Australian Red Cross Bushfire Appeal...C'mon Aussies, let's give a little!

[admin]

OK, Aussie members (and any one else so inclined) The Australia Red Cross has launched an appeal to assist individuals and families affected by the recent and continuing tragic bushfires. As the this morning the death toll approaches 200 with over 1,800 (UPDATED: at 14th Feb) homes gone, hundreds more threatened nearly 400,000 hectares (several hundred thousand acres) destroyed. Over 7,000 people are now not only homeless, but a large proportion are left without any possessions. In the highland town of Marysville, 1 in 5 residents was killed in this tragedy. Recent photos: http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2009/02/07/1233423569062.html

Even small dontions will all help and can be made direct to the Australian Red Cross via a secure transaction at:

http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

[Analog6]

Gave my (first) $50 yesterday.  I plan to give $50 a week til the appeal closes.  I'd give more but with my reduced hours now just can't spare it.

[admin]

Good on you Odille!
Seriously, that is a big commitment for any average (sorry, above average) working person and really shows the measure of your compassion.

[Analog6]

I've lived through 3 bushfires, and my 4 years as Disaster Awareness Officer at Emergency Management Australia, along with some of my uni studies, have given me a lot of hands on and theoretical bushfire knowledge  Plus a life in the country on farms drives home safety measures.

Our Cat-World forum has set up a special account now for one of our ladies who lost her home and her husband, so I plan to direct my donation there.  I'm making  up a bundle of the cat toys I sell to send to her too, she saved most of her cats (she went ahead with them and though her hubby was right behind) so no doubt she'll have lost all their toys too.  I know from experience it is the littel things you miss most and often the lack of them reduces you to tears of frustration.

[admin]

It is all very sad. We live in an area that is at the NE end of a coastal bushland valley.
The experience of the past week has taught us to have a new fire strategy...run away early!

We also get periods of blustery hot NW winds that are the scourge of these fire storms and in relation to our location could be perilous. Eye witness accounts suggest that is some cases 100kph (60mph) winds and temperatures as high as 47C (117F) had flames cover 50Klm of bush in not much more time than than the wind speed.
Fortunately a cool front has provided welcome relief across Victoria and NSW but it is not over yet.
Meanwhile much of Queensland is under water! What is going on?? and that is just in this part of the world. Globally it has been a very volatile 3 or 4 years.

[Analog6]

This is the result ofclimate change, I'm afraid.  Whether it is a natural or man-exacerbated cycle is debated hotly, but I beleive there is no way all the human activity since the Industrial Revolution, with discharges into the atmosphere of chemicals not previously there or only ion low amounts, cannot have had any effect.

It means greater extremes at each end of the scale (Europe and Australia right now) and more severe weather events (heatwaves, cyclones, storms etc).  And statistics for the last decade or so clearly show this IS what is happening.  Look forward to more of the same.

Mark, Go and have a look at this site. http://www.flamezone.com.au/fireshield.php - and check out the pics of it in operation.  I know of at least 5 houses in the Vic fores with such systems which survived the fire.  And if you have any of those plastic water tanks, or fibreglass ones, they both melted, get concrete!  The crucial part is metal piping and a good strong pump, and to regularly test the system and make sure you have petrol for the pump.

I'm doing an article about it, I'll put a link here when it is done.

[OZZI-BLOKE]

Just in reply to the fire strategy and using petrol powered pumps. some petrol pumps had trouble in these
fires because the fire was so bad that it had sucked up all the oxygen that there was, therefor the petrol
pumps could not run. Diesel is supposed to be a bit better but still needs oxygen to run like any internal
combustion engine. A house with solar power back up power could be used to run pressure pumps that
would work better and not need air.

[admin]

I have a fibreglass tank and petrol pump and seriously, given what I have seen, I will run away without shame and leave everything other than my wife and kids, and neighbours we can assist, behind.

It is not worth the risk. In a high wind situatuation or anything, other than a small containable fire, when you are surrounded by bushland, with even the largest commercial pump available, running on nuclear power, run away early!

[Analog6]

Just in reply to the fire strategy and using petrol powered pumps. some petrol pumps had trouble in these
fires because the fire was so bad that it had sucked up all the oxygen that there was, therefor the petrol
pumps could not run. Diesel is supposed to be a bit better but still needs oxygen to run like any internal
combustion engine. A house with solar power back up power could be used to run pressure pumps that
would work better and not need air.

Very good point, and you can get a free standing bank of solar panels with a converter thingy attached - I wonder if that woyuld run a pump/generator?  Do you know, Ozzi?  Anyone?

Go and have a look at this graphic, MArk. http://media.theaustralian.com.au/projects/firesafe/index.html   You click on the dots, have a look in particular at the recommended tree clearances (top left).  I saw a photo of a weather board house that survived, and iot was even at the top of a slope.  It had no large trees closer than about 20m.  I have the document as a pdf single document if you would like a copy.

[OZZI-BLOKE]

Odille, with a solar setup you would have a bank of batteries to store the power generated from the panels and from that you would run a high wattage 240 volt inverter that would have the power to supply enough power to a high power pressure pump. I have lived in a couple of places in the country areas out of town where there was no town water and you got water from a bore that was pumped with an
electric pressure pump so it should work.
On the subject of tree clearances from the house, there was one family that lost there house and they had no trees within 30 metres, they had a good fire plan and still lost the house.
On another happier note, as of around 9pm tonight the red cross has raised over $88,000,000.00