My sister and brother in law live in Yackandandah in Victoria, which is about 200 miles north of where the main fires are, but due to the very hot and dry weather (they've had 47C ish) the whole area is like a tinderbox.
When you live out of the main cities, it is sort of an unwritten rule that you join the volunteer fire service. Both my sister and brother in law are in this service.
They have recently had fires near Beechworth and Stanley which are about 20K away from them, but this is a pretty normal occurance at this time of year. What's happening further south is not normal. At times like this they never leave the property together, there will always be one of them there just in case something happens. They have also had to register a plan of their action if the fire does encroach their property, just so the authorities know where people are...
Unfortunately this time of year is what they call the 'Bushfire Season', and fires actually start by bushes and trees 'exploding' in the heat, which starts the process off.
Then you get the other type of fire which is started by the idiots or in this frightening case in South Victoria, 'Murderers'.
I think a lot of us have relatives or friends in Australia, and our thoughts are with them....
BUT north of Sydney they are suffering from the worst storms they've had for years, and people are getting flooded out of their homes.....
What a crazy but lovely country!
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Topic: Bush Fires (Read 704 times)