Send Valentine Cards & $$$ to Fire Devastated Australia
Unless you’ve had your head underwater for a week or two (possibly working on your video application for the job of caretaker on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef?) , you’ve heard about the devastating fires which struck Australia’s southwestern region recently, with some of the worst burning last Saturday February 7. Learn how to donate via the Australian Red Cross link here. Read on to read why.
As a southern Californian, and as the granddaughter of a firefighter, I am too familiar with fire fueled by eucalyptus trees. Just three years ago, Fall of 2005, a fire threatened the home my grandfather built and where my mother lives. My neighbor woke me, pounding on my door and pointing up hill to the fire and where she attended our wedding, saying,
“Doesn’t your mother live up there?” Clouds of black smoke swirled and flames licked the sky.
“Yes, yes, she does,” I gasped. I called my mother, said we’d be right up, called my husband and insisted he leave work right away; my mother called my sister, so she too could rush over.
I arrived first with my toddler son. They refused us access but I drove around the road closures, stopped near the top by a thigh sized fire hose on the street. I parked, carried the baby to my mom’s, turned on all the sprinklers, and hosed down the deck and the house.
Soon my husband and sister arrived out of breath; they couldn’t drive up the steep hill. We prepared my mom to evacuate, filled her car with what she needed the most, then collected art, scrapbooks, her computer, and her notebooks filled with research about local history which we placed into the wine cellar, filling it.
Then we went back to hosing everything down, joining the neighbors, as huge air tankers flew by dumping loads of water onto the hungry flames surrounding us, occasionally taking refuge inside from the smoke, eagerly watching the news reports on TV, unprepared to see our house and our hillside on the news channel even though we’d watched the news helicopters flying around.
Across the street,worked down the hill into the backyards of the neighbors. The fire melted a hot tub, killing a rattlesnake which had taken refuge underneath. The firefighters moved on, leaving us to mop up the hot spots.
A fire had threatened the house a few years before. October 1996 I was driving home along the freeway and saw the orange flames along the horizon on the hillsides behind the house so my friend and I headed up there to evacuate my grandfather and grandmother, both in their late 80s. We filled my VW camper van with art, and loaded up the wine cellar with important belongings before we were told we HAD to leave. That night, amazingly, the wind changed, the weather changed, and a rain shower helped the firefighters put the flames out.
Australia is similarly flammable, and we can contribute many of our similarities to the climate and the prevalence of eucalyptus. According to an article in yesterday’s LA Times by Australian Gerard Wright, our fire conditions are alike except that while our fires tend to move in one direction (hence the name “east winds” coming from the eastern dry deserts instead of the west full of cool, damp ocean air), the winds in this region of Australia shift to the opposite direction and the temperature drop 20 degrees in 30 minutes.
But last weekend, there was no switch, no drop in temperature; the shift in wind direction sent the firestorm racing toward the towns of Kinglake and Marysville and their adjacent stands of eucalyptus.
Like my family, people in the regions either “Leave Early or Stay and Defend.” Like in California, suburbia has moved into habitat in Australia that perhaps should be left uninhabited.
We in southern California are lucky that so far our loss of life in a fire season stays in single or possibly double digits–not triple digits like this recent firestorm which hit Victoria, south eastern Australia.
With climate change likely to increase drought in certain areas like California and Australia, we will need to make some very hard choices or else we will lose not just houses, but more lives.
This article offers recent info on the fires and recovery efforts.
Mild weather aids firefighting efforts
Posted
Clean-up continues: The recovery effort will be boosted by the arrival of international experts today. (AFP : Corporal Ricky Fuller)
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Milder conditions have led to an improvement in the fire situation across Victoria, just over a week after the blazes that claimed at least 181 lives.
Twelve fires continue to burn across Victoria.
- Lives lost in Victorian bushfires: 181
- Victorian Bushfire Hotline: 1800 240 667
- Red Cross – missing persons: 1800 727 077
- Country Fire Authority updates
- More ABC coverage
There is fire activity around Donnellys Weir, Mount Riddell and Mount Juliet near Healesville, and residents can expect smoke and flame activity.
The fires are not threatening properties but there is an awareness message out for residents around the Yea-Murrindindi fire north-east of Melbourne.
More resources are being focused on the Wilson’s Promontory fire, to set up lines of containment as the fire increases in intensity and forces the park to stay closed.
Controlled back-burning is underway in the Blackrange Road, Narbethong, Toolangi, O’Shannassy and Armstrong Catchment areas.
Authorities say it is impossible to predict how long bushfires will continue burning in Victoria.
The Country Fire Authority’s Peter Lucas says a heavy smoke will blanket many parts of Victoria and Melbourne this morning.
“The smokes going to increase with two things – the increased burning out activities, and also the reduced weather activities,” he said.
“Smoke sits a lot lower and hangs in the valleys a lot longer.”
International help arriving
Meanwhile, a group of 60 United States fires recovery experts is arriving in Melbourne today to help with the aftermath of Victoria’s bushfires.
Twenty-six specialists in assessing burnt areas and damage to water catchments are among the contingent.
Bodie Shaw, from the US embassy in Canberra, says the experts have been told they could be here for a month or longer, depending on the challenge of the task ahead.
He says almost half of the team’s task will be assessing water catchments.
“[They will be] heading out to look at the Melbourne water catchment areas to give analysis to and then start some rehabilitation in those areas, working closely with the Victorian DSE folks and other specialists as needed,” Mr Shaw said.
“[There is] some sediment erosion, [the] potential for contamination in the catchments.
“We want to make sure we get those teams in place that are able to quickly analyse and then make recommendations … for some quick soil stability, soil erosion capability on those sites.”
Eight members from the Indonesian Disaster Victim Identification team will also arrive in Melbourne today.
They will help other teams currently in Victoria identifying victims of last weekend’s bushfires.
The group will be met by Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe, the Indonesian Consul General Budiarman Bahar and Commander Alan Scott from the Australian Federal Police.
The group was involved in identifying victims of the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day Tsunami and several earthquakes.
Power restored
Meanwhile, power has been restored to some fire-affected areas.
SP Ausnet spokeswoman Natasha Whalley says the power is back on for customers across Kinglake East, Kinglake, Castella and Glenburn.
“[We] have been able to restore power to a couple of hundred properties there,” she said.
“People should now in those areas turn the main switch back on in their homes and see if they’ve had their power restored.”
People are urged to keep clear of any fallen powerlines and report them to the SP Ausnet fault line.
So even if Valentine’s Day 2009 has come and gone in your time zone, still send some love south of the equator! Learn how to donate via the Australian Red Cross link here.
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The response both here and from overseas has been amazing. So much assistance and good wishes and I can assure you it has all been deeply appreciated.