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There doesn't seem to be any let up for you guys in Australia. It's back on the news in Europe now after being off for a week or two. Looks like tha apocalypse in some areas.
Surprised there does not seem to be any international aid for your fire fighters.
It seems if some kid's get stuck in a cave that half the world turns up to help; looks like you guy's could do with some serious help!
Stay safe!
I think it needs more money ploughed into air fire assets on a national scale so they can be used right around a country as big as Australia. It is sadly a very unique geographical location, and international helpers could only be effective for a short period of time against this massive task.
Even if the whole Australian Army was mobilised it couldn't train them up for safety etc quick enough to be useful. I do think there needs to be a national aviation response like they have in Spain.
There fire dumping aircraft have been going for years but still extuinquish their blazes, but of course nothing like the Aussie bush fires!
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
Starting to get a bit personal now.....extended family lost a house down south, had to let the Alpaca's loose to fend for themselves.
They are giving me a spell, younger bloke on the pumps, much as I appreciate the rest, I feel a bit frustrated looking on.
One problem that seems to be overlooked is that Eucalypts are, in general, "fire climax" species. Their seed pods are so tough that it takes a "warm-over by a "moderate" and fast-moving fire to crack them. The passing ground fire in such circumstances is not hot enough to damage mature trees but it simply turns the competing species, i.e. undergrowth, weeds, etc to ash.
The "cooked" seed pods, in their bed of ash, will germinate at the next shower of rain, which is often within days of some of these fires; apparently something to do with all that smoke (particulate matter) aggregating water droplets in the air and so on.
Where it all gets ugly is if there is a LOT of undergrowth and / or litter on the forest floor. Then, the fire's "Time over target" increases as does the temperature of the fire front. Most eucalypts can handle a bit of "cooking, but only up to a point before the outer centimetre or so of the tree does not literally start to boil.That outer layer is where all the traffic of water, nutrients etc travels; destroy it and tree dies. A fast-moving fire can completely envelop a Eucalypts and within days, the tree will be sprouting leaves from all manner of places; epicormic growth. This enables it to continue to photosynthesize and carry on..
Apart from killing mature trees, the other huge problem with high-temperature "floor" fires is that the heat also goes DOWN. This excessive heat penetrating a couple of feet destroys all of the nutrients and "micro-bugs" that process the soil nutrients. This, in turn starves the tree in its survival mode. It also introduces two more problems. Firstly, high-temperature ground fires can often ignite large root systems under the ground and these can smoulder invisibly for days. One of the consequences of that phenomenon is "low-density" ground. What looks like ash-covered ground can be a deadly trap; like walking onto super-heated talcum powder. People have died or been horribly injured in recently burned-out forests, whilst stepping onto the wrong patch of ground. Then it rains, usually briefly, and a huge amount of "cooked" topsoil is simply washed into the waterways, making a huge mess of them and generally unfit for surviving water creatures or even thirsty surviving animals livestock / native animals.
Similar damage happens in the huge North-American Coniferous forest fires.
No fire rated safe helps over here.
The heat is so intense, fueled by Eucalyptus and pine trees.. the oils in the timber begin to create vapor and when it ignites, blows the door off the safe.(haven't you watched that video?)
What video is that?
---------- Post added at 08:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 PM ----------
Originally Posted by 30Three
Surprised there does not seem to be any international aid for your fire fighters.
Not exactly accurate. I do know that there are firefighters from the US and New Zealand. Australian's were her in the Californa fire my son was working with them when he was in the National Guard.
Veteran US Navy Seabees - US Army Corps of Engineers - American Legion Post 0867
" Only two defining forces have offered to die for me. 1.) Jesus Christ 2.) The American G.I. "One died for your soul, the other for your freedom! "
---------- Post added at 08:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 PM ----------
Not exactly accurate. I do know that there are firefighters from the US and New Zealand. Australian's were her in the Californa fire my son was working with them when he was in the National Guard.
We've sent firefighters from here in Canada, including some from our small eastern province. We had help when we had several monster fires out west the last few years, and we don't forget our friends.
As an aside, that amphibious water-bomber shown in the photo above is a Canadian plane.
Starting to get a bit personal now.....extended family lost a house down south, had to let the Alpaca's loose to fend for themselves.
They are giving me a spell, younger bloke on the pumps, much as I appreciate the rest, I feel a bit frustrated looking on.
Muffett. I'm sorry to hear things are rough on your side of the pond. I lived in Santa Rosa California at the time and in October of 2017 we had a wild fire that burned up the northern part of the city. In all it was 5,600 buildings, home and 36 thousand of acres of land with it. With in about 4 days there were New South Wales fire trucks and Australian fire fighters here in the city fighting the fire. For that i will always be grateful to Australia and hope we can repay the favor in some way. I know your frustration and I'm sorry that you, your loved ones and your country are going though this.
The heat during our fire was between 2250F to 2500F (1371 C) If a fire that flashed over and exposed a safe to that heat for a few minutes, that would be one things. But entire neighborhood burning down surrounding the safe, that is a significant amount of radiant heat. A handful of safes survived and those were made by the same manufacturer and not inexpensive. The maker touted that fact on their website but most safes contained heat damaged steel, melted aluminum and ash.
Last edited by beachdog77; 01-18-2020 at 02:41 AM.
Reason: spelling
's DUNKIRK.
PM
Originally Posted by muffett.2008
