Hold our Australian Neighbors in the Light

Whatever your tradition, lets give real thoughts and prayers for the welfare of Joanne, the other Australians who post here from time to time and all of the people of Australia.  I don't know if we can truly comprehend what is happening their country.


It is tragic and heartbreaking. The fires are in so many parts of the country and I have just read that 500,000,000 animals are estimated to have been killed by them. Such devastation to people and wildlife.


I grew up in California and my family still lives in fire country so I am no stranger to wild fires but this is beyond the pale. The smoke alone must be unbearable. 


Klinker said:

Whatever your tradition, lets give real thoughts and prayers for the welfare of Joanne, the other Australians who post here from time to time and all of the people of Australia.  I don't know if we can truly comprehend what is happening their country.

Thank you.

The last figures I saw had something like the fires had burnt an area of over 14 million acres.  

(We use hectares as the measurement of land.  1 hectare = a bit less than 2.5 acres.)

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2019/dec/07/how-big-are-the-fires-burning-on-the-east-coast-of-australia-interactive-map?lat=41.04631097267235&lng=-74.52575675211848    (Double-click on the square to move it around.)

https://hotspots.dea.ga.gov.au/

https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/     (Select all the Hotspot options to see what things have been like.)

The coverage from our national broadcaster - https://www.abc.net.au/news/

You can watch some of the programs using the ABC Australia iview app - http://www.abcaustralia.net.au/abc-australia-iview

More bushfire (which is the term we use) coverage here - 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/bushfires

......................

Now, I can't speak for @joanne, who lives in Queensland, almost 1100 miles away from me, but here in Melbourne - the capital of the southern state of Victoria - we've been largely spared any big fires.
Yet, we're still affected by the smoke.  I can only see for a couple of miles this afternoon, whereas usually on a summer afternoon I can see a great distance.  We're being told that the air quality in Melbourne this afternoon has been rated as between 'very poor' to hazardous'.

Oh, and speaking of the smoke from the bushfires, our antipodean cousins in New Zealand (1,200 miles away across the Tasman) woke up to a blanket of it earlier this week - 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50969488


Thank you for thinking of those caught in this terrible nightmare. 
we’ve been fortunate here on the Gold Coast, that for the last week we’ve had mostly skies free from bad smoke haze, although it’s still hard to exercise outdoors. One of my ladies died last week, partly due to health complications from the months of poor air quality; I suspect that by mid-year we’ll be seeing more health consequences. 
Earlier this week I used the interactive map links from the Guardian to get an idea of how much of US land would be burnt - this was before Victoria really got going. At that stage pretty much from Philadephia well up past Rhode Island, almost to Providence formed the base of the large square for the NSW fires. (I’ve forgotten the northern town for the height) you would’ve been horrified then, and it’s worse now, well into Canada.

D’s elderly cousin has probably lost her house and all her family history in the Nowra/Shoalhaven fires. She’s the family genealogist, with all the records, keepsakes, photos. Luckily she’s with family in Sydney at present so she’s safe. 


joanne mentioned the Guardian, and here's the link. 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/all

joanne - Thinking of you and Shabbat Shalom. 


I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned that I worked with one of the affected local government Councils, preparing its Y2K plan for delivering community services, meals on wheels, district nursing, home care, etc to many of the towns and localities you’re reading about in NE Victoria: Corryong, Kiewa, Cudgewa, Tallangatta, Walwa, the wine & cheese country etc. I’ve worked in Wangaratta, Chiltern, Yackandandah, Mt Beauty, Falls, Stanley, Myrtleford, Wodonga West as well as the Albury side of the High Country. I know the localities where people can’t get cell phone coverage the best of times, where they’re lucky to get a road grader once a year to fix the gravel track to their property. 
They’re only protected by volunteers, and the vols cover immense territory. They’ve been on alert for weeks, covering everything in their district. 
The area just below the mountains but still in the foothills is riddled with old mining shafts. If the fires get in the tunnels, it could be interesting. Down in Gippsland, we have the old open-cut brown coal mines at Yallorn. if the fires get there, again, it will be interesting. Kangaroo Island is burning; I haven’t heard anyone mention plans about protecting oil rigs in Bass Strait (check a map)...


I’m sorry if I sound bitter. I have so many friends and former clients in Albury and Wodonga who are currently coughing and struggling to breathe, although the fires ‘aren’t near’. 
one of the meeting venues we used to use in west Wodonga is now an evacuation centre for people coming in from the smaller farming areas under mandatory evacuation. There are few roads in, little transport if you don’t drive, limited fuel because of the fires.

I just thought: there are two army bases outside Wodonga, and there’s Kapooka outside Wagga, Pucka near Seymour -@marksierra, have you heard if any cadets or troops from Kapooka, Latchford, Gaza Ridge or Pucka will be assigned to assist?

ETA: Saturday: the temperatures in Canberra, Sydney, Albury/Wodonga,  most of Victoria and NSW were well over 100 DegreesF. In the Alps, where even in summer usually you’re lucky if a fine day is above mid-20C, today was around 104F (from what I calculated; @marksierra might confirm)


All I know about the armed forces assistance is what I see/read/or hear on the news @joanne.  I haven't seen any information as to which bases the troops - or the reservists - are coming from.


Ta. Thought I might have missed something.  question 
Ironic the new-improved Snowy Hydro power plant is threatened/needs to keep shutting down. And I read that some of the gas-seam (fracking) fields in NSW (possibly in Bateman’s Bay) are now catching alight, a new fire-fighting scenario for our firies.

ETA: Special federal funding was made available for the Hydro upgrade project, and to reopen/keep open a couple of other coal-powered electricity plants in NSW, pet Cabinet projects. 


joanne and marksierra - How do you know each other? 

I think joanne's connection to MOL is from a virtual connection with @librarylady many years ago. 


Chris Hayes on MSNBC brought attention to it a few nights ago. Lots of coverage coming into my FB newsfeed. Its heartbreaking. My ex has been in touch with 2 wonderful friends there. So sad to see this. Such a magical place.


If you are looking to help, my favorite performer P!nk just posted this. @joanne or @marksierra  would you recommend one over the other? Please stay safe.


Fascinating editorial in the NYT today about how the conservatives dominate the government there.  Murdoch controls 58% of the press.  Number 1 coal exporting country in the world, opening more mines,  and ranked 57 out of 57 for climate change action in the world. Tasmania is in the process of passing a law allowing climate change protesters to be imprisoned for 21 years.  In many respects it is practically an authoritarian government.  


cramer said:

joanne and marksierra - How do you know each other? 

I think joanne's connection to MOL is from a virtual connection with @librarylady many years ago. 

 Marksierra and I have known each other since I was at high school; we had several friends in common. A bunch of us with similar tastes in humour, trivia, history, cultural adventures regularly met for breakfasts. I moved away when I married, 30+ years ago. (But I moved a little closer in ‘96, around the time librarylady and I started writing to each other. She introduced me to MOL a couple of years later.)


FilmCarp said:

Fascinating editorial in the NYT today about how the conservatives dominate the government there.  Murdoch controls 58% of the press.  Number 1 coal exporting country in the world, opening more mines,  and ranked 57 out of 57 for climate change action in the world. Tasmania is in the process of passing a law allowing climate change protesters to be imprisoned for 21 years.  In many respects it is practically an authoritarian government.  

The Great Barrier Reef is dying due to climate change. I mentioned to @joanne a couple of months ago that we have friends who recently visited their daughter in Australia. She's studying the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/great-barrier-reef-dying-climate-change-caused-decrease-in-new-coral-study-says/


librarylady said:

If you are looking to help, my favorite performer P!nk just posted this. @joanne or @marksierra  would you recommend one over the other? Please stay safe.

 Each State has its own volunteer fire fighters, completely independent from the others. There’s national Standards on how they’ll act, what equipment they should use etc but they’re State-run. Apart from the the Northern Territory, they’re all out now, all pushed to the limit - if any can be spared from one region, they’re sent to relieve interstate.

NSW, Vic and Tasmania are really pushed this weekend; SA are fighting for Kangaroo Island as well as the mainland - and they’re trying to keep the Stuart highway reasonably clear and flowing. WA is battling unbelievable weather and has the last of our grain crops (I think), but there are some fires in the wheat belt region. All the volunteers have given time since September/October and will be doing this until March, when hopefully there will be rain. 


Just terrible. News program here just reported that more than half of Australia is  now on fire with no relief in sight.  


The terrible devastation is unbelievable. This map interposes the scope the Australian fires over a map of the continental U.S.

https://twitter.com/Sci_Phile/status/1213703245794693120/photo/1


chalmers said:

The terrible devastation is unbelievable. This map interposes the scope the Australian fires over a map of the continental U.S.

https://twitter.com/Sci_Phile/status/1213703245794693120/photo/1

 Yeah, kinda worse than that now (it’s the morning of 6th Jan here). 
When you look at all the devastation, the ravaged communities and the stalled economy remember:

- the school year starts in three weeks. We’ll still be fighting these fires, struggling to keep basic communication & power going

- the party forming our federal govt believes in minimalist government, pretty much what you’d call libertarian government. We’ve never seen it in action before, and certainly not for emergency situations. We are not impressed, but most of us think the problem is one of leadership not ideology.

A lot of the recovery support announced up to yesterday already exists.


I can't even...


drummerboy said:

I can't even...

 That is unbelievable!


From the creator’s Facebook page:

Anthony Hearsey - Creative Imaging

Yesterday at 10:50 PM

Didn’t realise this would go viral PLEASE READ BELOW.

This is a 3D visualisation of the fires in Australia. NOT A PHOTO. Think of this as prettier looking graph. This is made from data from NASA’s FIRMS (Satellite data regarding fires) between 05/12/19 - 05/01/20. These are all the areas which have been affected by bushfires. Scale is a little exaggerated due to the render’s glow, but generally true to the info from the NASA website. Also note that NOT all the areas are still burning, and this is a compilation.


DaveSchmidt said:

From the creator’s Facebook page:

Anthony Hearsey - Creative Imaging

Yesterday at 10:50 PM

Didn’t realise this would go viral PLEASE READ BELOW.

This is a 3D visualisation of the fires in Australia. NOT A PHOTO. Think of this as prettier looking graph. This is made from data from NASA’s FIRMS (Satellite data regarding fires) between 05/12/19 - 05/01/20. These are all the areas which have been affected by bushfires. Scale is a little exaggerated due to the render’s glow, but generally true to the info from the NASA website. Also note that NOT all the areas are still burning, and this is a compilation.

 Thanks.


But - that’s our farms, industrial centres and grazing lands. What hasn’t burnt, in the middle, is desert.


You may have read that some of the dry, charred places are getting some rain (some creeks and rivers starting to dribble for the first time in years), and that this is revealing a deeper issue with the ash and debris choking the remaining ‘clean’ habitat for native fish and wetlands flora. 
But 15 mins ago outside my house rain began pelting down so strongly, the floors were vibrating with the drumming as water hit the road, and spray was driven on the breeze through to my hallway (that’s around 20-30 metres from the window).  I don’t think it’s going to let up for a couple of hours, at least. I hope the farmers are getting some of this; I hope it’s not washing good soil away! Please, let the catchments fill up a little bit!!  question
check out that beautiful weather radar for Runaway Bay, Queensland at

Www.weatherzone.com.au 


joanne said:

You may have read that some of the dry, charred places are getting some rain (some creeks and rivers starting to dribble for the first time in years), and that this is revealing a deeper issue with the ash and debris choking the remaining ‘clean’ habitat for native fish and wetlands flora. 
But 15 mins ago outside my house rain began pelting down so strongly, the floors were vibrating with the drumming as water hit the road, and spray was driven on the breeze through to my hallway (that’s around 20-30 metres from the window).  I don’t think it’s going to let up for a couple of hours, at least. I hope the farmers are getting some of this; I hope it’s not washing good soil away! Please, let the catchments fill up a little bit!! 
question

check out that beautiful weather radar for Runaway Bay, Queensland at

Www.weatherzone.com.au 

 Its wonderful to hear that you are getting rain.  In California, rain brings mudslides to burn areas.  I hope this will not be too much of a problem in Australia.


It’s happening in some places, but they’re not too built up. In the burnt-out townships, we haven’t yet heard much (the rain is only really setting in late this arvo/evening), the morning news will reveal more. 
of course, what’s really shocking is that in many places right next to the wet, there are smouldering fires and winds that come with these rain troughs are reigniting those blazes into stronger fire fronts. 
meantime - I’ve just been rained on in bed!!! smile

(It's now 6am, still raining, and we've been in Emergency for almost 2 hours because I'm probably having a thunderstorm asthma attack. Sigh)


In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.