Lord Sky, please tell us that you and your family are ok!!!

[Skyweir]

too right Landwaster!

.. and when criticism pours in against fireys it really riles me

apart from the 4 people who didnt make it here .. the rest of us do owe our lives and property to firey's .. I went to help with the Mt Roger fire [the closest threat to us then] .. they had it contained quickly and out by the end of the next day .. we had to remain close to home to protect our own home and that of our 2 neighbours who unable to do so themselves.

maybe things could have been organised better .. I dont really care .. these guys even the SES .. had never faced anything like this in their careers .. I believe they did an awesome job .. even though homes were lost .. a lot more could have been lost that weren't .. but this is Oz and bushfires and drought make a lethal combination that are just part and parcel of living here .. the only blame belongs to the absolute bastards that take some particular delight in lighting these fires!!.

anyway we were lucky here .. even though we did get ash and ember travel here from the major fire fronts at least 3-10 and later 27k away .. they didnt pose a significant risk. We were ready! .. kept everything damp, gutters filled, etc..

.. haha .. and still got bags packed and sitting in the hallway!!

What a lot realise and some still dont .. is .. you gotta help each other .. it bides nowt to just look out for yourself .. you cant do it alone if you live in a neighbourhood .. if your neighbours property catches .. yours is already history .. or not far behind.

'course .. the 538 homes lost in the South .. there no way that could've been prevented .. though some have taken to blaming SES organisation .. but the size of voracity of the front then was too great .. it could'nt be out run .. no one could have stopped that.

Like the Alpine fires Moksha is talking about .. several fronts joined .. to create one enormous fire front semi-circling the city of 300,000 entirely .. and when you think of 300+ homes lost out of a potential 100,000+ homes .. there's only room for firey-praise here! and as Landwaster said they're all volunteers.

.. anyhoo now they have established containment lines keep the fires north of Canberra suburbs and there was only one serious breach on Sunday with the Burranjuck Damn fire which jumped containment lines and threatened the township of Wee Jasper .. since yesterday we have had cooler conditions .. and even a few spots of rain .. anyway .. it is way better .. here ..

we hope the same for the rest of the country .. especially Victoria eh ..

Moksha .. what you studying??

[[Syl]]

What a lot realise and some still dont .. is .. you gotta help each other .. it bides nowt to just look out for yourself .. you cant do it alone if you live in a neighbourhood .. if your neighbours property catches .. yours is already history .. or not far behind.

my offer still stands to help out. if there's any place to send/donate something... it wouldn't be much, but just want you to know you got neighbors up here, too.

growing up in Nevada, i've seen what brush fires can do.

No man is an island unto himself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of they friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. John Donne

[MokshaTuriyaSamadhi Raver]

I'm doing an Arts/Psychology double degree.

People imagine me as a therapist/counseller/negotiator and they laugh out loud. That's why I'm going to try and go into criminal profiling or diplomatic postings.

There has been a lot of talk lately about making volunteer firefighters recieve compensation of some sort, at least in Victoria, but the cost would be astronomical. About 4.6% (I think, not sure) of the total expenses would go toward this every year. But when everything is on the line and the smart people are going to evac centres, (and the not so smart ones are trying to help ) they are risking their lives for people they may not even talk to in the street, or with all the crews being shipped in from around, not even live near.

And all it takes is a wind change or a careless (or deliberate) act by one person to turn a containment into a danger again.

What was I talking about?

[Landwaster]

Sky! Do you still have a mailbox?

Sky, is it safe there for you to receive mail yet?

[Skyweir]

Landwaster - we get mail deliveries several times a week ..

.. the refuse trucks have even been collecting refuse .. but that you can understand neh??

Mosksha - I dont know about you guys but today's been hot dry and windy .. and we have had spot fires here .. easily contained but ..

We were given the option to evac or stay and we chose .. stay .. partly because maybe as you say we are stupid .. and partly because we are only under threat of spot fires .. if it was major fire front .. we would've been out of here. Not eveyone who stays represents a burden to the fireys .. some who saved there houses in Duffy did so only cos they stayed and fought .. but not against the front .. there be no fighting that!!

I'm taking Law/Arts degree .. cross-inst from SA .. debating where to take units this year .. should've had it settled by now .. already ... but procrastination comes way too easily to me

maybe when all this settles I will get some serious enrolment investigation happening .. tossing up between ANU and UC .. it really doesn't matter much as its all non-award credit .. which is a buggar but thats cross-inst rules for yer and a whole other irritation .

Sylvanus - Its really kool that you want to help .. you can send some positive energy our way .. a rain dance would be appreciated muchly .. but I dont know about bush-fire relief .. the government is pretty much taking care of that .. but there are agencies that are taking donations for those who have lost everything .. and this community has been praised for its willingness to aid those in need here. There has been an influx of blankets clothes food and resources .. its a good spirit about the place even in the face of these wretched fires!

tis a tight community here at the Watch!! .. and you Syl. are evidence of that ..

just want you to know you got neighbors up here, too.

not just neighbours but friends .. or as we say .. mates!

way tighter than friends ..

[[Syl]]

*feels all warm and fuzzy inside*

heh, i don't know about a rain dance (not to mention i don't dance without alcohol in my system), but you can sure have some of this freezing azz illinois weather. every time i walk outside i have to repeat my new mantra, "two more months 'til sicily. two more months 'til sicily." a little bit of lava on the ground and some ash in the air pales in comparison.

[Skyweir]

you off to Sicily??

and ash in the air

.. you could be coming to Oz!!

[[Syl]]

yep. i'll be stationed there for 3 years (US Navy).

mt. etna's been pretty active lately (which is causing me all sorts of headaches gettign my wife screened to go - she has asthma). heh, hopefully there's something left by the time i get there.

so is the sun that nifty red color through the smoke, or can you even see it?

[Skyweir]

oh yeah it is definitely that nifty red colour .. eerie .. just keeping my fingers crossed for no red moons!!

stationed?? what is your field?? .. volcano watching?? or are you in the military??

I'm thinking .. an active volcano as opposed to facing bush-fires!! mmm .. tricky .. but methinks I take the bush-fires anyday

[danlo]

Geez, my friend! Keep on hangin' in there! As u kno Tamara and I and every1 @ the Hangar r pulling 4 u!! That's a very good point about neighbors: in rural towns in the US neighbors take care of each other, but cityfolk, 4 the main part, don't kno or care who their neighbors r and it's a very sad state of affairs. I'll do a rain dance 4 u, but have 2 save some dances 4 NM: we've been in a serious drought 4 8 years as well (as evidenced by the Los Alamos and SW Colorado fires of late). NM has never averaged above 60 degrees in January in recorded history and this spring/summer may very well b our worse fire season yet. Lets hear it 4 the firerys !!!!

[Lord Mhoram]

I would know, never living in the country!

Sky, good luck! Glad to hear from you!!!

[Landwaster]

you off to Sicily??

and ash in the air

.. you could be coming to Oz!!

The comment reeks of pompeisity

[[Syl]]

and yours sounds like it took a herculaneum effort to post.

[Skyweir]

volatile talk you want do ya?? all this talk of eruptions!!

.. .. wanna take a 'Krak-a-toa' .. at moi expense ..

[[Syl]]

. ...as people run away in fear from the bad puns

[Hearthcoal]

still have hearth and home and "ethernet".

Oakland, California went through some of that back in 1991. That was a mind blowing experience, even though it didn't touch me directly (I lived 35 miles east and was well out of danger - but I had to communte to work daily through the fire zone).

- Hearthcoal