Aussie Bushfires.

[ngatimozart]

We hope that any of our Aussie members and their families caught up in the current (18 - 21/12/2019) bush fire emergencies are safe and well. Don't be heroes and don't hang around when told to go. Four lives have been lost in the last couple of days and two of those were volunteer fireys.

You all take care and have those go bags ready.

 

[ngatimozart]

Some links for those outside of Australia who want info on what's happening:

Queensland Rural Fire service

NSW Rural Fire Service

Country Fire Authority - Victoria

South Australian Country Fire Service

Emergency Western Australia

Tasmania Fire Service

Bureau of Meteorology

ABC News - Australian Broadcasting Corp

EDIT: Add Link.

Nine News Australia

 

[t68]

Yes situation should start to ease up with the southerly winds bring cooler temps but unfortunately they are supposed to be gusting up to 50-60km which will bring new problems


But the fire are so big it creating its own weather conditions

Twitter

 

[ngatimozart]

Yes situation should start to ease up with the southerly winds bring cooler temps but unfortunately they are supposed to be gusting up to 50-60km which will bring new problems


But the fire are so big it creating its own weather conditions

Twitter

Looks like they've arrived.

Fires do create their own micro climates, and if large enough, meso climates. There is quite a lot in the literature about it, but it's fairly simple. With the hot dry air rising, cooler air is dragged in to replace the hot air, creating its own weather system. The cooler air is feeding the fire with O2 and at the same time providing wind to push embers and flame fronts forward, especially when the ambient air mass is still - windless days, or periods of days.

 

[At lakes]

I have twelve fires within 40kms of our town the smoke is unbearable. The southerly change has come thru and the temperatures have dropped a lot but the strength of the wind only served to increase the fires and one has tripled in size.

 

[t68]

Well I hoping to be able to get back home tomorrow and see what impact the fire has had on my property fingers crossed

I was at work when it hit tried to get back after the fire front went thru but they were not letting people in unless they had someone already in town, everyone I knew left PDQ

 

[t68]

Hi guys

Just to let you know we got back in yesterday house is in 1 piece, just let you now the Chinooks have been put to work on water bombing don’t know how many but I’ve seen a couple over the course of the day so far, pictures on the iPhone come out too blurry so a waste of time

 

[Redlands18]

Hi guys

Just to let you know we got back in yesterday house is in 1 piece, just let you now the Chinooks have been put to work on water bombing don’t know how many but I’ve seen a couple over the course of the day so far, pictures on the iPhone come out too blurry so a waste of time

Thats great news and I’m sure that all members will be relieved to hear it. The Chinooks will be a great help irrespective of how they are used.

 

[ngatimozart]

Hi guys

Just to let you know we got back in yesterday house is in 1 piece, just let you now the Chinooks have been put to work on water bombing don’t know how many but I’ve seen a couple over the course of the day so far, pictures on the iPhone come out too blurry so a waste of time

Good to hear.

Great that the Chooks are being used. Maybe time the CoA looked at investing in fire bombing kits for the C-130Js. The USAF have them for bushfires over there. Maybe something for the Spartans as well.

 

[Takao]

We used to run Bambi buckets for the S-70s. A civilian company in Townsville complained in 2004/05 that we were taking their customers (they were a firebombing company and State governments would request Defence support before paying them) and so the government cut them from our ORBAT.

If we are to run kits for our C-130s, what training and/or equipment do we give up? This isn't like military aviating, and it's only applicable 2-3 months / year. So that's lots of continuity training needed, for something that doesn't match the C-130s wartime role.

 

[t68]

We used to run Bambi buckets for the S-70s. A civilian company in Townsville complained in 2004/05 that we were taking their customers (they were a firebombing company and State governments would request Defence support before paying them) and so the government cut them from our ORBAT.

If we are to run kits for our C-130s, what training and/or equipment do we give up? This isn't like military aviating, and it's only applicable 2-3 months / year. So that's lots of continuity training needed, for something that doesn't match the C-130s wartime role.

Sometime ago I saw some ex military blackhawks imported in Australia via Pt Kembla and converted into fire fighting helicopters, Someone posted about it some time ago. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the company also Mr C was also comparing them for a cheap additional lift capability for NZ

I have seen various civilian helicopters plus the chinooks plus civi Blackhawks water bombers

 

[At lakes]

Things are getting a little out of hand and hairy here. We have a very large fire bearing down on our area very strong hot winds and possible dry lightening are programmed for tomorrow and temperatures in the low 40's Police are advising visitors/tourists to leave now and for locals to enact their bush fire plan. Some visitors are in very dangerous areas such as Cann River, a settlement on the coast in the middle of a very large forested area. Police have ordered them out. Advice has been received that the Princess Highway will most likely be closed blocking the only way out tomorrow if they don't leave now they will be stuck and will put lives of the Fire Crews in danger when they try to rescue them. Oh and the misses is getting in a wee bit of a flap.

 

[ngatimozart]

Things are getting a little out of hand and hairy here. We have a very large fire bearing down on our area very strong hot winds and possible dry lightening are programmed for tomorrow and temperatures in the low 40's Police are advising visitors/tourists to leave now and for locals to enact their bush fire plan. Some visitors are in very dangerous areas such as Cann River, a settlement on the coast in the middle of a very large forested area. Police have ordered them out. Advice has been received that the Princess Highway will most likely be closed blocking the only way out tomorrow if they don't leave now they will be stuck and will put lives of the Fire Crews in danger when they try to rescue them. Oh and the misses is getting in a wee bit of a flap.

A happy missus means a less stressful life. Good luck and stay safe.

 

[t68]

Things are getting a little out of hand and hairy here. We have a very large fire bearing down on our area very strong hot winds and possible dry lightening are programmed for tomorrow and temperatures in the low 40's Police are advising visitors/tourists to leave now and for locals to enact their bush fire plan. Some visitors are in very dangerous areas such as Cann River, a settlement on the coast in the middle of a very large forested area. Police have ordered them out. Advice has been received that the Princess Highway will most likely be closed blocking the only way out tomorrow if they don't leave now they will be stuck and will put lives of the Fire Crews in danger when they try to rescue them. Oh and the misses is getting in a wee bit of a flap.

Yep hope it turns out good for you and others, yes I know what if feels like the other week mrs and kids were here were very distressed.

 

[At lakes]

Spent the night sleeping in the car on the beach at Lakes Entrance. The fire was large very large. A strong south westerly wind at 2.30am changed and slowed the fires direction and speed. My house is safe, the only issues was a layer of black burnt leaf matter covering the house and the car and the lawn and floating in the pool, but who cares, minor issue, easy fixed. Not so others, fires are burning from Sydney to Melbourne on the east coast and at this stage there is one confirmed deceased in NSW and three missing in Victoria. This not the forum to comment on the finer details of what happened last night as this information is freely available on other platforms, but I will say its bloody scary.

 

[OPSSG]

Spent the night sleeping in the car on the beach at Lakes Entrance. The fire was large very large. A strong south westerly wind at 2.30am changed and slowed the fires direction and speed. My house is safe, the only issues was a layer of black burnt leaf matter covering the house and the car and the lawn and floating in the pool, but who cares, minor issue, easy fixed. Not so others, fires are burning from Sydney to Melbourne on the east coast and at this stage there is one confirmed deceased in NSW and three missing in Victoria. This not the forum to comment on the finer details of what happened last night as this information is freely available on other platforms, but I will say its bloody scary.

Take care and hope things get better.

 

[ngatimozart]

Spent the night sleeping in the car on the beach at Lakes Entrance. The fire was large very large. A strong south westerly wind at 2.30am changed and slowed the fires direction and speed. My house is safe, the only issues was a layer of black burnt leaf matter covering the house and the car and the lawn and floating in the pool, but who cares, minor issue, easy fixed. Not so others, fires are burning from Sydney to Melbourne on the east coast and at this stage there is one confirmed deceased in NSW and three missing in Victoria. This not the forum to comment on the finer details of what happened last night as this information is freely available on other platforms, but I will say its bloody scary.

Take care and hope things take a turn for the better. I understand that your area is still under an emergency alert and things aren't good down the coast towards the NSW border.

 

[ASSAIL]

HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore left Sydney to help with relieving bushfire survivors on the NSW South coast and Vic East coast near Mallacoota Inlet.
It’s good to see the combined ADF HADR effort being played out across the country.

Chief of Navy Australia

 

[ngatimozart]

We have the smoke from the bushfires right cross the South Island of NZ, so that shows you how bad they are and how much smoke that they are pumping out. Blood red sun greets NZ on New Year's Day as Australian bushfire smoke stains skies. We can smell it here in Christchurch now and have been for the last hour or so, probably at least couple of hours. 'The smell of smoke is really strong': Cantabrians can smell smoke from Aussie bushfires thousands of kilometres away. If it rains overnight there will be smoke & Aussie dust particles on cars etc., in the morning. Pinched this image from the Stuff story, the first one.

So you can see the amount of smoke in the atmosphere. The distance between the west coast of the South Island of NZ and Aussie coast at the point of the NSW - VIC border is about 930 nm and the length of the western coast of the South Island is about 440 nm. Here's the BOM image released at 1800 AEDT 1/1/2020

So it looks like it might be about the same, but we can't tell from what's in the night part of the image. Regardless, it's still a massive amount of smoke, which illustrates the size of the fires and how much vegetation that they have destroyed.

Nice bit of wave cloud over Tasmania.

 

[At lakes]

Whilst sitting on a beach with nothing better to do I took these three shots the first one was taken around 4pm the 2nd sometime between 7 and 8 and the last was taken at 6.50am in the morning with the sunrise.