Australian Wildfires

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Interkarma
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Australian Wildfires

Post by Interkarma »

I've had a few people contact me recently checking that I'm safe around the wildfires in Australia. I just want to reassure everyone that myself and my loved ones are all safe and not in any danger at this time. We're distant enough from the largest fire fronts they cannot threaten us. Fortunately, the worst we've had to deal with are occasional days of smoke haze filling the air.

There's still a fair amount of a psychological impact from all this however. We're spending lots of time indoors with the windows closed because the air is so poor, the sky is a flat grey, and we have the constant concern of how quickly we could become vulnerable if our nearby native forests start to burn. Not to mention the effect of being constantly bombarded by nightmarish scenes of devastation in the media. This all takes a toll on everyone's mood and the entire country seems to be on edge right now. The hardest part is knowing the fire season is only just getting started and some of these fires will be burning for months to come.

My heart aches for my fellow Aussies in the path of these fires, especially for all those who've already lost property, livestock, family or friends. I can only wish safety and good health to everyone in the months to come. If you're in a high risk area, be sure to have your go bags ready with water, food, first aid, and other supplies. Keep an eye on your local council facebook pages or web sites. Communicate with your neighbours, especially if they're elderly or infirm. Clean out your gutters and gardens of easily combustible materials, and be ready to run to if that's what it comes down to. Don't muck about or take chances defending your property. Just get the hell out if an evacuation is called. Good luck to you all.

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King of Worms
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by King of Worms »

Ok this made me to imagine the situation more realistically... Thats not too good :/

Were those big fires always going on there in the past decades? If not, what has changed? Prolonged dry weather? Just trying to understand what is going on there.

Take care mate, I hope it gets better soon!!

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Jay_H
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by Jay_H »

We're with you Interkarma, hope things get better soon.

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jayhova
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by jayhova »

Many years ago I was flying to California. As I was coming to land in L.A. I saw snowflakes drifting down. This struck me as odd because it was southern California and it was October. I get off the plane and come to find that the flake wafting down from the sky were ash from the fires caused by the Santa Ana winds. It was very surreal.
Remember always 'What would Julian Do?'.

Lokkrin Zhataros
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by Lokkrin Zhataros »

This is truly sad, disturbing and scary. We have dealt with large fires where I live, but nothing as severe as what California and Australia have been going through. I hope everyone stays well and safe!

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Interkarma
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by Interkarma »

Thank you for your well wishes everyone. :)
King of Worms wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:17 am Were those big fires always going on there in the past decades? If not, what has changed? Prolonged dry weather? Just trying to understand what is going on there.
Yeah, 2019 was our hottest and driest year on record. We have a fire season every year, some of them very deadly, but never one of this size and ferocity. So far this season, over 6.3 million hectares have burned. This number is still increasing. Parts of Australia are burning that have never burned in the past because they were never this dry.

The constant dry heat produces a lot of combustible matter and reduces the window of opportunity for fire management services to perform hazard reduction burns. It's a bad situation and a lot of truly heroic people are risking their lives to keep the rest of us as safe as possible.

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King of Worms
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by King of Worms »

Interkarma wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:08 pm Thank you for your well wishes everyone. :)
King of Worms wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:17 am Were those big fires always going on there in the past decades? If not, what has changed? Prolonged dry weather? Just trying to understand what is going on there.
Yeah, 2019 was our hottest and driest year on record. We have a fire season every year, some of them very deadly, but never one of this size and ferocity. So far this season, over 6.3 million hectares have burned. This number is still increasing. Parts of Australia are burning that have never burned in the past because they were never this dry.

The constant dry heat produces a lot of combustible matter and reduces the window of opportunity for fire management services to perform hazard reduction burns. It's a bad situation and a lot of truly heroic people are risking their lives to keep the rest of us as safe as possible.
Hmm so its similar to the other side of the globe where I am living at. We had a streak of "I dont remember how many" dry years. Id say 5 years, it started with one summer where there was absolutely nor clouds and all the time 35 degrees celsius. In the past, even 30 degrees was considered extreme here..

This heat changed the green nature to burned down savanah in one year. Than it continued, we lost all the underground water reserves. Our dams dryed out to the ground during the times. Than we had one relatively humid year, and the nature regained itself a bit.

Its not ALL caused by the weather, we loose all the water which falls here, because of catastrophic agriculture, we have just huge fields of stuff which is pro-errosive on its own (because its good for business) - The weather just made it more evident.

Than our woods... same story. We created a giant monocultures of spruces. Because spruces are good for business. Than these monocultures were attacked by bark beetle. Plus the dry years = our trees are dying in extreme amounts. And the ppl who should stop it, dont want to (they pretend to care but in reality they add to it) because ill tree = permission to cut down = money.

So it looks like this, and these are not cherry picked worse case scenarios, contrary:
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12002503_1060061834006828_3271381559449442016_o.jpg (51.18 KiB) Viewed 2003 times
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And thats just a top of the iceberg :X

Anyway... Lets hope it gets better and the dry years change, plus the heat gets in line.
This can be a good thing in a sense, because it made ppl finally realize we need to take care of the nature, and not just blindly (ab)use it.

Buying electric cars is not the solution tho. But thats another long story I guess.

Be well and take care!!

Firebrand
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by Firebrand »

King of Worms wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:17 am Were those big fires always going on there in the past decades? If not, what has changed? Prolonged dry weather? Just trying to understand what is going on there.
That's Global Warming, also know as Climate Change. Unfortunately, it will only get worse until all world governments start acting, we completely stop burning fossil fuels, and start planting trillions of tree, to take back some CO2 from the atmosphere.

Sorry if I'm so direct, but I'm following what's happening in Australia and other parts of the world, and it makes me feel really angry. I simply can't stand politicians ignoring the problem. How can Australia continue to mine and extract carbon? 38.4% of the coal exported in the entire world comes from just this country. It's like exporting bullets for your own execution...

Jeoshua
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by Jeoshua »

As long as we're talking Carbon Dioxide, these fires are going to release megatons of the stuff. Next year might be worse if the fire can catch somewhere with any amount of fuel.

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King of Worms
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Re: Australian Wildfires

Post by King of Worms »

Firebrand wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 8:40 am
King of Worms wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:17 am Were those big fires always going on there in the past decades? If not, what has changed? Prolonged dry weather? Just trying to understand what is going on there.
That's Global Warming, also know as Climate Change. Unfortunately, it will only get worse until all world governments start acting, we completely stop burning fossil fuels, and start planting trillions of tree, to take back some CO2 from the atmosphere.

Sorry if I'm so direct, but I'm following what's happening in Australia and other parts of the world, and it makes me feel really angry. I simply can't stand politicians ignoring the problem. How can Australia continue to mine and extract carbon? 38.4% of the coal exported in the entire world comes from just this country. It's like exporting bullets for your own execution...
Have you just hijacked the thread to push your "stop climate change" crap?

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