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BBC AUSTRALIAN FIRE NEWS
ALSO SEE FIRES DOWN BELOW. TEMPERATURES REACHED 119 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT
Your reaction: Australian fires
Australia is suffering the deadliest fires in its history, with smoke from the fires being seen as far away as New Zealand.
Australians around the world are expressing their concern for their friends and families living in southern Australia.
Here are some of the comments that the BBC News website has received from residents of southern Australia and around the world.
YOUR COMMENTS
The death toll is continually rising. At least two towns have been literally wiped out. It's shockingly bad and, having experienced temperatures of 43 degrees yesterday in, gratefully, a fire free zone, I can only image the heat and terror of the fires. My thoughts and prayers are for those who have lost loved ones and property, those injured and in hospital, the brave emergency services, and those wonderful Aussies and community services who are taking families into their homes, and providing relief.
Fiona Kibble, Nowra, NSW, Australia
I live in Victoria and it is the most horrific thing. We've never had a fire like this before, and it's just devastating to hear that people have lost their lives and over 700 homes are gone, and this toll will rise substantially. Such a sad day for us Victorians.
Miranda, Victoria, Australia
Death toll is still climbing. We have had a lot of bush fires in Victoria through my years. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest. The sheer speed of the fire, is one of the main causes of death. Main streets of country towns littered with cars that have collided with trees and other vehicles has added to the death toll. They have just announced the death toll will exceed 100. My boys are back in Melbourne in one piece, thank goodness. So many places I am familiar with are gone. It was so emotional watching the news. We recorded a record top temperature of 47 degrees centigrade in Victoria. Which is 116.6 Fahrenheit.
Chris Burgess, Melbourne, Victoria
I have just talked to my sister who lives near Morwell in country Victoria. Last night she packed up the car with her two young children and the dogs and evacuated while my brother-in-law stayed to defend their home against the Churchill fire. The fire missed them by only one kilometre. There was a wall of flames snaking past their property last night, and my brother-in-law was on fire watch with his neighbours all night. My sister returned to the house today and was scrubbing their floors and furniture to clean away black soot that had been deposited everywhere inside their house. She was very shaken and just wanted to hear the voice of a family member. My niece and nephew who are three and five, respectively, were OK, but clearly understood the seriousness of the the situation when they waved good-bye to their dad last night. Many of their friends have lost their homes.
Andrew, Australian currently living in the USA
This is so scary. We saw a glow on the horizon last night and I keep thinking I should pack my stuff.
Ben, Emerald, Victoria, Australia
The weather in Australia has absolutely gone mad, we lived in Melbourne during the Ash Wednesday fires and reading about the present fires has brought back bad memories, we now are at the other end of the spectrum, Townsville is cut off north, south and west (to the east the sea) the amount of water is unbelievable and it just won't stop raining, BUT we are all alive, our thoughts and prayers go out to Victoria
Marlene Trenerry, Townsville , Queensland, Australia
What a crazy world! I've just rung my sister in Melbourne to check that she and her family are OK living in the Ferntree Gully area. Fortunately they are. Last week I was ringing my daughter who lives in Essex to see how she and her husband were coping. They were confined to their house, with no sign yet that they can get back to work. My brother lives in Queensland and I have not been able to contact him to find out how he is getting on in the floods. OK for us here in New Zealand, but I do hope these current weather extremes settle back to normal.
Maureen, Dunedin New Zealand
My hearts go out to all those Aussies down in Victoria, up here in Sydney it's still very hot but our bush fires seem to be under control somewhat. Thanks go to those brave volunteer firefighters! It shows true Aussie mateship!
Matt finch, Sydney, Australia
I moved here six years ago from London with my family. We live about 100kms north of the fires in Shepparton. This morning the whole sky was smoky and the sun was orange through the smoke. Even though we are safe the house, our clothes and the whole area stinks of smoke and eucalyptus oil. This is the hottest summer we have had in a long time and its not over yet. To make things worse the winds have now picked up and will be fanning the fires. We would gladly swap your snowfall for our bushfires
Pat Kielty, Shepparton , Victoria, Australia
Though not directly affected by fires where I live, the heat has just been unbearable, it's like living in an oven literally! My heart goes out to those people in Victoria, and other parts of both NSW and Victoria affected by the fires. Now try and imagine this whilst most of the southern part of the country is being ravished by fires and searing heat and hot winds - North Queensland is absolutely flooded - unbelievable. They have suffered wide spread flooding and a town called Ingham has been cut off. People are travelling round the town in boats. What a contrast between the the north and south of the country. In regards to the UK please don't complain about the snow - it's a better option than the heat we are enduring.
Cathy Jones, NSW, Australia
The fires are big enough for the clouds to be brown with smoke from them here in southern New Zealand, over a thousand miles away. Temperatures have been at record highs both in Aus and here in NZ, and rural areas are on extreme alert here too. Best wishes and hopes to those in Vic affected by the fires.
James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand
Its unbelievable, it's seriously like a war zone. The response of the Australian people to this disaster has been outstanding with many complete strangers offering those who lost everything money, shelter and food.
Ryan, Melbourne, Australia
I headed up to Marysville for a romantic weekend away with my boyfriend. But on Saturday night we were told to evacuate and as we tried to drive back to Melbourne the sky was red and smoke was soaking our skin. We got back to Melbourne via the Calder Highway, some six hours of travel. My heart goes out to all who are suffering and the many who have died.
Matilda, Melbourne, Australia
The temperatures have been on such a scale here that everything you touch, be it your bed-head or your glasses on the sideboard are so hot that you cannot touch them. Birds are so exhausted that they are falling from the trees dead from the heat. I am not affected directly by these savage fires, but the smoke is so thick in places of Victoria that you cannot breath, you have to take refuge in a darkened corner of your house. To really give you a sense of the impact of these fires and heat-wave I can only say this. If you were living in say Hampstead in London and your family lived in Inverness in Scotland, then imagine that smoke in parts of Victoria that is so thick you could see it from Inverness. I pray from god above that those fighting the fires are protected, the heat alone must be unimaginable. It has been declared that these fires are going down in the record books as totally off the scale.
Greg Tonks, Melbourne, Australia
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/talking_point/7877303.stm
Published: 2009/02/08 13:17:05 GMT
© BBC MMIX
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- Situation Update No. 1 : Australia - Extreme Weather
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RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service
Budapest, Hungary
Situation Update No. 1
Australia - Extreme Weather on 2009-01-22 at 07:48:15
Ref: ST-20090122-20152-AUS
Situation Update No. 1
On 2009-01-22 at 11:14:20 [UTC]
Event: Extreme Weather
Location: Australia State of Victoria Victoria-wide
Situation
Emergency crews around Australia are straining to cope with bushfires and accidents intensified by gale force winds and lightning strikes. In Victoria, crews have been called to 560 fires since Monday morning, and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says the fire danger will intensify over the next few days because of dry and windy conditions. Fire crews are trying to control a blaze that is burning towards the township of Malmsbury, north-west of Melbourne, but a strong wind is throwing spot fires ahead of the fire, near farmland. More bushfires have broken out across Gippsland as storms passed over the region and water bombing aircraft continue to work on two fires started by lightning strikes north of Cann River. A scrub fire came within 50 metres of homes at Carrum Downs in Melbourne's south this morning and authorities say while there is no immediate threat to the town, residents in bushfire-prone areas should enact their fire plans. CFA chief fire officer Russell Rees says fires
in urban areas are particularly dangerous. "Fire literally over people's back fence, fires that appear benign, fires that because of the long run of dry conditions can rapidly develop to proportions where they'll do damage," he said.
"Do not be complacent, the honeymoon is over, the fire season is here amongst us and we need to work together." Mr Rees says fires can take hold within a matter of minutes. "Fire can quickly be upon your house so people need to be aware, " he said. "The expectation that they will get a warning from the fire service or indeed a fire truck at their front gate is something that we can't guarantee." Challenging weather conditions also hampered firefighting efforts in the Bundawang National Park on the New South Wales south coast. The fire, north-west of Batemans Bay, was started by a lightning strike on Tuesday and has now spread across 700 hectares of inaccessible bushland, fuelled by high temperatures and strong winds. Firefighters contained a bushfire at Whiteman in Perth's northern suburbs this afternoon and residents evacuated from the Cullacabardee community have now been allowed back into their homes.
There are severe weather warnings for parts of New South Wales and Victoria, with a cloud mass sweeping bringing possible damaging winds, hail and flash floods. Traffic in Victoria and Tasmania was disrupted by storms this afternoon, with strong winds bringing down trees and powerlines across major roads. VicRoads has received reports of more than 90 fallen trees on roads and major highways because of gale force winds. Strong winds also caused trees to fall on train lines in Melbourne's north, suspending several services. A total of 27 services were cancelled today, with 20 trains withdrawn during this morning's peak due to the hot weather. Meanwhile the Bureau of Meteorology reported wind speeds of up to 125 kilometres per hour in central Hobart this afternoon. A woman was injured when the winds caused a tree fell on a bus in central Hobart and Aurora Energy says 25,000 homes and businesses are still without power. A bushfire closed Tasmania's Midland Highway, the state's main
north-south route at Conara, and power lines came down across the highway. Crews have reopened one lane of the highway and hope to have it fully open by 8:00pm AEDT. The fire was fanned by extreme winds along the highway and 15 crews worked to bring it under control. Heavy rain in the northern midlands helped firefighters control another fire, which burnt paddocks on either side of the highway between Powranna and Epping Forest. Residents at Epping Forest came close to evacuating their homes when the fire raced through.
RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service (EDIS)
Hungary, Budapest
Sending AlertMail: 2009-01-22 at 11:14:20 [UTC]
Please DO NOT reply to this message: replies may be treated as errors and result in your subscription being deleted. If you have trouble or other queries, send email to havaria at rsoe.hu RSOE EDIS is operated by the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), Budapest, Hungary. Because of the complexity of this system and its dependence on other systems, we cannot be responsible for delays or failures in forwarding or transmission.
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