Damn Hot Huh?

[GTR-N1]

Sorry to hear about the heat wave > raging fires > lost homes > 1 death already!

I hope your volunteer bushfire brigades are well manned!

Insurance paid up?

[bufforah]

Yeah,

Hope everyone is safe - and sorry to hear about the fires still raging.

Lets hope the fires are under control soon.

[XRATED]

The whole south east peninsula area has been cut off by fire atm...

I can smell the smoke 60km's away.

[Autumn33]

I'm able to see them from my place.

[GTR-N1]

Yeah, that smell is unforgettable + the roar of a nearby firestorm is terrifying!

[Mr. Untouchable]

had ash the size of 50 cent coins landing on us at the beach 50 kays away, spot fires are gonna be a bugger, and the rainy state has turned on another 30 odd degree day with zero chance of rain! typical.

banjo's were feeding the many crews and supplying them with drinks etc, not a fan of banjo's but mighty good of them to supply hundreds of fire crews with free food.

[sav man]

very sad about all the people losing their houses. Next time anyone see's a Greenie, they need to punch them in the face, and then punch them again just for good luck.

[DJRIFT]

If controlled burn offs werent outed by the greens it would have at least helped prevent such things.

[GTR-N1]

* Disaster conflagrations kill people

* Disaster conflagrations kill off huge numbers of fauna.

* Grid-like controlled burn offs give people & fauna a fighting chance.

* Anyone - Greens included - who is a radical activist against controlled burn offs is guilty of reprehensible idiocy!!!

* Especially when feral cats can traverse tracts of land so much faster than echidnas, devils, koalas, wombats and goannas.

[JZP]

Being from Kinglake myself, I'm amazed to hear that the greenies may be wanting to put the brakes on minimizing fuel.

So here we go again, Tassie is reminding us of how inadequately we are all prepared. This brings back some raw emotions.

An area near me that was back-burnt around a year before was untouched during black Saturday. Everything around it was torched. That should be enough evidence to get the ball rolling, but no - it ain't happening. There's more undergrowth now than ever. The government is behind schedule on back burning. I personally haven't seen a thing at all.

Crazy thing is the CFA members used back burning as training. Hell, the farmers even paid them to do it with a donation and a BBQ. Real life fire fighting skills are diminishing and things don't seem to be improving (in my opinion).

Volunteers told me that there's wasn't enough equipment to go around, and backburning was not done due to oh&s considerations - like the fire trails were overgrown - You can only surmise why that happened.

It seems the gaps in our services capability are huge. Hopefully this isn't the same situation in Tassie.

Here's to hoping the Tassie situation ends quickly.

/rant over

[JZP]

So I watched the news tonight. It seems that the post-bushfire process is still the same.

Media are allowed on people's properties to demonstrate the 'devastation' and the 'tragedy', but the owners are not allowed on the same properties for their safety.

Those that stayed to fight/protect are not allowed to leave to get supplies, fuel, water, as they will not be allowed to re-enter. So, it's survival of the fittest.

This feels the same. Poor buggers.

[L33SH]

Hi all, hope everyone and their family and friends and animals are safe during the bushfires

[GTR-N1]

Some people are missing!

[sav man]

A lot of boat owners in Hobart are taking supplies in to the people that stayed to defend their property.

[GTR-N1]

Searching for bodies now...

But hey,...; mobiles can't be charged up whilst the power is down.

[L33SH]

what's the latest update guys?

[JZP]

A lot of boat owners in Hobart are taking supplies in to the people that stayed to defend their property.

That's a good idea. We had to chopper in supplies. Mostly water and fuel to keep generators going. The other things some people were hanging for was cigarettes and coffee!

[trustr32]

what's the latest update guys?

We've got 5 major fires that are still pretty big and 40+ smaller fires around the state. Almost every brigade around the state has been sending crews out to the major fires over the last few days and nights and will be for many more yet. I went out yesterday to the Forcett fire on the Tasman Penninsula and I'm going again Wednesday and all I can say is man its a sad sight. We had a de-brief at Dodges Ferry and then headed out to Murdunna and for 40kms it's just black both sides of the road as far as you can see. We then had to head down to Taranna that arvo which is just shy of Port Arthur and same thing just absolute devastation.

It's very suprising and greatly relieving that there hasn't been countless lives lost especially at this time of the year with it being right over the holiday period and the area's being tourist and holiday hotspots but when you drive through and see just how much area this has burnt it's quite amazing that hopefully no one has been killed.

And just a big thanks to all the firefighters, volunteers and the community for their efforts because without them so much more would have been lost.

If you want more info go to the TFS Website- http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colCurrentBushfires

[GTR-N1]

Appreciate the update + hope your tired bodies get some rest when you can!

[zoidbergmerc]

I'm working down here at the Historic Site and I've been helping the SES little too.

Situation is starting to look up really.

Roads are in such a condition that we can have escorted convoys to get the tourists out in their own vehicles and supplies in on trucks.

We've had a few boats come in and deliver supplies which has been really helpful, things would be a lot worse if it wasn't for those guys. Sea's aren't very nice at the moment so this has stopped, but the trucks are still coming in.

Power is off and will be for another week or so I reckon. No big deal for me personally though, I'm pretty well setup, got a petrol powered pump and I can charge my phone in my car.

Got lots of supplies here at the SES and a pretty good amount of man power.

If you want to help, cash donations to the salvos or Red cross is the easiest and best way to do it. And another really good way to help is to plan your next holiday down here for next summer and drop heaps of cash back into the local businesses, while they can write a lot of the losses off on insurance, it's still hurting them a lot.

Speaking of hurt, one of the local supermarket owners was just blatantly ripping off the locals, charging like $5 for a paper and $60 for a pack of smokes, triple price on fruit and veg, shit like that, someone went down and touched him up last night though, needless to say; prices are now back to RRP.

Thats about it from down here really!