Bush Fires-narre North & Surrounding Areas

[O.I.C Napster]

This might be of interest to some people that want to help:

Source: http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/nab/...ire+relief+fund

NAB establishes $1 Million bushfire relief fund

Sunday, 08 February 2009

National Australia Bank today announced that it has established a relief fund of one million dollars for people and communities affected by the devastating bushfires across Victoria.

"Along with all Australians, we are shocked by the scale and impact of the situation", said NAB Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Cameron Clyne.

"Our thoughts are with those personally affected, and we offer our heartfelt support and encouragement to the fire-fighters and volunteers who continue to battle to save properties, towns and communities from the bushfires.

"The bank is ready to provide practical assistance and we will work with our customers, staff and communities to provide relief.

"We have a range of measures in place to support and assist people through times such as these, and we encourage affected customers to contact us when they can, to discuss the ways in which we can help", Mr Clyne said.

To discuss the relief measures available, customers should contact 136 NAB (136 622) from 8am Monday 9 February, or visit their local branch.

Tax-deductible donations to the Victoria Bushfire Relief Fund can be made from Monday 9 February at all NAB branches, or via the internet using the following details:

Victoria Bushfire Relief Fund

BSB: 082-001

Account: 860 046 797

NAB media contact:

Felicity Glennie-Holmes

NAB Corporate Affairs

m: +61 (0) 412 673 038

[Sheng]

Apparently the worst bushfire in aus history,

my condolence to the families who lost their loves.

[vidospace]

Australia has the harshest penalties for firebugs anywhere in the world. Up to 25 years prison apparently.

[Jezza-gtR]

Up to 25 years prison apparently.

Is that all? Anyone who starts these fires and causes this much damage should receive far worse.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

just watching ch 7 as i type this and its really looking worse by the minute

just thank god this didn't happen last week

[alwaysdreaming]

Australia has the harshest penalties for firebugs anywhere in the world. Up to 25 years prison apparently.

i have been told you can get 5years just for having suspicous items and being in the area (not even proving you had done anything)

i dunno about this one, 25yrs aint enough though!

what about that 19yr old that got caught for starting some fires so his CFA unit would get called out, what a F*#k WIT!

[S13_DriftR]

Australia has the harshest penalties for firebugs anywhere in the world. Up to 25 years prison apparently.

That's a joke surely

You'd think considering the Death Toll thus far it'd be at least life...

On a different Note... I am absolutely shocked by how much devastation & loss of life these fires are actually causing... I admit I didn't hear or see the news all weekend & to hear this is an absolute shock, I know of many who live in & around Whittlesea & Bendigo so from what I've heard on the news this morning both these towns have almost been wiped out but that's all I've heard...

Any updates would be appreciated...

[N1GTR]

I drove to Melbourne saturday and came back to Sydney yesterday, on the way i thought the ambient temp indicator was broken, it didnt read below 38deg from Yass to Melbourne, but winding the window down and putting an arm outside confirmed it was reading correctly.

On the way back i couldnt believe how much was burnt - areas of highway, signs melted etc, roadblocks everywhere

On the way down there was a layer of smoke from about the Winton area to the outskirts of Melbourne, but the return trip was the strange one - a medium density layer of smoke from just outside Melbourne all the way to Yass (NSW), Yass is where the hills start so you'd have to assume thats why the smoke stopped there. But how crazy is that, 700k's of smoke!

[-FIGJAM-]

i really hope everyone down there is being safe. Dont mess around with these fires guys, they are moving too fast for you to try and defend your homes, get out while you can if you have to.

RIP all the people who have lost their lives...

[R31Nismoid]

I was talking about all this today @ lunch with a friend and it went something like this.

Loss of life, history, memories and so on and it is indeed a great tragedy. There is nothing to say its not bad...

However… where do we draw the line with all this media and people feeling sorry?

I mean look where these people live, up in mountain regions with dense scrub, leaf litter and so on… its fairly likely that its gonna catch fire.

Every 5-10 years there are big fires somewhere in the state with lesser ones in the years inbetween.

It’s a part of nature.

No one can change the fact of nature/life that is a bushfire no matter how many times you 'pray to god' or whatever you believe in because you feel the need.

Hell even the ones that are deliberately started, who's to say they wouldn’t have flared up on their own in the coming hot seasons 2-3 years from now? You don’t know they wouldn’t as much as the next person. You just don’t know and you never will living in a risky area like that.

Fire is dangerous, as much as the catalysts for it.

These people choose to live there so they take the issues around it the same as anyone else.

People living near Essendon airport know the risks of planes dropping from the sky, and its happened a few times over the years.

People living near floor plains/rivers and so on, same deal. They get flooded out sometimes.

Even look @ the goobers as an example, the cyclone areas that are ravaged every few years yet these people move right back in 3 months later.

Yes I feel for the people, but to see people carrying on, the news flogging it for hours, days… I mean come on…

Its humans own stupidity that’s led to this occuring, yet I don’t think ive seen one person say that it was the peoples own fault for living there because at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down too.

You choose to live somewhere that has very well known associated risks… be prepared to accept them.

People live around nature, nature does not live around you.

[NickR33]

ash your going to cop it for that post!

120 people dead and counting... I think there is a problem with the way the warnings are given, people should not be staying to defend their houses in this type of fire... total evacuation far enough ahead of time to get people out... I understand the fires were moving very quickly but surely we have seen enough bad fires to know to grab a few things and leave as soon as you are told

RIP

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

sorry ash but i have to disagree there....

this time around the fires are moving in a different manner to those prior...

a 48 degree day coupled with what has ben reported up to 100kph winds and flamable eucalypts = a fire that no-one ever though would happen...

think how fast your car travels @ 100kph... now imagine a fireball of flammable eucalyptus trees literally exploding in all directions at that speed.

my mate live in the hills above pakenham on a lovely green property... it is kept fire safe at ALL times... they have their own private dam and 5 water tanks.

the ground is literally the only place i know that is lushious and green... or it was at least untill last week... the whole place is dead and dry... and the dam is empty.

a fire would destroy that place in literally a few seconds... but only 2 weeks ago it would have taken much more time due to lack of fuel.

mike has bee spending the last few days infront of his pc updating the cfa website every minute or so... just waiting to have to bail. luckily the nearby fire have taken a turn and he and his property is now safe (we hope)

people who have lived in these areas for 50+ years have never seen conditions like this before... we are ALL going to learn a valuable lesson from this tragedy and hopefully act differently in the future... as we only really have past experiance to rely on for information in situations like this...

next time IMHO the tv networks really should interrupt regular programming on all channels with a MFB/CFA run GTFO message whenever required! same with radio.

i mean.... we can do it in the citylink tunnels... why not when lives are at risk

[option1]

Any QLDer's reading this, we will have donations set up at Archerfield Drifts this Friday night - So come along and help the hundreds that have lost everything, including their loved ones. It has really hit home with the death of one of the DA drifters and his family

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

shit... who?

[option1]

shit... who?

Luke Jacobs and his family. There is a thread about it in here

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

yeah i just read it...

RIP

[R31Nismoid]

ash your going to cop it for that post!

120 people dead and counting... I think there is a problem with the way the warnings are given, people should not be staying to defend their houses in this type of fire... total evacuation far enough ahead of time to get people out... I understand the fires were moving very quickly but surely we have seen enough bad fires to know to grab a few things and leave as soon as you are told

RIP

Well maybe it might start some discussion rather than taking a bit one perhaps

However there are people that think the way I do, however are too scared of what people will say… to actually say em. I give nothing for public opinion and ill say what im thinking as im straight up.

sorry ash but i have to disagree there....

this time around the fires are moving in a different manner to those prior...

a 48 degree day coupled with what has ben reported up to 100kph winds and flamable eucalypts = a fire that no-one ever though would happen...

think how fast your car travels @ 100kph... now imagine a fireball of flammable eucalyptus trees literally exploding in all directions at that speed.

people who have lived in these areas for 50+ years have never seen conditions like this before... we are ALL going to learn a valuable lesson from this tragedy and hopefully act differently in the future... as we only really have past experiance to rely on for information in situations like this...

Hamish - you actually do agree in a way within your own post about how its unpredictable… and that’s exactly what im saying here.

I care not for how previous fires behave, or whatever, after every natural disaster the "experts" always say that it was "the worst ever seen etc etc" so what should that tell people?

Exactly this - nature is not yet predictable and you live in nature.

They do not teach fire fighters that fire is predictable, infact the opposite.

So going off previous "examples" really doesn’t cut it when you are against something that over the next few weeks, the experts will say it was unprecidented, unpredictable, unfathomable and any other set of words you can think of.

Basically as you see with most natural disasters, there is a warning to a point and that’s all you can do.

Tragedy happens and it will happen again, and again. They will be worse than any record of history and so on…

Even 100 years of records doesn’t show much over a history of an earth that’s been here for many times longer.

I just draw the line @ being sad panda for stuff that we really just have to accept. Its going to happen once in a while. That’s just how it is.

Do you feel sorry everyday of your life? I mena you could.. people dying for 2 years from cancer, other disease, and so on... But you dont. You accept it and get on with it as thats life.

[NickR33]

maybe wait for the dust to settle a bit... its a bit early for that kind of harsh reality mate

[sinistaGTR]

I was talking about all this today @ lunch with a friend and it went something like this.

Loss of life, history, memories and so on and it is indeed a great tragedy. There is nothing to say its not bad...

However… where do we draw the line with all this media and people feeling sorry?

I mean look where these people live, up in mountain regions with dense scrub, leaf litter and so on… its fairly likely that its gonna catch fire.

Every 5-10 years there are big fires somewhere in the state with lesser ones in the years inbetween.

It’s a part of nature.

No one can change the fact of nature/life that is a bushfire no matter how many times you 'pray to god' or whatever you believe in because you feel the need.

Hell even the ones that are deliberately started, who's to say they wouldn’t have flared up on their own in the coming hot seasons 2-3 years from now? You don’t know they wouldn’t as much as the next person. You just don’t know and you never will living in a risky area like that.

Fire is dangerous, as much as the catalysts for it.

These people choose to live there so they take the issues around it the same as anyone else.

People living near Essendon airport know the risks of planes dropping from the sky, and its happened a few times over the years.

People living near floor plains/rivers and so on, same deal. They get flooded out sometimes.

Even look @ the goobers as an example, the cyclone areas that are ravaged every few years yet these people move right back in 3 months later.

Yes I feel for the people, but to see people carrying on, the news flogging it for hours, days… I mean come on…

Its humans own stupidity that’s led to this occuring, yet I don’t think ive seen one person say that it was the peoples own fault for living there because at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down too.

You choose to live somewhere that has very well known associated risks… be prepared to accept them.

People live around nature, nature does not live around you.

That was fair out of line, what about all those poor ppl that were burnt alive in there cars trying to escape. Just think about if you lost everything including half or all of your family, then make a comment like that. Thats like saying of if you get your car stolen, robbed, bashed, raped or murdered...... cause you live in the city you shoulda known it was comming.

[Rekin]

Not good at all.

Drove up to echuca on sunday morning. Hume Hwy was blocked off in the morning and had to divert through Northern Hwy.

Going through all the little towns you could see cops blocking residential roads to the east. Saw about 10+ fire trucks tanking up at one time at Kilmore.

Whole drive up there was smoky.

On the way back, they opened up Hume Hwy. Alongside the hume everything was burnt. Even the little strip of grass between lanes. It was unbelievable.

At an intersection on a main highway everyone stopped to give way for the firetrucks even though it wasnt their way and didnt have lights on. A stupid delivery truck behind me was beeping at us to drive because it was our way.

Shows you how some people dont give a crap...