Sydney Fires

[D4D]

Getting back to the fires, it is not looking good at all. fire chiefs have warned families across Sydney's west to brace themselves as the massive 300km wall of fire sweeping through the Blue Mountains could see Leura, Katoomba and Blackheath evacuated today.

[SteveandViv]

A few more pics.

This is the street view of the house at the bottom of our yard



The reverse shot of our cubby. I suppose this shows best, how close it came.



Another of the next door neighbours 

[SteveandViv]

Getting back to the fires, it is not looking good at all. fire chiefs have warned families across Sydney's west to brace themselves as the massive 300km wall of fire sweeping through the Blue Mountains could see Leura, Katoomba and Blackheath evacuated today.

The thing is, there is no where for them to go or if they leave late that is. One single lane road - this is very sad for the mountains and I hope I never run into a grennie that tells me I can't back burn over winter

[oldmate]

Unless there is a change in the whether, the 2 mountain fires and the state mine fire will all join up. Come on guys everybody do a rain dance.

[FNQBunyip]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYOVnmkP0c

The youtube clip is 30mins but its a very well put together . 50 odd years and here we are again .
I grew up in the mountains , its hard to watch from this far away. Have relos involved .

Take care all .
 

[VKPrado]

It is so hard to imagine what it is like there at the moment while the rain falls here every second day.

Stay safe and if I could I would direct the rain to you all.

[achjimmy]

Well been away all weekend, got the call last night,   people I know from down the end of Steve and Vivs rd... there house is gone, they lost everything... you guys may even know of them .. the "Pendlebury's".....
Then I find out my brother is on alert, ready to be evacuated should the 3 fires merge... he is in Leura...

Mate I know the Pendleburys, they have been there for years very sad.

[Bunyip]

And our defence ministers went to war! Our social security ministers go on the dole - Ridiculous. Minister's should govern not look for photo and pr ops.

I have worked with ex-govt ministers and let me tell you them getting a dose of reality would be a great thing. The minister I worked with was straight out of parlament and I had to go out tho his house to give him his new laptop and phone.
1. he couldn't turn on a computer, he had never done that
2. he had no idea how to write a letter on a computer
3. He couldn't write email. His version of writing an email was dictating to his staff, reading an email was a piece of paper in his in tray and relying was scrawling someting on the read email and giving it to his staff

Bunyip

[achjimmy]

Getting back to the fires, it is not looking good at all. fire chiefs have warned families across Sydney's west to brace themselves as the massive 300km wall of fire sweeping through the Blue Mountains could see Leura, Katoomba and Blackheath evacuated today.

Yeah sadly these two will join if the Lithgow fire crosses the bells line. There is nothing they can do to stop the fire once it's in the Grose Valley. Which is where the Mt Vic fire  is now. It will burn to its either burnt out or extinguished by rain. High winds will force it up valleys and ridges to to the homes. The fire service have been down all the streets surveyed homes for pools and static water supplies and spoke with residents about staying or leaving and about the ability to defend. It was sobering to see them point out properties further out on the ridge and say they are undeniable.

[achjimmy]

Unless there is a change in the whether, the 2 mountain fires and the state mine fire will all join up. Come on guys everybody do a rain dance.

Or if not rain no wind. As above nothing manmade extinguishes it now. I spoke to a friend who is involved in two water bombing choppers and asked him, he said we keep bombing it till it rains!

[woolgoolgaoffroad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfYOVnmkP0c

Just watched the clip and it is very moving for sure. I spent my first 20 years on the mountains and can remember several large devastating fires where we lived at Leura and then at Lawson. I remember dad talking about several fires which went through the place before I was born too. My father was born and bred on the mountains and the only time i have seen him with tears in his eyes was when a fire ripped through our place when we lived in Ridge Street @ lawson. They still now have a piece of molten metal as a wall hanging piece which was a push mower.
Scary times

But saying that- i now have been here in coffs harbour for 29 years-NEVER EVER seen a fire in the hills here. Some spots there must be 4-5 of forest debris laying around.

[Bird]

Yeah sadly these two will join if the Lithgow fire crosses the bells line. There is nothing they can do to stop the fire once it's in the Grose Valley. Which is where the Mt Vic fire  is now. It will burn to its either burnt out or extinguished by rain. High winds will force it up valleys and ridges to to the homes.

Lots of hard work, not knowing the area, but would fire incendiary's and water bombers to try and create fire breaks or to divert the direction be an option..

[achjimmy]

Lots of hard work, not knowing the area, but would fire incendiary's and water bombers to try and create fire breaks or to divert the direction be an option..

Bruce I am not a firey so wouldn't know.  Some images of the Valley here https://www.google.com.au/search?q=grose+valley&client=safari&hl=en-gb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=vnBkUvLWFeSgigfct4HgCQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672
Gives you an idea of the country behind just about all the towns in the Mountains.

[oldmate]

Lots of hard work, not knowing the area, but would fire incendiary's and water bombers to try and create fire breaks or to divert the direction be an option..

G'day mate, knowing the grose valley very well and also being involved with incendiary drops in the past, hearing what the conditions are like down there I think at present would create more drama. The problem with the grose is there is no where to divert it to. Once the fire drops into it it creates a tunnel effect with the wind and just takes off. The best you can hope for is that it doesn't climb back out on to the ridge line again. When it does it is normally at springwood area, which may not be as bad due to the fact that the yellow rock fire has already spread over the towards where it would normally pop up. Here hoping the fires burn towards each other in the valley and crew can just to property protection from the ridge, (eg back burning). It not going to end anytime soon though. I am also worried about the colo heights, kurrajong area as that lithgow fire is heading there in a lot of dense inaccessible bush land.

[Robbo]

A thought for all those hard working Firefighters and Volunteers who are out there dealing with this catastrophic event.
They are all Heros in my books.

[Crisp Image]

A thought for all those hard working Firefighters and Volunteers who are out there dealing with this catastrophic event.
They are all Heros in my books.

And not just those on the front lines either but those in support. Remember most of the people also have families at home. That in my mind also makes then heros too. Keeping the families going can sometimes be hard when one parent is away.
As for Mr Abbot being in the CFS. Is ne not allowed time off and what he does in his spare time is his business. I say good on him for doing so.

Regards
Crispy

[achjimmy]

And not just those on the front lines either but those in support. Remember most of the people also have families at home. That in my mind also makes then heros too. Keeping the families going can sometimes be hard when one parent is away.
As for Mr Abbot being in the CFS. Is ne not allowed time off and what he does in his spare time is his business. I say good on him for doing so.

Regards
Crispy

Not to mention that there own homes maybe at risk.

[oldmate]

And not just those on the front lines either but those in support. Remember most of the people also have families at home. That in my mind also makes then heros too. Keeping the families going can sometimes be hard when one parent is away.
As for Mr Abbot being in the CFS. Is ne not allowed time off and what he does in his spare time is his business. I say good on him for doing so.

Regards
Crispy

Too true mate. Just remember for every firiie there is generally a  wife back at the station helping out, organizing or cooking or just making sure guys a hydrated when they come off shift.

[achjimmy]

We got chucked out at 4pm. The firies setup in the driveway. Told us its going to look spectacular but will probably be mild, crawled all over the property, checked our fire pump and wanted a run down on it, was happy with everything that we had done. Didnt seem, concerned about us staying till the police turned up and kicked us out. Pretty quick in the end, got the family (including dog) cruza, Rodeo, all the amo (didnt want firey's facing WW3 if the house went up ) and the engel. Reminded them again not to risk there lives for my place and left. Gotta admire them.

[Redcherokee]

We got chucked out at 4pm. The firies setup in the driveway. Told us its going to look spectacular but will probably be mild,

Fingers crossed for you.  Hope it is all there when you get back.

[oldmate]

We got chucked out at 4pm. The firies setup in the driveway. Told us its going to look spectacular but will probably be mild, crawled all over the property, checked our fire pump and wanted a run down on it, was happy with everything that we had done. Didnt seem, concerned about us staying till the police turned up and kicked us out. Pretty quick in the end, got the family (including dog) cruza, Rodeo, all the amo (didnt want firey's facing WW3 if the house went up ) and the engel. Re
minded them again not to risk there lives for my place and left. Gotta admire them.

Hope all works out for you guys. Where abouts in faulco are you?

[woolgoolgaoffroad]

how many myswag folk are insanely in danger do we know ??

[Marcus73]

We got chucked out at 4pm. The firies setup in the driveway. Told us its going to look spectacular but will probably be mild, crawled all over the property, checked our fire pump and wanted a run down on it, was happy with everything that we had done. Didnt seem, concerned about us staying till the police turned up and kicked us out. Pretty quick in the end, got the family (including dog) cruza, Rodeo, all the amo (didnt want firey's facing WW3 if the house went up ) and the engel. Reminded them again not to risk there lives for my place and left. Gotta admire them.

Hope all goes well for you and your family


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[oldmate]

Not sure on direct my swaggers, but all of my family are in the mountains.  Have a son in Hartley, brother in mt vic, he is fighting fires also, and other familly scattered all the way to springwood. Mainly around blackheath,mellow bath, katoomba area

[achjimmy]

Thanks Guys, all good and back home. My neighbor rang and said the firies suggested we come back but had to talk past the coppers. They had about 6 trucks n the street and a ton of guys waiting around. Midal Dural RFS up here to help out  hoses everywhere. Not long after they were denied a Back burn and left.
Strangely eery here tonight with only two of us in the street. Took some cold waters up to the  firey's and coppers but the firey's had gone. It's good to see the riot police in the black patrols constantly patrolling the streets with there spotties on  looking for scum whom may take advantage of the situation.

Worse bit for us is the waiting, it's going to come and good chance it'll be twice! The Springwood fire will creep around the valley and come up from behind, should be manageable especially with the units they had today. The second will come from the Grose Valley in the next few days and is unpredictable but will be fearsome coupled with the westerlies we get here.