Brian Ross wrote on Jan 13^th, 2025 at 7:57pm:


Ooh did I just get my own Tsks 

A combination of sorts will do it. We were in areas that were lucky not to burn while both Ash Wednesday fires (early 1980s) and Black Saterday fires (2009) Flying ember attack was our main worry.
Water would help!
As this next vid shows how…
I’m thinking they left sprinklers on, left the house, but came back to empty pool but house still standing.

See this next vid…

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS6xjXqKV/

We have a dam and local CFA know they have our permission to access it if they need water.

Sophia wrote on Jan 13^th, 2025 at 8:06pm:


I'm glad you gave permission, thank you.

When younger I was the captain of emergency response and used to visit industrial sites to create a database of inventory for emergencies. We used to prepare for everything from bushfires, dam bursts and bus crashes and formulate plans should they eventuate. Something not many knew about was that we could just take what we needed for any situation, be it machinery, water and other supplies. It was never a problem because everyone was always willing to help and the captain knowing you have already given permission makes it much easier for him to make a call without worrying if you might be upset about it.

Re: the fires I mentioned below as we had attended fb meetings while looking at close mountain ranges burning…we were told how the wind carries the embers to start new fires… that if we see a fresh fire starting to let the cfa know…as we may be the first to see it, so the cfa get to it before it becomes bigger. The 50 degree heat that day was scary. We never did rest and kept vigil on our surrounds every 20 minutes. Lots of falling ash and smoke smelling like burnt eucalyptus.

My daughter’s bgf… her dad is local police… he and one other responded to a call for help from elderlies in the country area where fire burned their vehicle… the 2 policemen got there only to be surrounded by fire and couldn’t get out.. they phoned their wives to say goodbye.

The fireball reached the fence near house… then… the winds changed and pushed the fire away from the house. They all survived!
The police got some bravery honours of some sort. The wife of the cop we know… was telling me she said “don’t ever do that again to say goodbye!” Etc.
She was besides herself.
How scary the unpredictability of fires.

I recall a saying once…fire is a good servant but a bad master.

The main thing I would put into storage to save are photos in all media types.
Furniture, tv, beds, clothes, vehicles, it can all be replaced. Not photos though.

And yes, every summer I dread it here. On acreage and a tree area.
I’m glad we had heavy rains 2 days ago!

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 13^th, 2025 at 8:02pm:


Why does it show wind lighting fires?

Or perhaps wind carrying burning embers, a much more likely scenario. In which case the fire is already there.

In the later 1980s we did have a house burn … it was the old original wooden farm house on property and we lived in the brick house about 50 metres away.

How it started, the fella renting it off us, was renovating… they extended the bathroom as we had a clawed bath we gave them… now the house had an original open fireplace.
When the extra room overlapped part of a wall near the fireplace (forensic expert told us this) because the original internal wood in wall was so dry and brittle and the extension covered it… it self combusted.

So here’s the guy had been drinking quite a bit… put more wood in fireplace (it’s midwinter) and went to bed.
The fire ignited and started burning the house …. his dog saved him by muzzling into him to wake up…
He did and could only escape through bedroom window with dog.
Once window was open it really gave the fire more air to burn faster.

I walked through the house with the chief fireman during the day… it was so toxic I covered my nose… he made a comment about how toxic it is and how some people are overcome just by that alone.
He didn’t have to convince me!
The claw bath was still in one piece! I was pleased. It was filled with water from the fireman putting out the fire.
As soon as I touched the bath it snapped in half! Water poured out!
Wow … I couldn’t believe it!

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 13^th, 2025 at 9:00pm:


The wind scares me most when there’s fires.
Fires can start by humans(accidental with lawn movers or cigarette buts, or deliberate) or by electric powerlines, or lightning.
But wind can create fireballs that go kilometres in just a short time!
Flying ember attacks!
We put filled buckets of water all around perimeter of house, with super soaker guns to squirt on roof to extinguish flying embers, and old cotton mops to soak in water and put out burning embers on ground.

Yes we stay and fight. But with escape if we need to.
But when there’s fires, and winds pick up… I don’t sleep.
Keep vigil.

lee wrote on Jan 13^th, 2025 at 9:14pm:


Incorrect.

They are responsible for wildfires.

Without the wind, you just have a fire (or an ember).