasional light drizzle of rain. Actually, they've had the same weather in Victoria which is helping the firefighters, although the winds and the heat is due to pick up again on the weekend. For them and for us. Currently the township of Healesville is in danger, although the Healesville Zoo is currently safe. It is closed though, although they are bringing wildlife to Healesville Zoo for vet treatment. It's an old established zoo with one of the first successful breeding programs in the country. The story of Sam the koala is a special one. Koalas generally get all the water they need from the eucalypt leaves in their diet. They will drink, but only if really thirsty. From the sound of it and from what we've seen, Sam was dying. She would have been dangerously dehydrated if she drank so much, without that water she probably would have been dead of kidney failure within hours. And for a wild koala to be so apparently tame - she must have been desperate, they won't allow any person near them, as a rule. And she put her paw on his hand! He told our news that some of the water was dribbling down her fur and pooling in his hand, so when she put her paw there, she would have been getting some pain relief from the water in his hand. He went through three bottles of water (each one about half a litre) but she was wearing a fair amount of it. The film was taken by his daughter using the mobile phone; she filmed it so they could take a record of it home to show family. But interest in it has been so strong that the film is now gonig around the world. Like a lot of our firefighters, David Tree is a volunteer. Sam was found before the worst of the fires on Saturday last week. The tragedy of Saturday's fires is amplified when you realise there really isn't much wildlife to rescue. Again, this reflects what we went through in Sydney in '94 - while the human rescue swung into action, so did the wildlife rescue. But the sad thing was, the wildlife rescuers were left with little to do. I remember a large Swamp wallaby that took refuge in the garage next door, it was fleeing ahead of the fire and was uninjured (although with the intense heat and gale-force searing winds, it would have been badly dehydrated). But the adrenalin shock probably finished the creature - the neighbours said it died half an hour later. By then the kids & I were evacced out on the boat. I've been watching the coverage on TV, our media have been (in general) very sensitive and generous. There have been the usual parasites, especially the usual culprits in the print media (Miranda Devine, you've really outdone yourself!). But today the TV programs were discussing the necessary emotional recovery needed. The current CEO of the Red Cross was our local MP at the time of the '94 fires, he also lived in the area so he experienced the same conditions first-hand. They had a bloke on this morning, right after the Red Cross CEO, who shared about the recovery process. The Red Cross CEO gave the bloke a really supportive introduction. It was heartwarming. The biggest problem I found in '94 was the anger and sense of being ignored, because for us no lives were lost (in our village) but the devastation around us was immense. However, because we lost no lives or property, there was a sense that we should be grateful, when in fact we were still badly traumatised. When a few days later, lives WERE lost, we felt guilty for feeling lost, guilty for having survived. This time - the emphasis is very much on getting support in there, getting some sort of recognition of what people have gone through, getting people talking and having communities work together towards recovery. As I watch all this, I finally feel my own sense of recovery at last. A good thing. I can now openly acknowledge that I had a right to feel angry and overlooked before, but since then I have dealt with it. Of course people will still be very angry. at the moment a lot of that anger is being directed at firebugs. Some firefighters have been copping abuse, but mostly for telling people to do what they should be doing anyway. In the paper today there was an interview with one very traumatised firefighter who lives in the fire zone. He spent Saturday trying to help, rushing from house to house telling people to go, trying to redirect traffic away from the fire front (some people were heading the wrong way) and getting abused for his pains. In one area he tried to tell people to get out, to just go, but they refused and claimed they were prepared. he said a number of people claiming to be prepared were not, they were wearing the wrong clothing, for a start. And that area was razed, those lives gone. He now feels a great deal of guilt - his house was saved. He was crying that as he fought to save his house, the family in the next street were dying. But as his wife said, he had no way of knowing, he can't live for other people and make their decisions, and anyway, their hoses wouldn't have reached to the next street. There is some discussion now, about possibly changing the procedures, perhaps refining them. The recommended procedure is still to make a decision - stay to defend, or leave early. But now they're thinking of adding an alarm system, perhaps to be powered by back-up battery and triggered remotely by spotter plane - an alarm system which, when you hear it, tells you to get out, fast. Now. Or get into underground shelter (another possible regulation that could come in). Because fires like last Saturday's are unsurvivable. Those who survived were just plain lucky, in most cases. Or they got out erly enough to be well ahead. For a lot of people, they had no idea it was so bad. And again, I remember this too. I was angry at the lack of information we had, it was part of the "we're not important enough to consider" feelings. But now I can see, when they're busy fighting a fire this big, they just don't have enough people spare on the ground to simply sit and watch, to see where it's going. Also the fire can change direction so fast. A really huge firestorm makes it's own weather around it. The intense hot wind is not only driving the fire, it's being made by the fire's heat, the updraft, the hungry search for more fuel. we saw the fire change direction to follow the fuel, and the wind changed direction with it. In our case, the fire followed the town borders. We are fortunate in our own town design - we have a clear border arond the town, while in most areas the town spreads loosely over a larger area. In our place, there is a clear demarcation between town, and bush. As a result the edges get singed but otherwise we're generally OK. It often has taken lines of residents with wet sacks beating out flames on the ridge, but there is no way we could have done that in '94, that was just too huge. And that is the difference - the decision to stay and fight the fire is a sound one, if you're fit, strong, equipped with suitable weapons to fight that particular fire. But with fire storm - forget it. Get out. It's not worth losing your life to save possessions. Again, this confirms for me - fire storms are different. We need to respond to them differently. Since '94 we've had other fires (although it took quite a few years for things to grow back enough to be flammable). The last one was just acouple of years ago, difficult child 3 took photos from the balcony of the neighbour's house. The house was hit by foam from the Elvis tanker-chopper, just in case. The fire was out in a few hours and didn't get much chance to spread. We've also been through fires before. every summer there were fires. You'd look up and check out how many smoke smudges you could see on the horizon, and watch them to see how fast they moved. Generally we'd stay put, double-check the gutters have been cleaned out, if the fire gets nearer you stuff a tennis ball down the guttering downpipe and fill the gutters with water. But the fire storm - never stick around. For years I wished we hadn't been evacced out from the '94 fires, but now I am glad we were. These fires and the coverage I've seen, have shown me how we were just darn lucky. In the fire storm, you don't smell smoke. We've always counted on the intensity of the smoke smell to tell us to get out. When someone says to you, "The fire's at the end of the street!" you expect to be able to smell smoke. But the updraft was just so strong, that smoke and debris is all drawn upwards, miles into the air. We had fire at the end of the street, I went outside to let the neighbours know we had been told to leave and saw with disbelief the fireballs exploding. That is when I was shown the panicked roo in the garage next door. The news was just on - Bunyip Ridge fire is now contained. Healesville fire is expected to flare up and down for the next couple of days, fluctuating as the winds shift through the day. They're hoping for lighter winds over the weekend and they're hoping to consolidate fire breaks and containment lines. Fingers crossed. I suspect these fires, like last year's, will have to be left to burn until they get rained out or they run out of fuel. I think they'll be burning for weeks. A man has been charged over the Churchhill blaze. I hope they've got him in protective custody. People must have their day in court, he can't get off that easy. Marg [/QUOTE]
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