Australia is on fire.

[Adders]

I never venture into this part of CW, so was really surprised when I went looking for discussion on the Bush Fire emergency that this beautiful country is facing right now, that there was no thread on it already.

To those outside of Aus, summer and fires are synonymous with each other here.....it's just a part of Aussie life. But make no mistake, what we are seeing here right now is unprecedented........half this country is burning. I live in East Gippsland and some communities here are in the midst of a living hell, I have family trapped in a small coastal town called Mallacoota waiting their turn to get on Navy boats to get them out of there. NSW/QLD has been burning for weeks....SA and Western Australia too.

I just wanted to leave this video here that came up on my FB this morning, to give you some idea of the tragedy we are facing and as testament to the amazing Aussie spirit in the direst of circumstances.

Stay safe everyone.

Edit:

Just seen the talk is all in the Aus politics thread. Of course this is a political situation but it's more than that too, so deserves it's own thread IMO

 

[Prince EWS]

Just seen the talk is all in the Aus politics thread. Of course this is a political situation but it's more than that too, so deserves it's own thread IMO

Yeah most of the talk in that thread is about the political implicaitions of it, which is fine, but I think it's good to have a less politically charged thread to discuss it more generally too.
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I had some pretty stressful moments about friends and family members a few weeks ago when the fires were on the NSW midnorth coast; they ended up safe but some with some pretty signficant property damage. I hope your trapped family ends up okay!

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Today's update.

House: still there today
Parents: still alive

3 more friends lost their homes in various places around NSW. One of them a volunteer firefighter who just happened to be on holiday in Japan so couldn't even help.

 

[Adders]

Where are you DCYE?

 

[NUFAN]

That kangaroo burnt on the fence in the video really gets to me. I hate hearing about the huge number of wildlife lost.

It is really awesome to hear the various athletes showing their support. Well done to Kyrgios you jumped on board early, showed a lot of initiative and might finally have the Aussie support on his side.

 

[Spark]

Looks like people are being told to bug the **** out of Eden.

 

[honestbharani]

Scary stuff. Stay safe CWers in Aus. And hope things get better real soon for everyone there.

Why are they reaching unprecedented levels now? IIRC same thing was happening in California in the US too. Got something to do with global warming and climate change?

 

[Mike5181]

Auckland looks like it's got f.lux on at the moment, super weird.

 

[Spark]

A water tank seems to have exploded in Cooma last night and flooded a whole bunch of houses. Really **** thing to have to deal with when you're on edge about fires.

 

[Gnske]

Scary stuff. Stay safe CWers in Aus. And hope things get better real soon for everyone there.

Why are they reaching unprecedented levels now?

Depends on who you ask. Lack of back burns, Greens committing acts of terrorism, climate change. Impossible to tell at the moment.

At least the cricket is good.

 

[Adders]

Scary stuff. Stay safe CWers in Aus. And hope things get better real soon for everyone there.

Why are they reaching unprecedented levels now? IIRC same thing was happening in California in the US too. Got something to do with global warming and climate change?

4 year drought, mismanagement of the forests, climate change, slashed budgets for emergency services. So all but one of those is down to human stupidity and incompetence.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Depends on who you ask. Lack of back burns, Greens committing acts of terrorism, climate change. Impossible to tell at the moment.

At least the cricket is good.

It's not that impossible really. This prediction was made almost 3 years ago.

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/cranking-intensity-report/

 

[Spikey]

It's not that impossible really. This prediction was made almost 3 years ago.

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/cranking-intensity-report/

Gnske's post is, imo, making full of the arguments being put forward by the climate change denial side. I don't think Gnske seriously believes the members of the green party starting bushfires is a bigger issue than climate change

But yes, the 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review had this to say

https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190509072839/http://www.garnautreview.org.au/chp5.htm

 

[Spikey]

btw congrats on your new smoke mask Spark

 

[NotMcKenzie]

I think a lot of the fires have been human-caused, from what I've read in the news. I've heard of fires being lit deliberately—or occurring in such circumstances that it is likely—just yesterday, after all this has gone on elsewhere.

 

[Prince EWS]

I think a lot of the fires have been human-caused, from what I've read in the news. I've heard of fires being lit deliberately—or occurring in such circumstances that it is likely—just yesterday, after all this has gone on elsewhere.

Yeah this is true, but all the other issues have made them spread much more easily/quickly. Weird arsonists have always been a thing but being a successful weird arsonist is a lot easier at the moment.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

I'm not being mono-causal or anything, but it is quite depressing people can be alternatively this stupid or malicious

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Where are you DCYE?

I live in Wollongong now, but was in Nowra until a month ago. My parents live in Basin View.

 

[Gnske]

Well we had someone nearby try to backburn around his Marijuana farm near Ebor and ended up almost burning the town down.

 

[harsh.ag]

Insurance industry to need a bailout?