Topic: Victorian Bush Fires

I'm not sure if we have many members from Victoria, Australia but I'd like to say that I hope you are all safe.

So far we've lost 173 lives in these awful bushfires, I sincerely hope they find the arsonists and punish them accordingly.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/bushfires/

I'm from NSW in Australia. Are you from Australia Mel?

Yes it is very sad. Bushfires are a big problem in Australia.

Yeah I'm from NSW too. I can't believe how bad the fires are. Hopefully the rain from Queensland will go south...

well im glad you are okay Mel

i saw the news and was like "oh shit Mel lives there!"

then i realized Australia is a big place....

Where is New South Wales Mel , do you live !!!!   Bats lives at South West Rocks
As for those Bush Fires just Awful and to the Animals ,,one Couple stated their Shetland Pony was running
with it's coat afire !!  and they couldn't do a thing  it broke my heart to think about it .
In NS Wales  we have those awful Floods  above us and below us the Fires,,
Thank-God they caught the Fire -Bug before the Public did ,!! and those Looters are just as bad
How many People saw that Koala drinking water !!! a friend sent me a photo where this Koala chased
these Bike-Riders for water, lovely shot of him drinking,,,for those Overseas people the Koalas really
don't normaly do this as they get the water from Gum Leaves,,very timid animal
And in NS Wales we are getting these very strong Winds,,and gusts, with heavy rain
   [ bats]

I'm glad you're all ok over there. I'm sorry for those who aren't though. And I hope everything gets better really fast. I live in a high fire area, so I know how awful it is to have all these fires all over.

I've always wanted to go to Australia! Maybe someday I will go and visit you guys! Stay safe! :)

Hey Bats, I'm in the Hunter Valley, we're on flood watch at the moment. It's unbelievable if the rain would head south it'd help with the fires. I went to Adelaide Hills for a couple of days and couldn't believe how dry it was. We had to change flights at Melbourne and the smoke was so think even at the airport.

The poor wildlife has suffered too look at this koala:

Things are looking grim in your part of the world, but I know how it goes. In the US southwest, things overall are just really, really dry (the majority of the area is desert). Every summer there are really bad wildfires. Only the loss of life usually isn't too severe....usually.

Sometimes I feel the problem to so many bad fires because we prevent them too well. Fire is natures way of clearing out and helping the land. Plants accumulate and can't go so well because it gets croweded, and are drier overall due to more competition for water. And some plants can't even take root as a seed if there isn't a fire to get them started. So instead of lots of small fires that don't do a lot of harm, it just ends up with several massive fires that do a lot of harm.

But thats just how I feel.

I'm glad you both are okay, Mel and Revan.

If I was to move to Australia, just where would be a good place to live?

Uluru.  Lovely environment from what I hear.  And the locals are quite hospitable.  :P

LOL, yeah the Northern Territory is just peachy when it comes to weather :P

Queensland is more tropical but gets cyclones, as does the north of Western Australia.

Coastal is generally good, just more south bound than north.

Hmm, I might live there someday. My church denomination doesn't have any missionaries in Australia, so maybe that's what I'll do. Then we won't need the 'God or Evolution' thread, and we can fight or agree face to face. JK

But seriously, your national anthem rules!

Those fires were mad.

I hope that the fires go out completely soon, and that the areas that were damaged are restored as soon as possible.