Bush Fires

They just spent half an hour in Parliment talking of this terrible event.
One thing they pointed out was the farmers and fire fighters described to them in great detail that the fire moved so quickly until it reached grazed padocks.

Then it only moved at 'walking pace.'

Return the stock to keep our padocks grazed and act as it did for years as a fire and weed protector.

Let them roam free as they should.

Its because of people moaning about this feed lots were introduced.



Yabby is correct its just the 'opposite.'

Why on earth dont you people get someone who knows about the bush and livestock if you insist on making comments on these topics.

If we want the birds and other Animals We put our stock back and give the farmers back their grazing rights.

This is a result of you people pushing an agenda knowing nothing about the bush.

One of the things we need most of all is Bushfire Education in schools. It should be taught along with a compulsory unit in First Aid and Emergency Response.
We should probably all be required to keep an Emergency Bag packed and ready to go, especially all those who live in fire prone areas.
I can remember herding the school sheep into our backyard so that the crop duster could land in the paddock and then take out supplies to men fighting fires and watching my 14yr old sister still making sandwiches at well after midnight to feed them - and all the time we were as scared as hell that the fire was going to get too close for us to do anything about it. That was forty something years ago and I have not forgotten - arsonists should be incarcerated for the term of their natural lives.

Paleif
Your suggestion is very short sighted and it depends on a number of issues.
Terrain,
If it is a catchment area,
Local weed infestations they often burn more fiercely than grass fires. They move fast and you can cover up against a log or hole, protect from radiant heat and 5-10 later you get up and go. In a weed infestation it is not so easy.
I’ve seen dust storm in Melbourne that blocked the sun sand blasted cars and turned on the street lights. I ve seen deep ravines created (erosion) in areas where cattle have grazed. Creeks/rivers full of top soil for the same reason.
BTW grass doesn’t grow where there is tight tree cover.
The issue is far more complex than that.
After Ash Wednesday wash up there were many causes for destruction and loss of life. The reports make scary reading.
In essence many of these deaths were avoidable. It’s not the bush so much as human folly.
I’ve seen people build surrounded by eucalypts with only one way out and that ran in the direction of the prevailing fire winds.
Nongs fighting bush fires in shorts and singlets with garden hoses. People not knowing when to give up and go. In short people who live in the bush should know what to do when not if a fire comes.
Houses property are replaceable lives aren’t.
For that reason all my important memories papers are in a fireproof cabinet (in case I'm not home) by the door. In case of fire they the pets and children…not to forget the wife are in the car heading to a predetermined safe spot.
In SA I told the CFS let the house burn lives aren’t worth a house.

First to the victims, the dead[how horrible that death was] the injured, homeless, relatives and friends, my deepest sympathy.
I feel scared too by these events, we all do.
that eleven year old boy was me 52 years ago, most spent as a bush fire fighter, in quite a few brigades.
Now Col Rouge, here you and I are 100% together, I may use other names publicly for radical conservationists but much harder words in private.
In 1956, we fought fires, tried to kill them ASAP, we kids climbed on the truck mid winter and our villages captains home from work burnt off all weekend.
Farmers dropped match's up to mid spring, fires as they had been pre white man did not often reach this massive fire bomb status.
Much has happened now in NSW very few brigades burn at all, most use bush fires to backburn, in truth spread more fire, yes know its controversial but its true, it happens back burn is a tool but too often burns more than the fire.
People who know nothing of this country's Aboriginal fire history, have increased the heat and damage of fires.
In a post here I said we would have increasing fires worse fires more deaths, it has not yet got as bad as it will, we must return to controlled burning before summer.
Laws in place prevent it.
People move to the bush on hill sides build in the bush even trees growing in the middle of the house, a gum tree is a time bomb!
We must become true conservations take it out of the hands of people like Dickie, we owe it to these victims to do far better in future.
I am only good for communications now age and health is not letting me run for my life any more.
My next post will be about fire bugs, murderers that they are, and just how many of them wear fireman's uniforms.

Dear Belly,

The horror has only just begun to sink in while
watching the news reports on television. Words
can't begin to describe this tragedy. My husband
and I went to our bank early this morning to make
a donation to the Fire Relief Fund.

As the names of the places where the fires hit come
up on the TV screen, we sit there in silence. Those
names are so familiar to us. Kinglake, Marysville,
and others, were places where we've holidayed, where
we have often gone for a week-end getaway. Now all are
all gone. As the body count grows, our prayers remain
with those who've lost everything, family, property,
friends, neighbours. With those who died, with those
who are clinging to life in hospitals. With the fire-
fighters, medical staff, volunteers providing food and
shelter.

We can only hope that the Royal Commission will provide
answers as to how something like this can be prevented
in the future.

We must learn something from this tragedy and see to it
that bushfires don't destroy lives in future.

As for the arsonists.

A life-sentence is what they should get.

StG, RobP, Rstuart,

I’d rethink the bunker under the house if I were you.
• Rubble blocking the trapdoor.
• The heat warping the door and it would be bloody hot for quite some time.
• Smoke, O2 depletion, heat might also add to your problems. Big ‘hot’ fires treetop and weed or scrub undergrowth fires burn very much hotter that fast moving so called ‘cold’ grass fires. Hot fires consume all the O2 if they surround (firestorm). You might not be touched by the flames but you die of asphyxiation.
Best you are prepared and not be there if it comes