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Don’t you think you are carrying those barbies a bit far?
Good luck and be safe.

Bush fires are not uncommon but this year's variety is above & beyond.

They've been going for weeks. Just as one area burns out another few start. About the only areas that aren't either burning or at much risk are grazing lands inland, where the drought's been so bad, for so long, that there's nothing to burn.

Even where there's no fire we have air so thick with smoke that you're best off staying indoors, and temperatures up into the 40s in many areas (over 100F). and frequent total fire bans, so there's not many barbies just now. There's also widespread drought, and water restrictions pretty much everywhere.

We're the lucky ones though, as there have been whole towns destroyed and several people killed. People in coastal areas huddling on beaches or taking to boats, and roads closed all over the place. It'd be good to have a bit of rain.

My attempt at humor sometimes sucks........:)

Read this morning that 5 million hectares, about 12 million acres have gone up.

The size and ferocity of these fires is amazing.

Fuel load buildup and prolonged drought have increased the issue massively. Plus a lot of land locked up in National Parks and no or little hazard reduction burning. Make it ideal fire conditions.

Plus the oil in the trees make them torches. Literally like they are full of diesel, etc...

True. Eucalypts tend to go up pretty quickly and very hot.

The hot, dry conditions combined with gusty winds and very low humidity have resulted in hot embers causing fires up to 15km or 10 miles ahead of the main fire.

Truly terrifying!

And the big fires are forming big pyro cumulonimbus clouds with lots of dry lightning, causing more ignition points.

The dust cloud behind my car set off a dry lightning strike out at Quilpie many years ago but didn't start a fire luckily. Weird phenomena, never seen it before.

Just read a report that some rain has arrived. I hope it is true and that our Aussie friends get relief from these fires.

Reports indicate 24 Australians were arrested for starting those "climate change" fires.

Best of luck to all our Aussie brothers and sisters!

It's the worst fires ever in regard to the amount of land burnt. The scary thing is there is still January, February and March to go and the fires will burn until the rain comes and there is no significant rain forecast. The sheer size of the fires means they are impossible to put out. They will burn for months yet.

Very sorry to see this happening. I was fortunate to spend a week every July for the past 11 years as a coach with Down Under Sports, staying in the Gold Coast area at Surfer's Paradise. Traveled through Brisbane and Sydney and loved seeing the country. Enjoyed meeting lots of great people and still in contact with some of them, too. Prayers to all of you.

Arson accounts for less than 1% of the area that has burnt
NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) Inspector Ben Shepherd said earlier this week lightning was predominantly responsible for the bushfire crisis.
"I can confidently say the majority of the larger fires that we have been dealing with have been a result of fires coming out of remote areas as a result of dry lightning storms," he said.
With 2019 being the hottest and driest year on record there's sadly more to come.

24 arrests for deliberately set fires + 180 other fire violations is stronger evidence than "...I can confidently say the **majority** of the "larger" fires coming out of ****remote****areas as a result of dry lightning storms".

Appears that a majority (or less) in less "remote" areas were deliberately set.

The NSW’s Rural Fire Service and Victoria Police are on the front line and they disagree with you.

ABC link for you to look at, I'll add that the ABC is the most trusted news service in the country by a mile.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-11/australias-fires-reveal-arson-not-a-major-cause/11855022
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...reading-faster-than-australias-bushfires
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...ting-arsons-role-in-australian-bushfires

WOW!!

You **actually** believe ABC?

The Guardian??

Greta Thunberg???

Amazing how people 9,000 miles away "know better."

Amazing how smokespoles enjoys always being wrong...kinda like a Colorado Biden.

Tell me sherriff, what examples do you have of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation bending the truth?

You do realize they were just quoting a guy in charge of fighting the fires, right?

But of course, you "know better."

Here in Australia the ABC is right up there in trust, the polls have repeatedly shown it is by far the most trusted media source in the country.
We're also inclined to trust the blokes fighting the fires, the RFS, CFA.
What we don't trust is someone across the other side of the world with zero first hand knowledge telling us what's happening in our backyard

I don't recall the ABC ever being untrustworthy

A whhaaannnbulance has been summoned for Greta Thunberg's smokespoles and zero six...until it arrives, keep howling at the sky.

Drugs will do bad things to you

Best of luck to everyone down there. Sad, sad event.

This whole issue of fires allegedly being deliberately lit seems to have been seized on in support of a quite separate argument.

The reality is that how the fires were started is not relevant to the argument at all. There are a range of ways fires have started.

The important point is that however they are started, fires won't get going, and then get out of control, without fuel .When you have a buildup of twigs and dead leaves and other litter, and it is really dry, and the temperatures are at record levels, that is a recipe for a big fire, easily started by any number of different sources of ignition, whether lightning, a dropped cigarette, powerlines shorting, a hot catalylic converter on a car, even Army live firing, or arsonists.

Eucalypts tend to drop a lot of twigs, strips of bark and leaves, and even bigger branches, and this stuff is great for getting a fire going. You can't start out with trees burning, you need the kindling to get a fire going. However, if there's dry litter to get it going well enough, and it gets up into the crowns of the trees, it'll build up its own momentum and then can progress rapidly, even into areas where the leaf litter etc on the floor had already been burned. Once it has got to that stage there's little chance you'll stop it - these big fires send showers of embers ahead, and can even create their own lightning.

The big argument here is about doing regular control burns in cool season, where you can manage a low intensity fire to clear out all the fallen leaves and twigs and such. It seems to be more or less an agreed fact that not nearly enough of it is done. There is argument about why, and this includes barriers put up by "green" types including some in the agencies responsible, as well as from the risk-averse and penny-pinching, which makes it just too hard to get it done. As well as control burns there has also been green influence in relation to maintaining fire trails and firebreaks, especially in national parks.

FWIW our native forest evolved for fire. Some species actually need fire, for their seeds to germinate. It also returns minerals to the soil, and many species recover very quickly after fire. The evidence is that for tens of thousands of years the indigenous people burned the land regularly, usually doing it in cool seasons and it a patchwork, so it created areas of fresh growth to attract the game animals, as well as keeping the land more open. The burning was noted by white explorers, and the first white settlers also described the land along the east coast as open parkland, where you could see for hundreds of yards. Much of that is now covered in eucalypt forest, because the "firestick farming" of the old people wasn't kept up.


But there again, what would I know? I only live here, spend time in the bush, and talk to people here about this sort of stuff. I've only been involved in a few control burns, and a bit of firefighting. Clearly I'd have to defer to the experts 9000 miles away who know so much better than us here about what is going on.

Come on out to the Pacific Northwest, lady dan and see what REAL forests look like and see what a real fire season looks like. We'll give you a yellow shirt to wear and let you help fight the fires in mountainous terrain and watch you cry to get home to your scrub lands.

Geezer fn punks yappin'.

What a moron.

Good luck Dan/all.

Fix your ponytail/manbun and get some new sandals, snowflake.

Pull your head out of your ass, Joe, you're embarrassing yourself:



One of our staunchest allies is suffering through their worst fire season in recorded history, during one of their worst droughts in recorded history, and you find it appropriate to post juvenile taunts?

Pathetic. What the f*ck is wrong with you?

Loosen up your ponytail, old man.

Loosen this, d*ckweed.

Weak little crybaby smokespoles.

Lots of people 9000 miles away know this and have been saying it. Funny how people 9000 miles away can actually know whats going on, know how to mitigate and even perhaps prevent it, yet those only 9 miles away chose not to for whatever various reasons.

I dont think distance is your issue.

Good luck with the (preventable) fires you guys are having. We'll be having more of our own here in the US for the same reasons. Failure to plan.

Oooh. That really hurts coming from you, Napoleon.

Well, you have the option of going back to sleep...where you know what you are talking about.

that fits just fine in the prick category. Best to you. What an azzhole.

And a lame prick at that. Likes to bag on people for their age, how sad. Apparently he hasn't figured out that age is one of the few rhings in life that's unavoidable.

Get mental health counseling...you trigger easily...a red flag is starting to appear on your forehead.


Do avoid traffic stops by LE agencies.

To the Aussies, best of luck, hope you get some unseasonable rains and get the fires under control soon.

I'm out here, we've polluted your forum enough already with this BS.

probably more like avoid stops by the probably less than 10% of LEO pricks out there... I know a lot of LEO. I don't know a single one that would make the statements you did while others are in a disaster. Not a single one. And since I work/worked with a LOT... that says a lot.

Get a haircut, bathe, shave and get back to your cabin...you use many words to say nothing...again.

Good luck Aussies. I hope you get some more rain 👍.......Hb

FOAD

Sweet, a gentile version of Fred.