Fires in Oz

[Bramblethorn]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-09/andrew-forrest-pledges-$70m-donation-to-fire-relief/11854654

Funny thing... of that $70m, $20m is actually going to bushfire victims and to administering unpaid volunteer work.

The other $50m is going to his own charity foundation (Minderoo) to fund "a "national blueprint" for fire and disaster resilience to develop new approaches to mitigate the threat of bushfires, with a focus on climate change".

Call me cynical, but that part sounds more like an investment in damage control than genuine philanthropy. You can bet whatever conclusions Minderoo delivers aren't going to run contrary to his mining and agricultural investments.

If he really just wanted to support bushfire and/or climate research, there are organisations that already do that and could make good use of the money. No need to set up a new one.

(Forrest is worth about $7 billion, so this is something he can pretty easily afford.)

 

[Bramblethorn]

Every police force in Oz activates an annual arson watch program to put surveillance on known arsonists, most of whom are kids, mentally ill folk (including bizarrely, ex fire fighters) - anyone with a track record.

Often current fire fighters too. It makes a twisted kind of sense when you think about it. IIRC, one of the recent lot was a volunteer fire fighter who was still wearing an ankle bracelet for previous arson offences when he went out to set a few more fires.

For some of those folk, being caught by police is a good outcome. I recall a friend telling me about a country town that had fire problems - they knew who the arsonist was, but didn't have enough evidence for police to take action.

One day, some of the locals sat the guy down and told him that there were an awful lot of abandoned mine shafts in the area, and it would be a very good idea for him if he left town and never returned. He took the hint.

(The story doesn't say where he moved on to, though...)

The thing about these big fires, especially with high winds, is that they can spot 5 - 10km ahead of themselves. I recall watching a fire in Sydney, back in the nineties, where there was a row of about forty massive gum trees running along a river corridor - in about five minutes we saw each canopy explode, one by one, as sparks ignited the vapour surrounding the leaves. The fire would have travelled about five kilometres in those five minutes, I reckon - it was like watching a series of bombs going off.

Googling "bushfire crowning" will find some scary, scary videos:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-50799038/bushfire-crowning-in-australia

 

[Rustyoznail]

Heavy rain in SW Victoria. Hope it pushes east and north.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Heavy rain in SW Victoria. Hope it pushes east and north.

Fingers crossed!
I saw something about a cyclone; did that help? or cause more problems?

 

[Rustyoznail]

Fingers crossed!
I saw something about a cyclone; did that help? or cause more problems?

Should eventually help. Usually when a cyclone collapses it sends a low pressure rain system south.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Googling "bushfire crowning" will find some scary, scary videos:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-50799038/bushfire-crowning-in-australia

Yes, like that, but imagine each tree literally exploding into flame, one by one, down a long row of trees. Like the opening shot of Apocalypse Now, twenty times over, but without The Doors.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Fingers crossed!
I saw something about a cyclone; did that help? or cause more problems?

Problems for Western Australia when it crossed the coast, but as RustyOz says, "Meanwhile, two thousand miles away..."

Australia is roughly the same size as the United States (or Canada, or Europe), so it's the same as asking, "Does a hurricane in the Gulf affect weather in Washington?" Answer: eventually.

https://wickedwalkabout.com/how-big-is-australia-2/

 

[Ziggins]

The aborigines have at least 50,000 years of adaptation to Australian conditions. Centuries of genocide and oppression affected their numbers, but enough survived to wait out the invaders' failures. The land is saying "adapt or die."

 

[Bramblethorn]

Here's a fundraiser some of you may appreciate: https://geekysextoys.com/product/the-down-under-donation-dildo/

 

[ElectricBlue]

Here's a fundraiser some of you may appreciate: https://geekysextoys.com/product/the-down-under-donation-dildo/

That is so typically Aussie - opportunity out of adversity. That's brilliant .

 

[Rustyoznail]

The pic HP had posted in the hangout

https://i.imgur.com/QmmtkD3.jpg

 

[Handley_Page]

Funny thing... of that $70m, $20m is actually going to bushfire victims and to administering unpaid volunteer work.

The other $50m is going to his own charity foundation (Minderoo) to fund "a "national blueprint" for fire and disaster resilience to develop new approaches to mitigate the threat of bushfires, with a focus on climate change".

Call me cynical, but
.
(Forrest is worth about $7 billion, so this is something he can pretty easily afford.)

Whilst I tend to agree that "admin" costs money, it's not the bloody admin wallahs who need the help; it's the poor blighters who are now homeless
(or have I got that too simple?).

 

[JamesMiehoff]

There are a lot of organizations that are trying to help. According to a friend, some of the airline companies are flying firefighters for free. I saw something about Ellen DeGeneres (sp?) starting a charity for relief and United Airlines pledged to match $400,000 or something like that.

But given the immensity and the ecological damage that is going to occur for years, any amount of money is going to be a drop in the bucket.

My mother surprised me by posting on WasteBook the other day that I have cousins in Oz. First I had ever heard about it. She is supposed to give my wife details so we can try to find them on Ancestry.

The world is a smaller place than it appears.

James

 

[oggbashan]

...

My mother surprised me by posting on WasteBook the other day that I have cousins in Oz. First I had ever heard about it. She is supposed to give my wife details so we can try to find them on Ancestry.

The world is a smaller place than it appears.

James

When I went to Australia in 1960 I found I had 50 Australian relations (now over 100) descended from my mother's cousins. Now my cousin has his own family in Australia, in contact with the larger grouping - who are seriously rich.

They own two companies in Sydney; an estate in Northern Territory; a 5000-acre farm in NSW; and a 1000-bed hotel in Surfer's Paradise.

Searches on Ancestry found that my wife has a number of relations in WA that we are now in contact with; and I have a large number of relations in Vancouver.

 

[ElectricBlue]

And of course, we have drop bears!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...holding-a-drop-bear-during-bushfires/11863942

This is priceless! Enjoy .

 

[Bramblethorn]

And of course, we have drop bears!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...holding-a-drop-bear-during-bushfires/11863942

This is priceless! Enjoy .

Where is her throat protection, dammit?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Where is her throat protection, dammit?

That's a Drop Bear Minor. The guy explained they only have little fangs and a mild venom which causes an itch.

You're thinking of defence against the Drop Bear Major, which is bigger, more deadly .

 

[TarnishedPenny]

And of course, we have drop bears!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...holding-a-drop-bear-during-bushfires/11863942

This is priceless! Enjoy .

Brilliant.

 

[SimonDoom]

And of course, we have drop bears!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...holding-a-drop-bear-during-bushfires/11863942

This is priceless! Enjoy .

Plot bunny/koala for a new story, especially if the Australia story event is brought back:

The fires have driven the drop bears from their remote hideouts in the Eucalyptus forests toward Australia's population centers. They're hungry, and they're meaner than ever. They come to the Oz beaches for the first time, and what do they see? Food, skimpily dressed.

 

[oggbashan]

Plot bunny/koala for a new story, especially if the Australia story event is brought back:

The fires have driven the drop bears from their remote hideouts in the Eucalyptus forests toward Australia's population centers. They're hungry, and they're meaner than ever. They come to the Oz beaches for the first time, and what do they see? Food, skimpily dressed.

There were bigger drop bears in the past - 70 kg:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/11/22/3637755.htm

 

[Bramblethorn]

The smoke is pretty bad this morning - our air is now officially "hazardous". I've emailed the people I supervise at work and strongly recommended that they don't come in today.

Family members were meant to be flying back to Sydney from Melbourne last night, but the incoming flight noped out and went back to Sydney without landing.

I don't remember ever seeing it this bad, even that time a couple of years back when a factory caught fire upwind from us.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

How far north did that rain come?

 

[ElectricBlue]

How far north did that rain come?

This is the national weather radar feed - the map shows rain over the last 24 hours.

You can see a storm east of Brisbane, the remnants of a cyclone coming down from the north, and there's another cyclone coming in from the north-west. You can see smaller patches of rain down the south-east coast of NSW, and some over Kangaroo Island in the south of South Australia.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/national_radar_sat.loop.shtml

 

[Bramblethorn]

For some bizarre reason the Australian Open is continuing with outside play even though the EPA has warned that physical exertion outside is dangerous in today's smoke.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis...stralian-open-qualifiers-20200114-p53rei.html

 

[UsuallyPresent]

For some bizarre reason the Australian Open is continuing with outside play even though the EPA has warned that physical exertion outside is dangerous in today's smoke.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis...stralian-open-qualifiers-20200114-p53rei.html

Kinda reminds me of the 2016 Brazilian Olympics