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The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => Off Topic => Topic started by: Jim on December 06, 2019, 10:22:43 pm
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Really appreciated everyone, the only update I can give is that everything is pretty much the same, presently no better, but no worse.
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Keep safe Jim , your going through something that is hard for me to comprehend, i can't help but feeling helpless to do anything for you , im sure you feel pretty helpless in this situation as well , may God continue to keep a hedge of protection around you and yours 😐
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Thanks for the update Jim, was hoping for a better one, but still good to hear from you... keep safe
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Thanks all, its extremely heartwarming to read your kind thoughts.
Sadly, I can't give an update any better than my first post. The smoke is still horrendous, every article of clothing, well just about literally everything in the house smells of smoke now.
The fire(s) are still out of control, the planes and helos are still working non stop. We have volunteer fire fighters now from the US, Canada and New Zealand and that has been a blessing for our guys as they are exhausted. Fire crews from all around Australia have been flown into Sydney and have come then South. Thankfully the highway has been reopened after being closed for 10 days, for 70 kilometres there's just nothing now on either side of the highway, it looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off.
All bush fire fighters in Australia are volunteers and not paid. All their gear and equipment is supplied by the governments. Each town has their own bush fire brigade and truck and the volunteers will go where needed. So we have hundreds of trained firies on the ground here battling this devastating fire that's so far burnt out 210,000 thousand acres (just in our area), but its in the middle of millions of acres of wilderness right up the coast fringed with houses right up alongside this wilderness. Around 500 homes have been lost so far.
They have done a lot of backburning and the army has brought in heavy machinery and they are doing huge firebreaks in the hope of containing directly to our West, I still do believe that we will be OK.
Once again, thank you ALL for your kind thoughts, its so very much appreciated.
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Gil thanks for the update and I hope it gets better with the
help from other firefighters. Jim stay safe and take care of
your family.
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That's good news Gil.
Thanks for the update......
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this is encouraging , stay well Jim & Jen & family.
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Last night I spoke with Jim by phone. They are still breathing too much smoke and they don't know how long it will last. American firefighters have arrived which gives some relief to an already well stretched Australian fire crew and resources. Together, they are getting some fire lines cut and some controlled back burning to remove the fuel supply from the cleared lines. Jim and Jen's children live nearby and are still needing to hose some burning embers off the roof of their homes. Finally after 10 days closed, the only highway in or out of his area is open again. Progress!
They are still in our prayers and will remain so though it all.
Mainly, it was just great to hear Jim's voice after a period of not knowing what to expect.
Gil
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So sorry to hear about this. Must be terrifying.
Sadly it's a difficult situation.
I knew in some parts of the world, prior fire suppression just builds up more fuel for a future mega blaze.
Or it could be climate change.
Or it could be just terrible luck.
Probably a combination of the three.
Nonetheless, our thoughts are with you and thank goodness for the extra fire fighters.
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Jim.
We have watched the situation develop over the past weeks, on news bulletins.
Truly horrifying views of Sidney, with it's yellow sky......
Can't add any more, to what has been expressed.
Stay safe.
Thinking of you.......
David & Christine.
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Jim , I hope you folks are safe & remain that way) may God protect your family & they're business, I hope & pray for security & a hedge of protection for you all.
sincerely ,Bruce & Angie
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So sorry to hear and see this Jim.
The Sydney Herald pictures are amazing and frightening.
You and your family are in our prayers.
Hang in there, my friend. You shall prevail.
Gil & Simone
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I am praying for you, your family Jim and your community.
Amazingly, we get no news coverage on this in the US.
Please take care of yourself and your family.
Charlie
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Really sorry to hear this is still an ongoing threat Jim - my thoughts and prayers go out to you and yours for a quick and successful end to this problem.
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You and your family keep safe Jim it must be a living nightmare.
Roy
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Sorry to hear Jim, sounds like a very scary time! Stay Safe!!
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Brutal !!!
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Jim ... let me say once again mate, how very sorry I am to hear all of this!
I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say our thoughts are with you and your family, neighbors and countrymen!!!
That many fires joined so closely, sounds suspiciously like arson, and possibly terrorism to me. Any word on the causes of any of the fire?
Thank you kindly Daniel.
Some have been lit by lightning strikes, unfortunately some have been lit deliberately. Even today in Ulladulla (our town south of us) an arsonist was caught lighting a fire in bushland at 10.30am.
Here's some photos from a newspaper that show some of what is happening -
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-bushfires-20191201-h1k2iw.html
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Jim ... let me say once again mate, how very sorry I am to hear all of this!
I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say our thoughts are with you and your family, neighbors and countrymen!!!
That many fires joined so closely, sounds suspiciously like arson, and possibly terrorism to me. Any word on the causes of any of the fire?
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Sorry I have been quiet, we are literally surrounded by out of control bushfires.
As most will know we are on the East coast, the winds have been horrific and coming from the West and the fires have only been stopped when they have hit the ocean.
Directly to the West of us, North of us and South of us is nothing but millions upon millions of wilderness bushland. We have been in drought now for 6 months and the amount of fuel in the bush, is incredible.
The smoke has been hard to deal with, lots of houses have been lost, the highway (the only road we have going North & South on the coast) has been overrun over 40 kilometres in length and has been closed for a week. We are now totally isolated to the South with no exit. A fire broke out to the North yesterday and we feared we would be totally cut off in both directions, they aeroplane and helos bombed the heck out of it and managed to get it out thankfully. We never hear planes, the amount of air traffic over our house is incredible and a relief to hear.
Two days ago a plane load of volunteer Canadian firefighters arrived in Sydney and were rushed South to us and today a plane load of American volunteer firefighters have arrived in Sydney to help the exhausted Aussie crews.
There was a town meeting yesterday 30 k's to our home that we were able to watch via live stream, they think that they fires will burn for weeks if not months yet. The toll on humans and wildlife is unbelievable.
It would be hard to portray in words the ferocity of these fires and the magnitude of the size of them and that they are in millions of acres of wilderness.
We are prepared as much as we possibly can be and are ready for ember attack, if worse comes to worse we have boats ready to put in the lake upside down and we will enter the water and come up underneath the boats until the fire passes. That's a worse case scenario, they are loading the Boeing 737 water bombers with a pink fire retardant and the 737 is coming in following a smaller spotter aircraft and they have been doing a lot of precision bombing and saved a lot of the houses in the villages just to our South and scores of farm houses. We also have the massive Sky Crane helo water bombers and around 30 helos with large canvas buckets.
Just the size of the front of the bushfire is so huge and there are so many fires burning that the resources are stretched to their limits. Even Sydney is blanketed in thick smoke.
Thankfully the crews from Cananda and the US will be a great relief to the Rural Fire Service.
We still thankfully have power. Not sure what xmas will be like if these fires are still burning. the two weeks before Christmas and all of January are our hottest months and School holidays and most Aussies have that as their annual holidays, not sure how many tourists we will get this year, its very eery presently, like a ghost town.
I think we should be ok with the air support here now, the smoke, the sun block out and falling leaves are unpleasant, but nothing like what some of the other areas are experiencing close to us.