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Re: [OM] The other kind of weather

Subject: Re: [OM] The other kind of weather
From: Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 19:32:16 +1100
In the forested hills to the East of Melbourne. Fortunately (for me  
and mine) the big fires were well to the north and south of us this  
time - unlike 1983 which was the last time it was this bad. A couple  
of my favourite small towns have simply disappeared this time around.  
We had a couple of small ones and the main road and rail line into my  
town were cut for a while.

This was the basis of my earlier comments on professional skill  
versus bravery. That pilot did his job extraordinarily well thank  
goodness but, in the end, it was his job and he was saving himself as  
well. At the moment, there are almost four hundred firetrucks out in  
the Victorian bushland. Each is a standard 10 tonner from a rural  
fire station and has a crew of 6-8 volunteers, members of a  
community, although they travel to where the fires are burning in a  
crisis like this. Some have come over the border from New South Wales  
as well. My local station is a few hoses down the road - they have a  
truck and a pursuit vehicle. The captain is a real estate agent and  
his assistant the owner of the local store. They're out there  
somewhere although the local area is covered by a neighboring station.
There's a couple of pix of these volunteers in their yellow overalls  
with the trucks, in the set. They are ordinary but well trained  
people with nothing to gain personally and they're going up against  
terrifying, uncontrollable fires miles wide and as high as a tidal  
wave. A couple of the big fires have burned out over 100,000 hectares  
by now. Some come back to find their own homes lost. Occasionally,  
some don't come back - whole crews have perished with their truck  
before now. That's bravery for me - they have a choice not to go but  
do it because it has to be done and someone has to do it.
Some more pix have been added - it's worth a look for the colour of  
the light alone - scary as hell.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/02/04/2482299.htm
Death toll is 65 and rising.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



On 08/02/2009, at 6:18 PM, Chris Barker wrote:

> Those are great photos, but of worrying times, Andrew.
>
> Whereabouts in the country are you?

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