Australian heat waves & bushfires

[Baronage-Phase]

An estimated 500 million animals have perished.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Jesusfuckingchrist that is terrifying.

 

[Louie Gabia]

.. It'll be flooding next.

Are you in Australia?
When are the seasonal rains normally expected?
Surely any topsoil will be lost in subsequent runoff or are there fire activated plants that'll shoot up?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Good to hear conditions have eased slightly, but the prediction is it will get worst from Saturday again.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said workers would take advantage of the milder weather to clear roads and restore power.

But she said temperatures were expected to rise again on Saturday. "At the very least, weather conditions will be at least as bad as what they were yesterday," she said.

The fires have killed at least five people in her state in recent days. The deaths brings the total of fire-related fatalities across Australia this season to 15.

Australian fires kill seven and destroy homes

 

[2hats]

Not really that surprising given how much smoke crossed the Tasman Sea in the last 48+ hours...

 

[belboid]

Very similar here in Nelson.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

Wow!

 

[cupid_stunt]

They only just out of that, then their truck failed, after two other trucks had already failed, and they got a lift in a media car.

"It got to a certain point that it was just too unsafe. So thanks to our driver, did an awesome job, got us out of there…turned the whole crew around, we had four trucks in that crew and our IC in his car, and yeah, we just got out there the best we could. We've had two trucks that failed straight away on us because of the overrun…we made our way out to a safe position and then our truck failed as well."

"For a good hour-and-a-half, us four were the only crew we knew were alive," Jasper Croft, one of the firefighters in the truck, told Today.

"The second truck that failed on us, we had no idea for a long time, no radio comms, no nothing. We thought we had at least eight fatalities until we got further on. We only escaped by a media car that just came in and we said get us out of here."

Firefighters trapped in firestorm say they're lucky to be alive

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Jesus that's terrifying.

And they're calm.
"Jasper, put the blanket up"...says one...and they put up a fire blanket over the windows presumably to sheild them from the dreadful heat and possible shattering of glass.

Unbelievable bravery, in hell.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Jesus that's terrifying.

And they're calm.
"Jasper, put the blanket up"...says one...and they put up a fire blanket over the windows presumably to sheild them from the dreadful heat and possible shattering of glass.

Unbelievable bravery, in hell.

From the link in my last post...

Mr Field explained that the blanket was to protect the crew from the radiant heat.

"The heat on the outside of the truck is just like a radiator, coming through the window. Yeah, it was pretty intense. So I just thought I would get a blanket around us to protect us… it was pretty hairy at this stage, yeah, very hairy."

Hairy? It was fucking terrifying, just watching it!

While the conditions may seem intense and terrifying to some, Mr Field said the team did not panic.

"It just comes naturally in the end because you do it so often. It was just training."

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Just seen a vid of a burnt out fire truck - some aluminium had melted, suggesting temps had reached 600 DegC !!

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Here it is -

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Fucking hell. That underscores why the authorities say the chilling phrase 'it's too late to leave '.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Here it is -

How fucking awful is it that the way to fight fire still involves people going in there with a hose pipe to be right in the thick of it?

 

[Mr.Bishie]

How fucking awful is it that the way to fight fire still involves people going in there with a hose pipe to be right in the thick of it?

This photo speaks volumes. How the actual fuck do you put that out? To stand there knowing that it could consume you within seconds!

 

[Baronage-Phase]

This photo speaks volumes. How the actual fuck do you put that out? To stand there knowing that it could consume you within seconds!

View attachment 194693

Yep. Those firefighters are unbelievably selfless.
Brave doesn't cover it.

The fucking people who let this shit happen and then leave those brave firefighters there to fight absolute hell.....? I dont get how people aren't up in arms demanding change

 

[Mr.Bishie]

There’s a lot of angry Australians. Morrison isn’t a popular chap atm!

 

[Baronage-Phase]

There’s a lot of angry Australians. Morrison isn’t a popular chap atm!

Well..I hope that the Aussie stereotype of talking straight is true and that they call the government out on this whole disaster that's been waiting to happen.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

 

[DownwardDog]

Well..I hope that the Aussie stereotype of talking straight is true and that they call the government out on this whole disaster that's been waiting to happen.

It won't be politically significant unless Albo (everyone's second favourite Smiths fan after Chloe Sevigny) wants to make it one. As climate change policy is where Australian Labor leaders go to die he almost certainly doesn't. ScoMo will do the traditional Australian response to a national crisis: Royal Commission then forget about it.

It doesn't even matter that much at a state level (the states have the responsibility and authority to manage bush fires) as we're not due a NSW election until 2023 and Victoria until 2022.

 

[ice-is-forming]

I have cousins who live near the Blue Mountains in NSW. We haven’t been able to contact them since the start of the fires.

Register.Find.Reunite

 

[ice-is-forming]

Are you in Australia?
When are the seasonal rains normally expected?
Surely any topsoil will be lost in subsequent runoff or are there fire activated plants that'll shoot up?

Monsoon is usually early January, because of unusual conditions over the Indian Ocean it won't rain untill late January now. And yes the bush is used to being activated for regrowth after fire, but these fires have burnt through areas that don't usually burn, rain forests etc

"
Let us start 2020 off with some positive news! The Indian Ocean Dipole that stuffed up rainfall across Australia in the second half of 2019 has now gone. A positive phase Madden-Julian Oscillation will push East into the Maritime Continent during the next 2 weeks which will assist the Monsoon Trough to develop across Indonesia (yellow circled area). The combination of these 2 weather patterns will lead to an increased risk of Tropical Low and Tropical Cyclone development across Northern Australia over the next few weeks (red circled areas). The main areas at this stage that are forecast to see increased rain, storm and tropical activity are the Northern NT, Northern and Western WA.
During the second half of January the MJO is expected to push further East thus increasing the monsoon trough and tropical development across the Gulf Of Carpentaria and Coral Sea. Depending on where tropical systems develop and track, they could easily bring significant rainfall to large parts of QLD.
The patterns are FINALLY changing and indicating wetter times ahead across the Northern half of Australia!"

 

[donkyboy]

half a million fur babies estimated killed.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

half a million fur babies estimated killed.

Its worse than that

Ecologists estimate that about 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have died in the fires that began in September.
8,000 koalas killed by devastating Australian bushfires, experts fear

 

[2hats]

"The Indian Ocean Dipole that stuffed up rainfall across Australia in the second half of 2019 has now gone."

Actually it is still there, declining but still positive, visible in both recent observations and models. All but one of the models currently have it above the positive threshold until at least late January/early February.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Its worse than that

Ecologists estimate that about 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have died in the fires that began in September.
8,000 koalas killed by devastating Australian bushfires, experts fear

Was watching a nature doc yesterday about a farmer who’d installed water drinking stations up Eucalyptus trees - all manner of birds & animals soon found them, & then the Koalas. Research is showing due to drought, that the chemical make up in Eucalyptus leaves is changing dramatically, so much so that Koalas aren’t getting the water they need from the leaves that they once did. Numbers were already threatened, & these fires will have a massive impact on the species. Conservationists have said that the Koala species may become extinct come 2030.

There’s a video online where a dehydrated Koala stops a couple of cyclists for water, which they give - its fucking heart breaking, but reassuring to know that some people are seeing the bigger picture, like the farmer.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Conservationists have said that the Koala species may become extinct come 2030.
There’s a video online where a dehydrated Koala stops a couple of cyclists for water, which they give - its fucking heart breaking,

 

[Sprocket.]

Register.Find.Reunite

Just to say thanks for the link.
My eldest sister sent a text in the last hour to say she has been chatting on Facebook to two of our cousins. They are safe and not any major damage, though the eldest suffered a minor stroke, he is recovering slowly.
Thanks again.

 

[Sprocket.]

I’m sat reading these posts with a lump in my throat at the thought of all the wildlife killed, injured and put at risk by these fires.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

I’m sat reading these posts with a lump in my throat at the thought of all the wildlife killed, injured and put at risk by these fires.

Me too.