Here are some of the amazing stories I've heard.
Two people jumped in a dam and survived
A woman and her children jumped in a wombat hole and survived!!! (that one was on the news the other night but there's a brief mention of it in this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090210/ts_nm/us_australia_fires
The doghouse story- two dogs survived the fire (this story is touching)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/13/2490988.htm
But the stories are endless, as is the tradegy
At the moment the fire near us is still burning but we are now on awareness warning and no longer under direct threat. It's really shaken the whole town up this week and every time the fire alarm goes off I feel this adrenalin rush through my whole body.
I really hope they contain the fires soon so we can all start to relax. The fire near us is 27000ha. But thankfully there is a better weather prediction for the week ahead which will hopefully get the fires contained.
On Saturday (the day when all the major fires started) it was 48 degrees celcius and the humidity was so low. It was extremely windy too. It was an extremely hazardous day for fires. If there is ever another day like that in the future I think I will just pack the boys and leave town for a day or two. It's just not worth it. I live in a wooden house and it's far too risky.
I am really sad about all these beautiful towns near me being destroyed. I had a particuliarly close connection to Marysville and Narbethong because I did a lot of skiing there. And I actually broke down on top of the ski mountain once and had to get towed down. The locals were really helpful and nice to me and now I am devastated that some of those people might be dead. It's a tradegy which makes you realise how vulnerable we are to this powerful, but ever beautiful earth.
Moonshadow - when your fire season comes up these are some things I've learnt Firstly, You can't necessarily trust the CFA warnings (Marysville never got a warning). The smoke came into the town and people had no idea what was going on cause there was no warning on the CFA site or radio.
Secondly, If you know there is going to be a really hazadous day then prepare ahead, even leave town if you can. On hazardous days fires can travel sooo fast. At Marysville they travelled something like 80km/hr. You can't leave things to the last minute.
Thirdly, physical things can always be replaced =it's not worth risking your life to protecting your property
fourthly, study a fireplan - there is so much info I have learnt- like only wear natural fibres and drinking a lot of water.
And finally, don't ever leave at the last minute. So many people crashed in their cars because of the smoke. Also radiant heat is so bad and the car doesn't provide protection.
Hope that might help you,,,
but above all I've realised is that you can't live in fear. I have been so scared the last few days and then i found a snake skin at work (I work on a farm) and that made me even more scared - I could barely work and i keep having nightmares about the fire coming but then i realised that you can't just live in fear - Be vigilant but not panicked.
