Tragic Fires

Insane. Yesterday, Saturday 8th Feb 2009, fires got completely outta hand, so far death toll is at 26, but predicted to raise to over 40.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25023335-1243,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,25024207-2,00.html

It's truely devastating. So far two towns have been burn out. And my bf's brother is on the run from the police -.- See he was in meblourne whilst his 7 month pregnant missus was in Kilmore freaking out with all the embers hitting the house and stuff, she he speed home at 150 km/h and got caught for that, then as they were the leaving the house his missus accidently hit a cop car -.- So yeah

So mum's in Melbourne at the Alfred i think helping with burn victims and such. And mum being mum has offered our house as a refuge and we are hosting for a family of 4 and a family of 5.

The two kids in the family of 4 are burnt and the two parents in the family of 5 are burnt from running into the house to save their kids. So they will be transported here and mum will be treating their burns from home. They'll be here this arvo

The Lounge is so pimped you lounge room kinda thing. I movedthe PS3, XBox360, Wii and spare computer into there for the kiddies to play with and stuff, mum rang a bed shop today and bought a bunk bed and double bunk to be put in the lounge room for the kids, they get delivered this arvo, and she also bougth anothe double bed to be put into her room so that the parents can sleep in there and mum will go stay at my brother's house at night who lives just up the road.

My brother Neil who is a chef is on holidays for 2-3 weeks so he is on kitchen duty haha and my other brother Andrew who is a chef is taking the evenings off to help Neil. And atm Meredith, Andrew's gf, is getting toys for the 2 youner kids (she owns the local toy shop) and has gone to buy some basic clothing for everyone and Neil's gone food shopping and Andrew has gone with Bill to stock up the alcohol and cigarette stock lol

Tbh

INSANE

This has all just happened in the last hour. So if i'm inactive not my fault lol obvious reasons.

And i get my Subpeona this arvo from Paul the popo -.- WOO

=)

UPDATE: Death Toll to 35 @ 12:48PM 08/02/2009
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25024328-29277,00.html

Oh my god...

Dayum..I've been seeing all this stuff on the news but i never thought it would happen to a friend of mine =/

Good luck with everything Laura!

Looks like you and all of your family has everything under control and the children seem like they're in heaven right now

I'm bookmarking this topic to keep updated =)

God Bless!

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit, good luck, this is gonna be a huge toll and strain on your family, but the people who died...just goes to show how fragile life is and how it can be gone in the blink of an eye.

Well our family had to fire thru the North East Victoria bush fires that have happened twice over the last 10 years. We were thankful that this year we weren't near any fires. Sadly tho our bush fires only burnt Bush, didn't get to any houses and death toll was 1. This bush fire is residential area.

How can the death toll rise more? If they KNOW there's a huge fire headed their way, why don't they GTFO?!

I'm very happy that you were welcoming towards strangers in their time of distress. You have no idea how grateful they must be.

I had to move in with my aunt for a few weeks after my house fire, and although they did not have much in the way of entertainment, a place to stay is much more we can ask for, and I'm truely grateful for them. I'm sure your guests will feel the same way.

things like this always make me sad.

i think its great what you and your family are doing for the families who are in need of assistance and you gain tremendous respect from me for being such a good human being.

death toll is nearing triple digits

Oh jesus!

Thats horrible, i heard about this on the news. Also that it's 47C? That's hot.

Death Toll now at 76
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25025869-29277,00.html

There was a wind change at around 7PM on saturday that tripled the fire front. Winds were absolutely horrible, our varandera roofing was ripped off, and we aren't even near fires, embers jumped fire containments and also arsonest/pyro manicacs relit fires and made fires break containment

A family of 6 were burned alive in their car trying to evacuate


Both familes are now here. I feel so horrible for the two kids, twin brother and sisters both 6 years old, a car exploded infront of them and they've got burns to their faces and chests, the father of the other family has burns and gashing across his back from running into burning house to save his kids and mother has burnt hands and chest, she has a 3 month year old which is staying in my room.

108 - worse than ash wednesday

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25027095-29277,00.html

idiot

the death toll is rising because they are still trying to find the bodies.

Yeah...They are constantly finding more bodies while cleaning up...

This is now the worst natural disaster in Australian history, AS Laura said, worse than ash wednesday (which we dedicate a whole day each year to)

Death toll is at 131, they expect it to get to 230. They found a group of about 5, 8 to 11 year olds, lighting bush fires in the fire areas. It's truely horrible

i heard that a 15 y/o lit the fires and he was hired by the CFA to do so, then the CFA get paid more and raise money.

i think its bs tho

LOL....My how uneducated I am :SSSSSSS

Sorry =( Least I learned something new today =/

epic fail tezza

EDIT: 130 dead now

134

Read about it on the BBC this morning when I woke up... I hope everything goes well for you.

Yea thats sad.

We have had alot of huge fires latly. About 2 a day.

Had a big brush fire Friday, had about 20 Depts. out there from 30+ miles away. And we had lots of maydays coming in over the radio, we had to call in mayday because we got stuck, and fire was advancing on us fast. And another dept. drove their truck into a pond.

But I'm going to go to fire school to get certified to go and help the wildland fires out in Cali, or any fires that are that big.

173

You can't really understand how dangerous it is without living here.
There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world.

The tropics have hurricanes
The ring of fire has volcanoes
The fault lines have earthquakes and tsunamis
The mountains have avalanches

Australia has wildfires. And nobody gets it.
They think its just burning trees that you can run and drive away from.

NO!
The fire flies through the air in some cases.
Fires light themselves up because the land is so dry.
Australia is hotter than Africa.
It is the hottest country on Earth, where a 40 degree Celsius day is a normal thing.
This happens without warning.
One cigarette butt in the bush could mean hundreds of lost lives a few hours later.
They even travel underground. When the earth gets hot, all the plants that get heated up can ignite too.
These are the most ferocious fires in the world and nobody knows that.
They jump, they travel across water, they are so powerful that they dry up lakes, and they can even hide. Half the time its just the fact that the fires burn all the oxygen in the air, choking people to death because they can't breathe.
They think its just "Why didn't you grab your valuables and flee when you saw it coming?"

http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/img...c-372138720.jpg

You can't see the sky. The fire flies through the air, carried by the smoke. That firetruck lost ground now everyone inside it is fleeing for their lives.

By the time you see the flames it's already too late.

People are getting boiled alive hiding in swimming pools and spas. Leave when you can.

I have a property 10-15 minutes from Kinglake and my school has already started to organise trips to clean up and rebuild. I'm hoping to go as I have demolishing and building experience but I'm only 15..

Well then I sincerely apologize for what I said. Even though Sam said it, not me. It was an attempt at humor, albeit dark humor.

The USA has experienced almost every kind of natural disaster known to man, so don't think I'm so oblivious to how horrible they can be. My condolences go out those who lost loved ones. It is a tragic thing that is happening.

For the love of christ, someone please lock this topic before this escalates even more.

This topic has just been cleaned, in case you were wondering where your posts went.

I deleted posts that went "They saw a fire why didn't they gtfo" etc.
I explained why in the post above.
CARS struggle to escape.
So yeah.
Its insulting because you assume that the people who dies were too stupid to survive.

Alot of the kinglake, maryville and flowerdale town ships didn't know what happened to them, they got no warning, to bells or alarms, they woke up and literally the fire was there.

The two families we're taking care of, one is from the Marysville township and the other one is from Kinglake. These are two familes with young kids. Ranging from 11 years old to 3 months. Both loads of parents said 'If we knew that the fires where that close we would've left straight away' and they didn't.

The winds push spotting ahead of the fire front.

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Copied off WoW forums to give you an idea how serious some of the cases are:

"If you have never experienced a bushfire then you have no concept of just how fast they move. These were moving faster than the 100km winds that blew them forward, overtaking cars and incinerating them as people fled.

A guy was burned alive in the middle of a football field from the 180 degree radiant heat from the fires nearby. The oval was not on fire.

Another guy saw the fire coming over the distant hill toward his house. He went round back to get the hose and the 30 seconds it took for him to walk back round the house was already on fire. 6 minutes later it was completely razed. That's bricks, tile roofs, refrigerators - everything gone in 6 minutes flat.

The idea that people are watching TV inside while their bushes burn is ridiculous. "

I hope the United States sets up a charity fund to send them assistance. Those people are losing everything. This is probably mass killing the wildlife as well.

I hope you all will be okay over there.