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From: PaulineG
Date: 12-21-2006, 06:58 AM (1 of 10)
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I'm not sure that its news where all of you are but Australia is currently having a very bad bushfire season (I think you get similar around California but not sure about anywhere else). I've just had one of the longest days ever because my husband has travelled up to the property of some friends of ours who are being threatened with fire. He had to travel through some areas that were already burnt out or still being threatened. A journey that normally takes about 2 hours took about 6 (partly negotiating travel permission from police etc. to get through) hours. He finally rang a little while ago and so I can stop worrying about the danger of travel and just worry about him being there (not quite as bad as they have a pretty good fire shelter). Unfortunately where they live is so remote that it's pretty much up to them if they wish to save their house and stock because the firefighters have too much to do in more populated areas. I've spent the afternoon with the Weather Channel on watching what is going on in various places to see how it will affect that area. Interestingly some of the areas now on fire may get a light sprinkling of snow on Christmas Day (very unusual as we're in the middle of a fairly hot dry summer). We've had smoke haze reports as part of our standard weather forecasts for a few weeks now. I'm rambling on a bit now so I'll cut myself off. I'll finish by asking those of you (I know Lennie is one) who are married to firefighters how on earth you cope with worrying about them all the time? I've got a few extra grey hairs after such a short time (not that you'd notice). Pauline
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User: PaulineG
Member since: 09-08-2006 Total posts: 901 |
From: pretnichols
Date: 12-21-2006, 08:13 AM (2 of 10)
I can't imagine living in fear of a fire coming to my home. I'm glad to hear your husband made it safely.  We've had nothing but rain for 24 hours.....I'll send some your way, since it will help more than snow?No white christmas this year, just lots of mud. Peggy
So little time, sew much to do........... |
User: pretnichols
Member since: 10-16-2005 Total posts: 342 |
From: lendube
Date: 12-21-2006, 12:24 PM (3 of 10)
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Oh Pauline! I'm glad I saw your post. Yep, I sure do understand exactly what you're going through. I'm so glad you personally were not threatened. Just thinking about being in a huge fire raises my anxiety level. Understandably you call them bushfires. We call them brushfires. I've been through 3 evacuations, twice for a couple of days and once for 8 days. Each time the fire came to within a 1/2 mile of our home. The last major fire in 2003 took out 700 homes in our town of only 4500 people! Luckily many were vacation homes (unoccupied) but what devastation! As far as me worrying about my husband; he's the chief up here and luckily he's just the "director" and "coodinator" as it were. He doesn't get directly into the flames like the firefighters. Ironically I think that's where he'd prefer to be. He misses that action. Just remember, none of the firefighters and civilians involved want to get hurt either. As long as they use their heads they should be fine. When there are injuries and fatalities it's almost ALWAYS because someone did something stupid like not leaving when they should have or not following orders. And also, large fires create their own weather system. It's not unusual to get really wacky weather occurances when these fires take hold. Pauline, feel free to email me (you've got my address) if you want to "talk". "Been there, done that" to use an overused phrase. Sending a hug, Lennie |
User: lendube
Member since: 08-06-2006 Total posts: 1548 |
From: PaulineG
Date: 12-21-2006, 02:44 PM (4 of 10)
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Thanks Lennie. It helped a lot yesterday for me just to vent. I had to keep my "happy face" on (and will again today) as I had the kids around and although they know where he is and what he is doing they don't entirely understand the implications. I'm sure he will be fine but I sometimes can't help borrowing trouble - I think it's a woman thing. I'm expecting him home late tonight. A cool change with rain - thanks peggy - is supposed to come through this afternoon so that should help. I'll sing out when he's clear. Thanks again. 
Pauline
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User: PaulineG
Member since: 09-08-2006 Total posts: 901 |
From: lendube
Date: 12-21-2006, 09:54 PM (5 of 10)
Glad to hear you're feeling better! You won't stop worrying till you hold him in your arms....... Out of curiousity, my dh and I were talking and I asked if he knew what type of plants/trees really constitute a "bush" in your bushfires? He didn't know. We have mainly manzanita and sumac here as far as brush. The manzanita are a beautiful hardwood but have a volitile sap that shoots them up into flames. Other than that we have Black Oaks, California Live Oaks and a few different pines primarily. There's the odd cedar too. Let us know what develops. Lennie 
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User: lendube
Member since: 08-06-2006 Total posts: 1548 |
From: Chrysantha
Date: 12-21-2006, 09:56 PM (6 of 10)
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sorry Pauline [[[ ]]] I'm a CA person. (grew up there..) living in FL...(we have Everglade, brush, range fires on occasion.) I know how you feel. We're all here for you anytime... Kath Chrys
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User: Chrysantha
Member since: 09-06-2002 Total posts: 2414 
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From: PaulineG
Date: 12-22-2006, 02:58 PM (7 of 10)
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He's home safe! Thanks everyone. Warning: the next bit might be a bit boring to some. To answer the bushfire question - in OZ "the bush" is basically anywhere out of civilisation. It's usually dry scrubby sort of forestland but can also be anything from desert to semi rainforest. "Going bush" basically means getting away from people. A bushfire is a large often uncontrollable fire in a remotish area. The main problem with bushfire is the gum trees (eucalypts). The leaves (and other parts of the tree) have a very high oil content so they burn quickly, easily and with a lot of heat. Then the wood itself is a hardwood and so burns hot and for a long time. Mother Nature has designed the Australian Bush to actually need bushfires to survive. A lot of the plants won't take seed until after a bushfire because the quality of the soil is poor and needs the nutrients from the ash. The seedpods won't split until exposed to intense heat. Sorry I can't answer about the trees in more detail Lennie - in this particular area are several species of gum and some mountain ash but I'm not too sure on the exact varieties. The main problems they faced were/are the terrain (remote and hilly), the drought we've been having for a few years now (lots of dry fuel lying around on the ground and not a lot of water available to fight with), the weather (hot and windy) and the ***** bunch of arsonists who take pleasure in the misfortunes of others. Sing out if I haven't answered the questions he had - I'll get mine to come and try answer them instead. Thanks. Pauline
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User: PaulineG
Member since: 09-08-2006 Total posts: 901 |
From: Magot
Date: 12-22-2006, 05:05 PM (8 of 10)
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Good news Pauline - don't you have acacia out there as well? I thought the eucalypts almost exploded when they get hot?
love and kisses, Jan
Guts-R-Us Cells a Speciality DNA to order. |
User: Magot
Member since: 12-22-2002 Total posts: 3626 
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From: Chrysantha
Date: 12-22-2006, 09:27 PM (9 of 10)
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Eucalyptus does explode....CA Is full of the stuff and even when it's just hot outside, the smell is something nasty. They're so oily...the bark just falls off in strips and that makes the fires even worse. The seed pods... well, thats like firecrakers. (if you've ever put a pinecone in a fireplace, then you know what a fire with Eucalyptus is like. Except for the smell. Pine smells good.) I'm glad your husband is back and in one piece Pauline ! My husband was in Darwin once (playing with the Aussie A.F.) he LOVED it and would go back in a minute. ( I apprecial Australia because of it's beautiful opals. My husband brought me back a very nice one, eveyone who sees it wants it...sure...over my dead body.) So I think a lot of 'us' wanna hear about OZ...so bore the others and talk to 'us'.  Kath Chrys
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User: Chrysantha
Member since: 09-06-2002 Total posts: 2414
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From: PaulineG
Date: 12-23-2006, 03:51 PM (10 of 10)
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Jan - we do have acacia here - mainly flowering wattles (I think) but they don't seem to be a huge problem in the areas of bushfire (at least that I know of). Certainly gums are a massive problem in fire - they can explode. Even the saplings (10 ft and under) can go up in a matter of seconds. Apparently its almost like watching an oil fire - if you've ever been silly enough to let the frypan catch fire you'll know what I'm talking about. Kath - you asked for this bit. Australia has lots of different environments (kind of like the US). I live in the suburbs but in the areas close to me are bushland, beach, temperate rainforest, alpine and desert. The thing is in Australia close means something different to other parts of the world. I'm not sure about the US but people we know or have met from NZ and UK are surprised at the sort of distances we take for granted. We actually don't do a lot of day trips to the beach (we prefer the ones that are further away) but spend a week or so each summer at a different coastal town. The area of bush where we spend the most time is where my husband spent time helping out for a few days. We don't go there just for the bush (although its pretty nice) but because it is an old gold mining area. My husband is a gold mining relic enthusiast. At least until recently a lot of the old towns and settlements had been overgrown so it would take a few hours and a GPS to try and find a couple of broken bottles and a chimney (which is often all that's left after a century or so of bushfires, lightfingered fellow enthusiasts etc.). This particular area is pretty bad for bushfires because although once it was probably fairly diverse in the flora - when it was a gold mining area (100-150 years ago) it was stripped nearly bare of all wood for buildings and timber support in mines. The quickest growing trees are gum so although it's now such a dense forest you can't even tell it was once bare - it is almost entirely eucalypt forest. There is still enough diversity in the area for lots of different animals - tons of wallabies (like a small kangaroo) and possums, a few platypuses and echidna. These will all have been affected by both the bushfires and the drought (especially drought for the platypuses - the river has stopped flowing and is just a stagnant couple of puddles). We were supposed to be going there between Christmas and New Year (weather and fires permitting) so I guess I'll find out what the impact has been then. I'm overwhelmed by all the things I could say about Australia - is there anything particular you'd like to hear about. Pauline
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User: PaulineG
Member since: 09-08-2006 Total posts: 901 |
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