The fire that is causing the most concerned today is one near Newcastle (Stockrington Road at Minmi). However, it seems that today is going better than what firefighters were expecting it to - though they are saying that the weather conditions today are as bad as they can get. Edited to add - the fire at Springwood that was at a Watch and Act level has just been updated to Emergency Status.
I could see the smoke from that fire from tafe today. They had to close the M1 down, as the fire was pretty bad. There is another fire at Gateshead. We need some rain up here.
Weird that it's being called the "Gateshead" fire given that it's a few suburbs away and over the other side of the highway, but no matter - hopefully it can be contained quickly. I know the area well enough to be able to envision what sort of disaster could ensue otherwise. We badly need some rain everywhere and just as importantly, far less wind. I won't hold my breath waiting for either eventuality.
It has been announced that one of the fires that started last Wednesday (the Lithgow fire) was as a result of army ordinance being exploded on an army range.
Question for those in NSW: is controlled burning still done in nsw? I'm hearing a lot of talk that it has been stopped for a number of years now, which seems downright silly if true.
My friend the part time firie reported on the weekend there was controlled burn being conducted behind his house, and I hear on he news something about the same as well.
Hi Jaz haven't spoken to you in years. Funny that you're working for an insurer, I spent the better part of five years as a broker.
All the papers I've been reading are saying that controlled burns have been reduced or are not done at all. Makes no sense to me either.
The NSW Rural Fire Seevice lists all the controlled burns they do on their website and there seems to be a lot of them. Down here, my city council conducts many control burns on their land. About 1/3 of my city (Clarence City - one of the three cities that make up Greater Hobart) is bushland. I am not sure who carries out control burns on non-council land. One of my friends lives near Bicheno. She was complaining about how few burn offs were being in her region. She was blaming the Greens. I pointed out that it was likely that her council probably couldn't afford to carry out as many burn offs as were neccessary. Her municipality only has 5000 people compared to 53000 in mine and her municipality includes far more bush. I imagine rural councils in NSW would have the same problems with lack of funding. The Greens here complain about, and are trying to stop, forest regeneration burns which are very different thing to hazard reduction burns.
Whatever the websites say, hazard reduction burns are not conducted to anything like the extent they used to be, or need to be. I was talking with a friend yesterday who has more than 35 years experience as a volunteer firefighter and we lamented the idiocy of such policies - whatever the reasons behind them. If there's no fuel, it can't burn. Perhaps that's too obvious for some people.
Do you think that it is a funding issue, or a lack of manpower issue, or is it as a result of pressure from environmentalists? One thing that I think should be looked at is many people are choosing to live closer to the bush than they have in the past and this is made worse because some councils make it difficult for owners to even clear trees from around their homes. Planning laws need to be changed so that houses in fire-prone areas can be as safe as possible.
Sadly there has been a second death. A pilot has died when his water-bombing aircraft crashed. He was a 43 year old father of three. Also another pilot who was delivery spare helicopter parts to be used in fire-fighting has also been killed in a crash near Mt Hotham. I am not sure if he will offically be regarded as a victim of the bushfire.
That was my understanding as well. I know that is the case in QLD. Absolute foolishness. People should come first.
All of them. Fires have always been part of the furniture here (even in October) and always will be, but we insist on not learning from the past. Funding cuts seem always to hit the most essential services, particularly when (like fires) it becomes and "out of sight, out of mind" issue. And too many environmentalists seem to be more interested in their own ideas than the reality of the Australian landscape and flora. People can't be allowed to do whatever they like but letting fuel build up over a number of years as part of some notion of "preservation" or whatever is simply stupid and asking for the sort of disaster we're seeing now. I couldn't possibly agree more with this statement. People insist on living in "the bush", seemingly with little or no comprehension of the dangers involved. The friend I mentioned told me that a recent local fire was started by urban-dwelling people who decided that digging a 5cm deep "pit" was adequate preparation before burning off some rubbish on a day of strong winds. That sort of stupidity (in various forms) is all too common. He also brought up the people in Victoria who cleared a substantial area around their home prior to the horrendous 2009 fires. Their home survived...and the local council insisted on fining them for the clearing part. At some point common sense must enter into the equation where these regulations are concerned. Our indigenous inhabitants burned this country regularly over the course of thousands of years and it survived. While a great deal has changed since, we must realise that we don't know better than them and that managing fuel loads is an essential part of mitigating potential fires.
It seems that some people who previously would have been entitled to a Disaster Recovery Payment will not be able to get due to cuts implemented by the Abbott government. The ones who will lose out are those people cut off from their homes or places of work, and also people who have been without water and power for more than 48 hours. IMO if someone cannot get home, sometimes for several days, and therefore have to pay for accomodation, they should get a payment.
Sadly it looks like she won't be able to get any payment which is grossly unfair seeing Tasmanians who were in the same situation last year got a payment. It is only $1000 per adult and $400 per child so it isn't like it is going to break the government. A politician can claim $5000 for his wife and him to fly from WA to Queensland and stay only one night and yet a couple with two children forced to pay for accomodation during a crisis can no longer get a $2800 payment. I know the politician concerned ended up paying it back but only because of the public outcry and I am sure not many Austraians would complain about any Disaster Recovery Payment.
Without dragging this thread down into a political debate, serves them right for voting in Abbott and friends in the first place.