NSW Fires

[Hoyks]

The predicted fire zones keep bigger

I have to drive from Newcastle to Brisbane on Thursday and back Sunday... guessing I'm not going via the Pacific hway.

[vern]

The hysteria is more than likely about today's weather pattern, as the crow flies, the fires at glenreagh are 20km away (woolgoolga), between it and us is all dense dry bush, with strong NW winds increasing, it's a huge concern. At the moment I have from my place about a 300m visibility range due to smoke.
Worst of all, I only have 4 beers left in the fridge!

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[Bird]

... between it and us is all dense dry bush, with strong NW winds increasing, it's a huge concern. At the moment I have from my place about a 300m visibility range due to smoke.
Worst of all, I only have 4 beers left in the fridge!

Take the opportunity to go for a safe drive to a bottle shop in a safe zone

[vern]

Take the opportunity to go for a safe drive to a bottle shop in a safe zone

I will take this advice very seriously and respond to it asap

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[Bird]

Be careful Hairy one.


Two more emergency warnings issued
By Natassia Chrysanthos

Two new emergency warnings have been issued for the Clarence Valley area, just north of Coffs Harbour and Armidale. This brings the total emergency warnings to seven.

The Liberation Trail fire has been described as a "large fire with a large perimeter" near Armidale Road, Coutts Crossing, Nymbodia and Glenreagh. The second fire in Washpool State Forest runs near Redbank Road in Coombadjha.

"Under forecast weather conditions on Tuesday, these fires will spread quickly towards the coast," the RFS says. "The fire may impact on the areas of Woolgoolga, outskirts of Coffs Harbour, Sawtell and surrounding areas. If you are in the area of Nana Glen or Coramba and surrounding area, leave now towards Coffs Harbour. Do not wait."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-qld-bushfires-live-rfs-continue-to-fight-blazes-across-state-as-greater-sydney-our-on-high-alert-state-of-emergency-declared-20191111-p539ma.html

[Hairs]

Take the opportunity to go for a safe drive to a bottle shop in a safe zone

Done and dusted,
Enjoying a few cold ales atm.
Cheers for the advice,
Love ya work.
Cheers

[Fizzie]

Just saw this mentioned: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/alerts/alerts-list

Stay safe out there, everybody.

[alnjan]

The hysteria is more than likely about today's weather pattern, as the crow flies, the fires at glenreagh are 20km away (woolgoolga), between it and us is all dense dry bush, with strong NW winds increasing, it's a huge concern. At the moment I have from my place about a 300m visibility range due to smoke.
Worst of all, I only have 4 beers left in the fridge!

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Yep so far today the wind change hasn't happened.  Sitting at home after taking a loaded van and bride into our Son's place in Coffs.   Nice northeasterly gently blowing while I do a few things.  Just had our first charred leaf fall but the bride said they are having ash fall in Coffs.  Might be different when or if the change comes through and the winds pick up and swing to the east with a strong Southwesterly. 

[Bird]

Yep so far today the wind change hasn't happened.  Sitting at home after taking a loaded van and bride into our Son's place in Coffs.   Nice northeasterly gently blowing while I do a few things.  Just had our first charred leaf fall but the bride said they are having ash fall in Coffs.  Might be different when or if the change comes through and the winds pick up and swing to the east with a strong Southwesterly.

There coming


'There have been winds of 80kph in the upper Hunter region, and 70kph in the Blue Mountains.'

[alnjan]

There coming


'There have been winds of 80kph in the upper Hunter region, and 70kph in the Blue Mountains.'

Yep there was talk we were supposed to get them at Coffs about midday pushing the fires east.  At present the winds are 30km/h from the NNE according to the BOM at the Coffs harbour airport.  This has pushed the fire from Glenreagh to Nana Glen and on to Coramba west of Coffs Harbour. 

[Hairs]

Would just like to give a big shout to Swaggers that have, contacted, phoned, member messaged or asked how other members are at this time.
It's not the time to name names,
I would like to say Thank you.
Watching each others backs, is family.

[Bird]

Now Natio's turn Hopefully its only near the turnoff, not inside the park


Sutherland shire fire at watch and act

A fire in the Sutherland Shire is burning out of control, with the Rural Fire Service upgrading the alert level to 'watch and act'.

The fire is burning at Farnell Avenue in Loftus.

Four crews on scene with more in way. They haven't been able to determine size of fire but the southerly change will be pushing it north, towards Acacia Road and Bollard Street.. No one being evacuated as of yet.

[alnjan]

Yep there was talk we were supposed to get them at Coffs about midday pushing the fires east.  At present the winds are 30km/h from the NNE according to the BOM at the Coffs harbour airport.  This has pushed the fire from Glenreagh to Nana Glen and on to Coramba west of Coffs Harbour.

Talking to a mate at Glenreagh and the front is now expected between 3 and 4am in the morning.  Tomorrow could be what today was supposed to be if the change is strong enough.

[vern]

Talking to a mate at Glenreagh and the front is now expected between 3 and 4am in the morning.  Tomorrow could be what today was supposed to be if the change is strong enough.

Yes tomorrow could be interesting, schools are all still closed around Woopi area just in case

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[Bird]

****in shoot em.

Dispatch from Nana Glen
Many of the last residents have decided to stay because of the threat of looters.

"You've got to protect your property," said one man. "I've got too many animals."

Police issued a warning about looters in the area earlier on Tuesday afternoon, with reports of at least three properties targeted by a group of males spotted in two utes

[glenm64]

Interesting read from a a former fire chief, and he touches on why prescribed burning has been falling behind.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/this-is-not-normal-what-s-different-about-the-nsw-mega-fires-20191110-p5395e.html

Cheers Glen

[tryagain]

Interesting read from a a former fire chief, and he touches on why prescribed burning has been falling behind.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/this-is-not-normal-what-s-different-about-the-nsw-mega-fires-20191110-p5395e.html

Cheers Glen

Not to dismiss what he says, but I also read it in the context that he is now also a councillor on the Climate Council https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/team/.

The reality is, is that any Australian government whether it be Lab, Lib or Grn can do sweet FA to effect GLOBAL climate change in any meaningful way, we are just too insignificant in the grand scheme of things. This doesn't mean I advocate for not doing our part, but realise that our government inaction has likely contributed an immeasurably insignificantly small amount to the current bushfire crisis, despite what those trying to politicise it will have you believe.

edit Should say I think he does a reasonable job of not politicising the current bushfires, unlike lots of other commentaries I have seen.

[alnjan]

Yes tomorrow could be interesting, schools are all still closed around Woopi area just in case

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Well the change finally came in some time after 3am.  Nice cool change with gusty southerly to southeast winds.  The winds have all but stopped again now and not much happening again.  BOM for Coffs Harbour has southerly winds at 20km/h.  For the immediate fires that is blowing most of them back onto burnt ground.  Still a number of homes were lost yesterday. 

[alnjan]

****in shoot em.

Dispatch from Nana Glen
Many of the last residents have decided to stay because of the threat of looters.

"You've got to protect your property," said one man. "I've got too many animals."

Police issued a warning about looters in the area earlier on Tuesday afternoon, with reports of at least three properties targeted by a group of males spotted in two utes

One of the directives was if you are staying put your yellow bin out and if you have left, naturally take your bin in.  Made it easy for fireies and looters to see what houses were vacant. 

Some people don't deserve to be part of the Human Race. 


Going to be hot and dry for a while yet, part way into a drought cycle, going to be several more years till we are out of it.  Just another weather event to deal with. 

[Paddler Ed]

During a bout of insomnia last last night (thanks ribs...) I started to formulate a plan for pulling a couple of different datasets together to make up a (decent) composite set of data from a few different sources as I've found some that are good... but lack details...

So, a bit of work later, and I now have this:

http://arcg.is/0S08iL

It does work in a mobile browser (Firefox and Chrome on my phone via 4G)

What does it do?

Well, it has the NSW RFS Feed on it and it also has the Geoscience Australia information on it for the Hotspots that are spotted by satellite (size and colour denote certainty and how recent), all on top of a NSW Topo map.

[Troopy_03]

During a bout of insomnia last last night (thanks ribs...) I started to formulate a plan for pulling a couple of different datasets together to make up a (decent) composite set of data from a few different sources as I've found some that are good... but lack details...

So, a bit of work later, and I now have this:

http://arcg.is/0S08iL

It does work in a mobile browser (Firefox and Chrome on my phone via 4G)

What does it do?

Well, it has the NSW RFS Feed on it and it also has the Geoscience Australia information on it for the Hotspots that are spotted by satellite (size and colour denote certainty and how recent), all on top of a NSW Topo map.

Well done Ed.

[Paddler Ed]

I have to drive from Newcastle to Brisbane on Thursday and back Sunday... guessing I'm not going via the Pacific hway.

I think you should be good that way now as the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way are both closed (Bendemeer to Moonbi, and Walcha to Wauchope respectively)

I'd be checking just how much you really need to go...

edit: Local news has said the NEH might be open late morning tomorrow... I reckon Pacific Hwy is the best option...

[Hoyks]

I think you should be good that way now as the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way are both closed (Bendemeer to Moonbi, and Walcha to Wauchope respectively)

I'd be checking just how much you really need to go...

edit: Local news has said the NEH might be open late morning tomorrow... I reckon Pacific Hwy is the best option...

Thanks Ed, I was looking at it too. Probably head up to Grafton and pick my way through to Casino, Kyogle, sneak through Lions Rd and to Beaudesert.

As far as traveling goes, Qld fires mapping and warnings are just atrocious. How hard would it be to include a map and indicate where the fire actually is and the spread? They used to have a mobile app that was slightly better than nothing, but that has been discontinued, just in time for the fire season too BTW.
It only shows the point of origin and assumes way to much local knowledge, so too bad for travelers that can't cross reference with google.

Compare this pathetic attempt with what the NSW RFS have put together:   

https://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/map/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

[Paddler Ed]

Thanks Ed, I was looking at it too. Probably head up to Grafton and pick my way through to Casino, Kyogle, sneak through Lions Rd and to Beaudesert.

As far as traveling goes, Qld fires mapping and warnings are just atrocious. How hard would it be to include a map and indicate where the fire actually is and the spread? They used to have a mobile app that was slightly better than nothing, but that has been discontinued, just in time for the fire season too BTW.
It only shows the point of origin and assumes way to much local knowledge, so too bad for travelers that can't cross reference with google.

Compare this pathetic attempt with what the NSW RFS have put together:   

https://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/map/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

When I un-break my ArcGIS account, I'll put a QLD map together as well - if you look at the one I have made for NSW, I've pulled in data from GeoScience Australia's Hotspot Mapping system (https://hotspots.dea.ga.gov.au/), so that shows the detected heat in the last 72hrs; this would at least enable you to have some idea as to where the fire fronts are... I've just quickly dropped it into Google Earth, along with the GA Hotspot points, and it does show reasonably well, so I should have something workable soon. BUT the QLD feed only refreshes every 30minutes, so might not be the most accurate.

---------

We've just been out as a friend heading to the other side of town said they could see flames over our way, and the RFS map and App had a fire 5.5km away from us.

Turns out that it was the Carrai fire, 55km from where they'd seen it and 45km from us. At the time, there was nothing else on the RFS pages or anything telling us that. I kept having a look at the map on my phone as we headed out and was happy that it was the Carrai fire we could just see, as that was the only bit picked up by the GA Hotspot map.

[Rodt]

Thanks Ed, I was looking at it too. Probably head up to Grafton and pick my way through to Casino, Kyogle, sneak through Lions Rd and to Beaudesert.

As far as traveling goes, Qld fires mapping and warnings are just atrocious. How hard would it be to include a map and indicate where the fire actually is and the spread? They used to have a mobile app that was slightly better than nothing, but that has been discontinued, just in time for the fire season too BTW.
It only shows the point of origin and assumes way to much local knowledge, so too bad for travelers that can't cross reference with google.

Compare this pathetic attempt with what the NSW RFS have put together:   

https://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/map/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

All the trucks seem to be coming our way going North to Qld. Pretty easy run (heaps of 110km roadway) up the Kamilaroi to Goondiwindi and then across to Bris etc.