fires

[stevecim]

Not good and it's only the start of the fire season, Feb is normally our worst month.

people just didn't stand a chance, and out my way alot of the places only have 1 road in/out, many of the smaller towns are have nothing the forest on all sides.

The fire just moved so fast, in hot 40-45km/h winds, heavy forest, that have had no rain in years and last year we had very few fires, but at the start Dec 08 we had quite a bit of rain which caused heaps of new growth, and no rain since then cause it to all dry out. so much fuel around, a few weeks ago we had 3 days in the +40°c then 4 in the +30°c. It just all added up to "perfect (fire)storm"

[Bodak]

Hopefully we are over the worst.
Certainly has been a harrowing week... 1800 homes and 181 lives the last report I read.


Lucky escape.


Sheep lay unknowing of the impending danger behind.

[Bodak]

It's been a week since the fires started.
We live some 20 km from the closest fire and we woke to this sky this morning.

[Dusty]

Cool shot! Too bad the circumstances that caused it!

Dusty

[KevinBarrett]

The second shot there is strangely beautiful with those terribly unnatural clouds in the background. The third is very eerie.