Aussie Fires
- Thread starter Lurker
- Start date
this is incredibly sad. my heart and hopes go out to all of you.
how often does this happen lurker?
It's not unusual for fires to break out each summer but the Black Friday and Ash Wednesday fires were always considered the worst with 71 and 75 deaths. The current fires are something else that can't even be put into words.
It is heartbreaking. And it's even more sad to think that there's nothing that can be done about it. Evil people will continue to exist and do evil things no matter what. It's a sad world we live in..
Yep, its absolutely terrible. Seems to be getting worse with each news report. The aftermath has to be one of the worst moments in australian history for a long time. My thoughts and best wishes are with anyone affected by this. Wish I could offer more.
And yes they are saying several were started by arsonists...There simply are no words, that can reflect the sheer madness of doing something so insane. If the authorities ever catch them, they should be sent to do their prison time in another country, for life!
And yes they are saying several were started by arsonists...There simply are no words, that can reflect the sheer madness of doing something so insane. If the authorities ever catch them, they should be sent to do their prison time in another country, for life!
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Some good news in amongst the sadness. I have a friend about to drive over to Melbourne cause he has family in Bendigo which thankfully never got out of control and his father is in Marysville which no longer exists. There was some concern about his fathers safety cause while his family had heard through other people he was ok they couldn't get in contact him.
Turns out not only is he ok but he managed to save his inn despite all odds.
This is Marysville now;
Turns out not only is he ok but he managed to save his inn despite all odds.
This is Marysville now;
Last man standing saved inn from bushfires with a bucket in Marysville, Victoria
GREG Cherry stood yesterday afternoon like an apparition on the veranda of his perfectly-intact restaurant and bar in the ruined town of Marysville.
Surrounded by the charred remains of virtually every other building in the alpine hamlet, the owner of the Crossways Historic Country Inn was the last man standing in the town of 700.
After sending his wife away to safety in Alexandra, he chose to stay and fight the inferno, bucket by bucket. That's all he had to douse his log inn and, against impossible odds, he won, despite losing his family home and another property to the fire.
"I just thought, bugger it, I'm not going, I'm going to stay and try to save this place. We'd put too much into it to let it just go up in flames," Mr Cherry told The Australian.
Late on Saturday when the fire raced through the town in minutes, taking everything in its path with it, and reducing the place to a town of brick chimneys and twisted corregated iron, Mr Cherry hid under a bridge with a soaking towel over his head.
"I reckon I was there for about an hour and a half and at times it got pretty hairy as I couldn't breathe but I just covered my mouth with the towel and that gotme through the worst moments," he said.
He put on sunglassess and sunscreen and ridiculous as this sounds, it appears to have worked. He admits the radiant heat that kills so many in fires was intense. "It got pretty warm up here and the buildings were too hot to touch."
His four-wheel-drive, which was parked in his carport next to the inn is a burnt out shell, the Anglican Church across the road is no more and his neighbours' homes are smouldering rubble.
Gas bottles kept exploding throughout the night. "They sounded just like bombs going off. And the roar of the flames was like hundreds of jumbo jets flying just across your roof."
Mr Cherry said he didn't leave with the last of the evacuees on Sunday because he had too much work to do cleaning up. And friends to find. His luck has run out there.
"I've lost at least two that I know of and there's more dead in these streets."
Very much so. I can't even begin to imagine..
I was watching the news earlier.. I saw pictures of the burning, it looks incomprehensible.
Just heard an update on the news this morning. The devastation is virtually unimaginable.
for the Aussies.
The smoke drift must be horrific, with the winds and high temps?
for the Aussies.The smoke drift must be horrific, with the winds and high temps?
I'm not sure where most members are who, if anyone, is in Victoria.
That link you added is kind of sad, can't say I understand why property would ever be worth that kind of risk, homes can be re-built.
In Harry Truman's case it was undoubtedly a foolish decision, since there was no way he was going to stop a volcano. But I think Cherry, while perhaps a bit foolhardy, was taking a reasonable enough risk considering the importance of the property. Much of his life was invested in it anyway, and he rightly believed he could save it from the fire.
Man, the worst that ever happens where I'm from is a really nasty winter ice storm, and many people have generators too in case the power does go out... I just can't wrap my mind around this! But I find great signifigance in the fact that Greg saved his inn. I mean, those things are designed to house people, and there are many homeless now. It's not much among a whole town, but I see hope there.
*Prayers for all in the fires*
*Prayers for all in the fires*