tiabunna's photos with the keyword: fires

The two aircraft in this image were water-bombers, working on the huge fires in south-east Australia during late 2019-early 2020. The nearest aircraft, on the left, was a C130 with the identification "Bomber 134" and had come from the USA with its 3 man crew. Memorialising its sad loss with its crew shortly after, three years ago on 23 January 2020, in a combination of huge fires, bad winds, and mountainous terrian. Brave men and a sadly remembered event. In the PiP, smoke from nearby fires at the time.

When I took my drive through the National Park it was inspiring to see how forests, devastated by the recent fires, now are recovering so well. The main image shows new shoots on very charred eucalypt tree trunks. The first PiP shows the lower trunk of a large eucalypt, the second shows an Australian Tree fern (Alsophila australis) looking very healthy with new fronds. Taking the positive view of this (with the CV-19 in mind), it shows that better days will come again.

Trying to make something from the dreadful sight of burnt tree trunks, I feel this ICM image captures both the event and the scene. I'd suggest viewing large on black. Second (non-ICM) clickable image in PiP.

The Kings Highway in Australia runs between Canberra and the coast. It was closed by the bushfires for several weeks and only recently reopened for traffic. We travelled it yesterday, through some 40 km of forests terribly burnt by the ongoing fires (the fires no longer directly affect the road). Second (clickable) image in the PiP.

Today's weather totally negated the rain of a few days ago, with temperatures over 40C and winds running at about 60kph, gusting higher. Needless to say, the fires which had been contained started running again. This image was taken en route to an appointment today with Pauline's oncologist. When we reached the hospital (about 1km beyond those central trees) we were told it had been evacuated because of that fire coming from the right - appointment off. The fires now have covered a huge local area in total (see PiP1 in which the scale at lower left covers 10km). The second PiP shows, at left, the C130 Large Air Tanker which crashed today while fire fighting to the west of here, killing its crew. There also have been a number of houses lost today. Sorry, I'm feeling pretty down at present and I can't bring myself to put up a HFF image this week.

The raging bushfires destroyed almost half the little village of Mogo, mainly consisting of a series of old, mainly timber, shops selling into the coastal tourist market. This was a second-hand bookshop.

The raging bushfires destroyed almost half the little village of Mogo, mainly consisting of a series of old, mainly timber, shops selling into the coastal tourist market. This was a second-hand bookshop (see also note).

We had to take Pauline for her weekly treatment in Moruya, a town some 30km away. The forest has been burnt for almost the entire route, as seen here. You might care to note that, although the trees have been burnt, in this area the fire did not "crown", the explosive event when the oils in the leaves literally explode in a ball of flame. Instead, the fire left the leaves which have dried and are dropping, as in the foreground - this allows fire to potentially re-burn the area.

Looking northward across Batemans Bay from near the evacuation centre. There is a major fire to the northwest, but the real concern was a fire just to the left of centre of this image (I suggest viewing large). This fire threatened to engulf residential areas (including ours) further to the right of the image and helicopters were busily waterbombing. As I mentioned with a previous image, the situation also was helped enormously by gentle coastal sea breezes opposing the spread of this fire.

Looking through the evacuation centre (and past our tiny camper trailer at left), with a fire to the south creating a cloud that sheltered us from the sun. Very hot conditions and strong north westerly winds were driving the fires, but we "escaped a bullet" because of opposing coastal sea breezes, which helped the firefighters. This day, Canberra (Australia's capital city, about 100km inland) reached a new record temperature of 43.6. I am glad to advise that we now are home again and all is well with us. I also have written an article on the fires.

Looking across part of the evacuation centre, which covered several large sporting fields. People stayed in all manner of camping arrangements, those without their own accommodation were able to sleep in the sporting complex building which served as the headquarters for the centre and also provided the catering. All these services were free, provided by volunteer workers and food donated by local businesses and charities.

The scene as the New Year's Eve fires headed toward Batemans Bay. At this stage we were fortunate, as the fire seen here went to the opposite side of the Bay. There have been further rounds of fire weather, which fortunately did not directly impact our area, though we considered it prudent on one of them to move to the local Evacuation Centre. It is concerning that scientists expect that, with the global temperature rise of already 1.02 C (Australia 1.44 C since 1910) , events that were once a decade in the 19th century are now more likely to be as frequent as 2.8 per decade.

These people (in their thousands) are the real heroes of the current fires - they are volunteer fire fighters, some of whom now have been going for over 100 days and with no real end in sight. These two fire trucks stopped for a breather near our place late in the day, after having started at 6AM. The locals provided them with tea, coffee and food.

This is one of the main problems with bushfires - they generate enough heat and convection to carry half burnt or even burning leaves, twigs and bark for considerable distances. This leads to "spot fires" which, depending on the conditions, can begin quite a few kilometers beyond the fire front.

Looking back on 2020, which began for us with raging bushfires covering huge areas nearby, it wasn't a great start - and the year didn't improve. I wandered down to the beach on 31 December 2019, when the main part of the smoke and fires had cleared us and could hardly believe seeing this elderly couple sitting on the beach contemplating the distance (or the coming year?) through the smoke! Best contemplated large. In the PiPs: * people watching the smoke on 30 December 2019 * smoke rising behind neighbouring houses on 31 December 2019 * light through the smoke when the wind changed direction and blew it our way. Wishing everyone (and ipernity) all the best for 2021. Let's all hope for good health and for better things in the New Year.

[NOTES UPDATED] The record-breaking 2019-2020 bushfires in eastern Australia burnt an estimated 17 million hectares (5.3 million in the State of NSW where I live). New Years' Eve was totally forgettable, as a wind change rolled up the coast, moving the smoke and ash from the fires directly across us. This is how the colour looked at the time, with the daylight filtered red by the smoke.

Best viewed large on black, the fires burning in the distance here were "controlled burns" - low intensity fires intentionally lit (usually alongside a road) to burn back toward the bushfire, with the intention of depriving the main fire of combustible material. In the PiPs 1/ a road block because of fires across the road further on 2/ bushfire smoke seen behind the "not very bustling" main street of our local township and 3/ suburban houses separated by forest from the fires. At this point I cannot refrain from a dishonourable mention for our current Australian government, which was complicit in derailing the recent UN climate meeting in Madrid from taking strong action on climate change, which is exacerbating these weather-driven problems. Equally, for our glorious Prime Minister who has been near silent about the raging fires burning across our country and now has gone on holidays in Hawaii. (Look up #wherethebloodyhellareyou ). Explored.

Taken near our home. The foreground lighting from the street lamp behind me, the red glow from the nearby bushfire (at this stage about 8km away and being held back by fire crews). The morning after this image, as suggested by the Rural Fire Brigade, we left with some of our possessions as there is a risk the only access road could be cut by fire. We are now safe, but over the next few days are hoping to make a quick return visit to retrieve more items to safety in case the fire should come through - it is still out of control and over 73,000 ha at present (see PiP). I shall be very infrequent on ipernity, but would like to extend my very real appreciation to all who have sent their messages of support for me and my wife. In these worrying times, believe me it does help. :-)