Victorian bush fires

[Black Prado Chick Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Black Prado Chick]

Re: Victorian bush fires

These fires are horrible! I saw first hand for myself on saturday how bad they really were.
I live less then 20km from the Bunyip State Forest Fires, and all that is between me and those fires is alot of forest and about half a km of houses. Well my house wasnt in direct threat from the fire thankfully but I was on the way to a friends place in Drouin, which is about 30kms from me and mainly all country area. On the way there I saw the smoke starting to thicken and blowing towards the road, I could see these 10 or so horses that were in a small paddock (their owners must have moved them there for safety and easy access) well I will never forget this, being an animal lover, I said to my partner "Look at those horses, they're so scared, I want to help them" then all a sudden an ember landed in the paddock and it went up in flames. I was near in tears just knowing those horses wouldnt have a chance. 3 Choppers quickly came and 2 Trucks and all attempted putting the fire out, we watched from a nearby service station (as stupid as it was we had no choice as they shut the roads and we wanted to be out of the way of emergency crew) We couldnt see much after about 20 seconds as the smoke got really thick but at one stage the smoke went black, at that point we realised it was either the nearby house, or a shed. We got stuck there for a few hours just watching the emergency crew working their hardest to protect the nearby houses, and watching the helicopters coming next to us to fill up with water. After we were able to leave we got to see some devistation, every second house in this one road with about 20 houses was gone, and this was all caused by ember attack! We couldnt believe our eyes! I didnt get to see how the horses were until sunday, and I take it from what I saw that they had either got out or had perished in the flames as there was only 2 live horses left! I feel so sorry for everyone who has lost their home, pet, family member, partner, friend. The count is currently at 173 and they are saying that it is looking to rise to over 300! This is just like a horrible nightmare!

I will upload some fantastic photos of the helicopters at work in a few days once my computer at home is fixed.

[adrian Member Find all posts View Profile Close adrian]

Re: Victorian bush fires

These fires are horrible! I saw first hand for myself on saturday how bad they really were.
I live less then 20km from the Bunyip State Forest Fires, and all that is between me and those fires is alot of forest and about half a km of houses. Well my house wasnt in direct threat from the fire thankfully but I was on the way to a friends place in Drouin, which is about 30kms from me and mainly all country area. On the way there I saw the smoke starting to thicken and blowing towards the road, I could see these 10 or so horses that were in a small paddock (their owners must have moved them there for safety and easy access) well I will never forget this, being an animal lover, I said to my partner "Look at those horses, they're so scared, I want to help them" then all a sudden an ember landed in the paddock and it went up in flames. I was near in tears just knowing those horses wouldnt have a chance. 3 Choppers quickly came and 2 Trucks and all attempted putting the fire out, we watched from a nearby service station (as stupid as it was we had no choice as they shut the roads and we wanted to be out of the way of emergency crew) We couldnt see much after about 20 seconds as the smoke got really thick but at one stage the smoke went black, at that point we realised it was either the nearby house, or a shed. We got stuck there for a few hours just watching the emergency crew working their hardest to protect the nearby houses, and watching the helicopters coming next to us to fill up with water. After we were able to leave we got to see some devistation, every second house in this one road with about 20 houses was gone, and this was all caused by ember attack! We couldnt believe our eyes! I didnt get to see how the horses were until sunday, and I take it from what I saw that they had either got out or had perished in the flames as there was only 2 live horses left! I feel so sorry for everyone who has lost their home, pet, family member, partner, friend. The count is currently at 173 and they are saying that it is looking to rise to over 300! This is just like a horrible nightmare!

I will upload some fantastic photos of the helicopters at work in a few days once my computer at home is fixed.

BPC,

Were you near the new BP servo's if so, I think Emerald CFA saved all the horses that afternoon.

My Inlaws live in Arthurs Creek, (which is just south of Kinglake) thankfully they haven't lost any lives or property, but they have lost up to 50 of their friends from nearby Kinglake and Strathewen. They did manage to save 16 lives on sat night though.

The last i heard from them was that DSE were putting in a huge dozer line between them and the fire(thats still burning).

I'm off to Kinglake tonight with CFA for two night shifts.

Hopefully we don't have any more fires start up this season.

Keep safe

Adrian

[Black Prado Chick Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Black Prado Chick]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Yeah I was sitting at the BP service station on the opposite side to the labertouche turnoff.

How is your place holding up? Seems to be heading your way.
I could see the smoke coming off the mountain last night, too close for comfort for me.
I looked on whereis and yesterday the fire was only 19km from my home, hopefully its not heading my way.

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Victorian bush fires

The other day I sent a request to our CEO to see if our company would assist in anyway and I am happy to say that the company is going to match dollar for dollar all employee contributions through a salary sacrifice arrangement up to $250,000.00 in matched contributions. So I am pleased with that response, thanks HP.

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Mav, knowing who your company is I can say I am impressed with your request and the outcome.

Well done!

[joey Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close joey]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Well my company has also done a great thing and just donated $100,000..

well done to them ...

cheers joey

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Well my company has also done a great thing and just donated $100,000..

well done to them ...

cheers joey

Excellent Joey, it is nice to know that big companies will still pitch in even during hard economic times.

[madaz068 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close madaz068]

Re: Victorian bush fires

First of all, an excellent job you guys are doing on raising money for these people. We here in NZ on the ORE forum http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 26&t=15020 have started to raise money for these poor people.

Thanks

Nick Lawson
madaz068 on ORE as well

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: Victorian bush fires

First of all, an excellent job you guys are doing on raising money for these people. We here in NZ on the ORE forum http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 26&t=15020 have started to raise money for these poor people.

Thanks

Nick Lawson
madaz068 on ORE as well

Thanks mate, I am sure the recipients will be extremely grateful that so many people both here and across the pond have responded in their hour of need.

We have just finished putting together our contributions to the care package being sent from Alice, I will be dropping it at one of the collection points tomorrow. I think we here in Alice are sending two truck fulls of goods to help out. I believe this has all been co-ordinated with the relief effort teams in the affected areas so they are expecting this gear.

[Daz Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Daz]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Your blood will be needed. Even though our states will send spare stocks over to Vic, it will need topping up asap, and the demand will be high for a while.

http://www.giveblood.redcross.org.au/

Monday over 5000 Sandgropers contacted Red Cross in WA to donate blood. Biggest response ever in WA, and how timely.
Red X now indicating they have plenty of blood supplies for now to get them through this crisis, but if have been thinking of registering, go for it
http://www.giveblood.redcross.org.au/

[adrian Member Find all posts View Profile Close adrian]

Re: Victorian bush fires

BPC,

Been a busy week. Our place is ok for now.

Worst case, the fire could potentially impact on us directly.

Fingers crossed the wind stays away.

Cheers
Adrian

[Black Prado Chick Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Black Prado Chick]

Re: Victorian bush fires

BPC,

Been a busy week. Our place is ok for now.

Worst case, the fire could potentially impact on us directly.

Fingers crossed the wind stays away.

Cheers
Adrian

Fingers crossed that your place stays fine and they get these fires under control very very soon!
We just got back from a drive up to Labertouche! Its so burnt out up there but they did an awesome job to protect houses as we only found 1 that was burnt down. Feel sorry for the wildlife now, there's no food up there at all. :cry: We actually came accross a Goanna that was about 3 foot in length and it looked like it had burns to the right side of its face so we tried to catch it so we could take it in to get some medical attention but it was too quick, by the time we got 10 metres from it he had taken off up a tree so we had no hope of catching him, but I did manage to get a few nice photos of him.

[bitdist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bitdist]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Just came back from Chum Creek north of Healesville, with a group of people from a couple of 4wd clubs and we cleaned up 3 peoples houses that were burnt down. What a mess. The only thing left is rubble and metal :cry: The persons house I was mainly at had moved in only 3 weeks ago and then he loses everything :cry: He went down to Healseville for an hour and came back home and it was not there. He found his dog and cat and duck all in the dam together, a bit singed but OK

There was motlen alluminium on the ground that we thought might have been from an alloy wheel, so it was at least 700deg at ground level and no oxygen either as it was shinny as well.

[peteandkyles Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peteandkyles]

Re: Victorian bush fires

It's good to see big and small businesses chipping in these tough economic times. My company gave immediatelly on last Sunday night 500k and will match all employee donations (to unlimited value on top of that). We have two fund raisers organised here in town this weekend (and all are being matched $ for $ as well).

My mum has a holiday house where she was last weekend in a place called Strathbogie, but luckily the fire was controlled before it got there. She dropped me a brief email to let me know she is ok, as the mobile and phone lines died (and only internet remained - quite odd). They tried to drive out on late Saturday when they saw the news with the fire starting, but all roads out were closed already. It was just that quick.

[Wandy1977 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Wandy1977]

Re: Victorian bush fires

Glad to hear those that live near by the devastion are ok, we are only about 20mins away ourselves and is was scary enough for us. My parents are living up in Healsville at the moment in a caravan whilist there new house is being built (should be finished in 2weeks) so we were very worried, and have been told that the fire above maroondah dam is still out of control. I must admit the smoke where i live this week as been pretty bad so can only imagine how it is in the actual fires. Our company has donated over $1mill and is matching employee $ for $ also. Just a note, i work for one of the major banks and if you have friend or family in these areas affected tell them to give there bank a call as they are offering some amazing assistance which absoultey blew me when i found out, everyone has pulled together and are offering some great assistance. They may also help for those in QLD affected by the floods. Sometimes it just pays to ask.

I visitied Yarra Glen last Saturday and couldn't get over how close it actually came to the the town, it's just mind blowing how quickly and the amount of devesation the fires caused.