Oz Army called in to help battle fires in Victoria

last SG · 2009-02-08T12:23:34+00:00

Birds of a feather....... Oops! My bad! I mean pussy of a fur, together they purr.

maurizio13 SG

Advice for lionnoisy from youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TOxhzAm7fY

maurizio13 SG

Folks laughing at noisy lion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kls5FU98JWY

lionnoisy SG

one of the reasons of high death tolls--

people locked out from the area and they could not return to help their family--

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2487148.htm

2.some in Healsville choose to leave and not want to take risks!!

will u stay in a building which catchs fire?

i know they stay in rural area n may have to leave pets and animals behind.

this is a tough decision to make.

This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.

You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.

lionnoisy SG

http://www.smh.com.au/

lionnoisy SG

oz ADF in actions----great

Mark Dodd FAMILIES driven from their homes by the bushfires were sheltering last night in tent cities as troops joined the emergency response.

lionnoisy SG

this local newspaper can provide very gd and timely coverage

http://lilydale-yarra-valley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/list/category/emergency-services/

09 Feb 09 @ 08:40pm

Emergency Services

FIRST-REPORTS of the fire devastation in Toolangi are emerging tonight, as the small community continues to be threatened by fire.''

lionnoisy SG

some hamlets are just so unlucky to be hit twice!!

But at leas they have the wisdoms not to fight on and quit.

sometime,u just cant fight with Mother Nature!!

Keeping yourself and ALL loved one alive is No.1 priority!!

Mrs Moon said while they sprinklers on the roof and around their property, and had worked to clear the land, by 3pm today, the group decided it was time to leave.

``As I saw it, there were seven of us, and it was not worth risking the seven of us to save the house,’’ she said.

Mr Moon said a number of neighbours were not aware of the threat Monday’s blaze posed until the fire was almost on them.

``There’s a family down the street that didn’t even know the fire was there until it was right behind them,’’ Mr Moon said.

After leaving property, they congregated in Toolangi at an already burnt out paddock area with up to 40 other cars.

``The police and CFA were fantastic, they kept on coming back to keep and eye on us, they kept keeping us informed about what was happening,’’ Mrs Moon said.

At about 7pm this evening conditions eased enough for the group to form part of a police escorted convoy and flee along the Melba Highway.

lionnoisy SG

how far is Melbourne from the fires?

''Bushfire aerial images of devastation, Melbourne CBD in background. Photo: Andrew Batsch''

http://lilydale-yarra-valley-leader.whereilive.com.au/photos/gallery/aerial-views-of-fire-aftermath-at-kinglake-dixons-creek-and-yarra-glen/

Full coverageAerial views of fire aftermath at Kinglake, Dixons Creek… more

lionnoisy SG

''Healesville, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Melbourne, was the latest community threatened by one of the 24 fires still burning.

Victoria's Country Fire Authority warned the town was in danger from "heavy ember attack," a phenomenon that survivors who have faced it liken to a fiery hailstorm of burning embers.

Further east in Gippsland, firefighters were trying to control a massive blaze stretching more than 100 kilometres.

We've got about 135 kilometres (84 miles) of fire line and only a small proportion of that, about 12 kilometres, has been contained," Country Fire Authority incident controller Stephen Walls told reporters.''

Australian firefighters battle 'inland tsunami'
AFP - 5小时前
Healesville, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Melbourne, was the latest community threatened by one of the 24 fires still burning.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

The fires are not over yet.....

lionnoisy SG

''The death toll from the bushfires jumped to 181 on Tuesday evening, with 30 fatalities confirmed in Strathewen; a staggering 15 per cent of the town's 200-strong population.''

Towns in Victoria remain on alert for bushfires as winds pick up
The Australian - 41分钟前
Meanwhile in Healesville, sheer luck and strong winds blew away bushfires from the town. The town was expected to be hit early on Tuesday and had been .

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25036544-601,00.html

lionnoisy SG

a bushfire scientist for more than 50 years says

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25031389-7583,00.html

''The science is simple. A fire disaster of this nature requires a combination of hot, dry, windy weather in drought conditions. It also requires a source of ignition. In the past, this purpose has been served by lightning. In this disaster, lightning has not played a big part, and for this Victorians should be grateful. But other sources of ignition are ever-present. When the temperature and wind increase to extreme levels, small events -- perhaps the scrape of metal across a rock, a transformer overheating or sparks from a diesel engine -- are capable of starting a fire that can in minutes become unstoppable if the fuel is present.

The third and only controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.

Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on saturday.

It has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation's capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed.

The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat.

The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes.

Only a few expert retired fire managers, experienced bushies and some courageous politicians are prepared to buck the decision to lock up our bush and leave it to burn''EOQ

lionnoisy SG

''In a letter to my local paper, the Weekly Times, on January 25, I predicted we were facing a very critical situation in which 1000 to 2000 homes could be lost in the Yarra catchment, the Otways and/or the Strezleckies; that 100 souls could be lost in a most horrible and violent way; and that there was even a threat to Melbourne's water supply, which could be rendered unusable by the ash and debris. Horrifically, much of this has come to pass, and it is not yet the end of the bushfire season.

In the face of this inferno, the perpetrators of this obscenity should have the decency to stand up and say they were wrong. Southeast Australia is the worst place in the world for bushfires, and we must not waste any time in getting down to the task of making our bush healthy and safe.

But don't hold your breath. Do you hear that lovely sound the warbling pigs make as they fly by?

David Packham OAM is an honorary senior research fellow at Monash University's school of geography and environmental science.''

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/

angel7030 SG

wat is your proof?

Oz PM Vows To Tackle Arson 'Evil'

"Something which the nation must now attend to as a matter of grave urgency is the problem of arson.

"This is simply murder on a grand scale.

"Let us attend to this unfinished business of the nation and come to grips with this evil thing."

A special taskforce of 100 police officers will investigate the wildfires and hunt any arsonists believed to be responsible for starting some of them.

Police are convinced at least one of the major fires, which killed 20 people in Gippsland, near the state capital Melbourne, was deliberately lit.

At least 181 people have died in the fires and the death toll is expected to rise further.

"Road by road, house by house, we are working our way through," Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

"We believe the toll will rise. It's a very sad thing for all of us in our community... we hope towards the end of the weekend that the toll will start to settle in terms of numbers."

In devastated Kinglake, Ross Buchanan risked his life to save his home, only to find his 15-year-old son McKenzie and daughter Neeve, nine, had been killed as fire ripped through the rest of the town.

"I've lost two kids, nothing can bring them back," he told Sky News Australia.

The mounting number of bodies has forced authorities to set up a temporary morgue in Melbourne which has so far admitted 101 victims.

Exhausted firefighters, most of them volunteers who have had little rest since the wildfires flared on Saturday, continue to fight to save communities in the path of the flames.

Healesville, about 31 miles northeast of Melbourne, is the latest community threatened by the fires, which razed entire towns.

lionnoisy SG

The fire at north of Melbourne is 88 km x 25 km=2200 km,

3 times of Singapore.How can it be stopped?

The area covers

West--Hume Freeway

South---Yarra Glen

East---Lake Mountain,east of Maryville

North---Melba Hwy

http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/incidents/incident_updates.htm#1476950888310

Kinglake Complex - large file (jpg, 425Kb)

http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/incidents/images/news_image/20090210_1700hrs_kinglake_complex_21309.jpg

pl use the location called Footscary at the bottom left hand corner on

the first and second images as reference point.

then u can know how the fire location is related to Mel urban.

If mankind dunt help themselves,how can u expect Almighty can them?

Fantagf SG

lionnoisy is busy everyday to bump his thread, bo liao

lionnoisy SG

Australia is currently in war with the brush fires.

But the Generals,incl PM Rudd and Vic Preimer,are just sitting there

to get interviews only.They shall sit down and think what to do to deal with this crisis.They should NOT wait for the report of Royal Commission for the fires

which will come out few years later.

1.They shall do a 3 days quick review of why the death tolls and so high.

Make some guess and fine tone the Stay and Defend policy.

2.Deploy more ADF Now---few thousand is very conservative!!

Thats to double the fire fighters in the fire lines!and to deploy

ADF to patrol affected areas to prevent and catch looters.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25038874-1243,00.html

Currently only few thousand fire fighters

in the front line to contain and struggle with the over 150 km fire line!

The 450 ADF task force are mean for clearing roads and other supports.

The situation is damn dangerous.

Many people are now in the mercy of Mother Nature.

DAMAGE REPORTS

''Over 1,000 homes have been lost in the fires that have so far killed over 180 people, with 450,000 hectares burnt and 5,000 people now homeless, Mr Rudd said.''

http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Speech/2009/speech_0809.cfm

''And the numbers just mount and mount. So far 173 deaths, more than 500 injured, nearly 1,000 homes destroyed, thousands now homeless, 365,000 hectares burnt, 25 local government authorities affected, entire towns gone.''

PROBLEMS

LOOTERS

lionnoisy SG

What do ADD do in the crisis?

http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Speech/2009/speech_0809.cfm

''Since Saturday (7 Feb)night the Australian Government has been working closely with the Victorian Government in response to this disaster. The Commonwealth disaster plan has been activated. The Australian Defence Force has established a Victorian-based joint taskforce of more than 450 personnel under the command of Brigadier Michael Arnold, commander of 4 Brigade.

The Joint Taskforce which includes full-time and reserve defence members from navy, army and airforce has provided tents, stretchers, sleeping bags, to accommodate 120 people at the Yea Recreation Reserve. 140 soldiers from Puckapunyal are assisting with this task. 160 reserve soldiers have been deployed to assist police with search and recovery.

The Joint Taskforce has also provided 150 portable beds or mattresses to relief centres in the Baw Baw Shire. This is to enable emergency workers with facilities so that they can get enough rest to continue their tireless work.

The taskforce also includes heavy plant, chainsaw, sections and logistics support, which have been assigned to the clean-up task. Graders, bulldozers, front end loaders and their operators have been asked to assist with fire containment measures, reopening of roads and fire fighting measures around Yea and elsewhere.

Defence Force Personnel will help build containment lines around Yea, which is still being seriously threatened with fire. Four communications-dedicated armoured personnel carriers have been sent to the town to assist defence force engineers, and to provide an emergency medical capability if required.

The ADF has also been asked to provide aerial imaging of affected areas. This will enable the identification of all residences affected by fire.''

Worldlybusinessman SG

australia already attack by terrorist .

webben SG

But the Generals,incl PM Rudd and Vic Preimer,are just sitting there

The only person sitting there is yourself, with your stupid ignorant opinions. On behalf of Victorians I ask you to kindly STFU.

eagle SG

maybe lionnoisy wants to be

1) Oz citizen, but can't.... so he has to appear 'concerned' of the state of affairs there so they might accept him out

2) the PM of Oz

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