Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => Off Topic => Topic started by: Jim on December 21, 2019, 05:27:00 am
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Been quiet lately as we are still ringed with the out of control fires all around us and have been now for a long time (Currawan and Tianjara fires).
But thought we were really stuffed today. Woke up to extremely thick smoke.
First photo was at the front of our house over our boat looking Nor’west at 1.00pm, burnt leaves and ash were just raining down everywhere.
Second photo was around 3.00pm things had gotten progressively worse, ember attacks were coming down at Fishermans Paradise just North of us around 2k as the crow flies, then we got the SMS message from the Rural Fire Service that it was too late to leave and seek shelter as the fire hits. Exit roads were closed because of the fire leaping across to the North.
Around 3.30pm or so we were saved today by the Southerly which pushed the fires away from us and to our North, whilst it was a stroke of fortune for us, it wasn't for others and homes were lost.
Not sure what the next couple of days will be like, the whole sky behind, to the West on the mountains and to the North is all a glow tonight.
It was around 42°C today and these fires have so far burnt out millions of hectares of forest with no end it sight. The devastation is unbelievable. Around 700 homes have been lost now and two volunteer fire fighters have lost their lives. We have fire fighters now from the U.S, Canada and New Zealand helping our crews.
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Oh My....you folks have been enduring this for quite awhile, keep safe (as safe as you can) I really cant comprehend the scale of this & certainly am worried about you folks. thanks for the update Jim.
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Jim - have been seeing this on the news / weather channel. Loss of life and property has been staggering. Hang in there!
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This just keeps going on and on. I don't know how your nerves are holding through this long drawn out terror, but rest assured we are all holding our best thoughts for you, your family, neighbors and countrymen!
Keep vigilant my friend!!!
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Sorry to see this continuing - my prayers are for you and your family to stay strong and safe until this ends.
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Not good there Jim
I have been following it and the scale is just incomprehensible .
My biggest concern is it is only December and February tends to be the hottest/ driest month.
Mind you by time February gets here there will be nothing left burn.
Other end of scale here
Over 40 mm of rain here the thursday/friday
Gale force winds on Thursday bringing down trees and big branches
Snow on hills Friday night and a frost on the ground this morning .
I have photos on my phone of your smoke over here a couple of weeks ago,.
Take care
Dennis
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Constantly thinking of you and your's, Jim.
Worrying for all of your neighbours and countrymen.
So tragic......
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Hang in there, Jim!
You will pull through.
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Best of luck Jim. Please stay in touch with us.
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Just horrible Jim.
You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
Keep the Faith!
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Bonjour,
So scary... and so sad for all the people involved in this disaster. As it never happened before, who could have imagined a prevention.
Your prime minister had a good idea, all of you could go on holidays in Hawaï...
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I saw where your PM got the thumbs down for being in Hawaii...
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G’day all,
Sorry all, its been a shit show here. The NBN (our internet (regardless of ISP) went down and all mobile phones for most of yesterday (We have hardly any copper land lines any more working in our area, all voip and mobile) I don’t know if that was very good idea from the govt after being totally in the dark and not knowing what was going on, it was frightening being in the dark. We didn’t have even a transistor radio or any radio that we could use, that’s now rectified. Power was also lost. They had crews out pretty fast to repair power lines, and the NBN and mobile phones are back up working off a massive generator that they trucked in.
The smoke was choking thick this morning, thankfully lightened with onshore ocean breezes a bit now. We still have fires (we are right on the coast) to our south, west and north burning out of control. We have been blessed that we haven’t had the Westerly winds that took the fire to all the villages south of us and only stopped when it hit the ocean. Just got to keep hoping the winds are good to us.
So many people we know have lost so much now, lost their homes and everything they own. The helos and planes are still working to our south west around 5klms away and to our north about 2klms away. They also have a lot of huge bulldozers trying to cut firebreaks as quickly as possible with the better conditions today before the weather deteriorates again to hot and stronger winds at the end of the week and weekend.
The highway was closed for hours yesterday, but thankfully hasn’t been today. The RFS are saying that it will be likely shut again towards the end of the week when conditions deteriorate again.
The damage wrought has been on an unimaginable scale, its burnt from Bateman's Bay in the South to Nowra in the North and is just getting bigger and wider every day.. I can't even let myself think of what the wildlife catastrophe has been, let alone the loss of some peoples lives. It's Christmas Eve here, but hardly feels like it. Just in my state of New South Wales the news said this morning that nearly 1000 homes have been lost the RFS said an additional 2,048 outbuildings and 68 facilities were levelled by the blazes.
Really appreciate the kind thoughts all. I still am hopeful that we will get out of this with our home intact.
We have our survival plan if worse comes to worse, so our personal safety should be assured.
Just the fires around us have burnt out around 800,000 acres.
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Just to show the impact on the whole coast of New South Wales, here are the four (4) megafires that are burning out of control.
We are the one at the bottom of the image. As I said earlier the damage and ongoing destruction has been on an unimaginable scale and nothing will put these out until we have drought breaking rain that's not forecast till the end of January or sometime in February.
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Thanks all, so appreciate the concern shown by all my friends. And again, I really think that we have everything prepared to save our home and also be safe. Sorry for waffling on, I hope all the above makes some sort of sense.
To all, Jenny and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your families. Our two sons and their families will be here all day tomorrow and we are so looking forward to Christmas. This disaster has made for a very cohesive community spirit as what does happen often in emergencies.
Kindest thoughts to you all and thanks one and all for being great mate!
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Ang & I are so very glad you & your family's homes have been spared so far, I pray for a continued hedge of protection around all of you still, & the Merriest of Christmas's that this season can bring to you. (thanks for the update Jim)
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I can’t even begin to imagine the immense pressure your under Jim, the wife & I are praying that your family and property will escape this tragedy.
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Jim, it so hard to hear what you and your friends are going through. I
have never gone through what you are exasperating and pray for you
on this Christmas day that things will get better.
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Jim, It is great to see you, Jen, and your family are OK so far.
What an incredibly upsetting experience this must be.
Our prayers are with you. Have a blessed Christmas.
Each new day is a gift.
Every breath is precious.
Gil & Simone
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Prayers up from us Jim.
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Hi Jim,
I’m glad that you made it through without losing your home or worse.
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Jim, I really hope you are still keeping safe, you have not been active on here or facebook in over a week... :-\
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I am with you, Nick. I have been worried myself.
I tried to call him today but no answers.
Gil
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Hang in there Jim, where ever you are. We're all pulling for you.
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I too have wondered how Jim is doing. The news stories sound like he is very surely at risk. Godspeed Jim and family.
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I too have been worried as I'm sure everyone has been - hopefully we'll get some good news soon.
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The following message came in overnight from Jim.
(Text message)
Got no words to describe what we have been through. We have so far defended our homes and put out all ember attacks. Conditions horrific, no power, no information with no phones. Jamie Tom Haylee Jemma James & Ruby all safe. All houses still standing. Cannot find the words to describe what has happened down here with the loss of houses and lives.
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Thank you for the update Gil
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Thank you, Gil.
Jim.
So pleased, we have heard something, at last.
So very sorry, for everyone's horrific experiences.
David & Christine.
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Glad to hear Jim is hanging in there, certainly is scary stuff.
Thanks for the updates
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Thanks for the update Gil. Sounds like it's far from over for them I over there 😯
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Basically so far so good. If lives are safe then that is good. Hopefully this too shall pass. Praying for all of Australia.
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Sounds like Jim is experiencing something few of us will in a lifetime. Prayers for you and yours Jim.
Rog
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Absolutely horrifying. My prayers are with Jim and all involved with this.
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Heard more about this on the radio. Very worried for you all down there. :(
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Heard more about this on the radio. Very worried for you all down there. :(
I'm surprised how little I have heard on this... Had it not been posted on the forums, I wouldn't have a clue about any of this happening...
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To give you some indication of the scale
About 6 million hectares burnt or Half of the north island of New Zealand .
The smoke is that bad we are coping it here in NZ
Our glaciers down south are a light brown color .
The sun sometimes just a red ball and today the sky in Auckland turned orange .
Stuff.co.nz. Has some articles
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I heard the 1st about it on the news last night as it was mentioned Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman's house was under threat & they would be donating $500,000 to the Australian Fire Relief.
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Has anyone heard from Jim?
His last update was 12 days ago and from what I have read the fires are getting worse.
Let’s all do a big Rain Dance!!!!!
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Has anyone heard from Jim?
His last update was 12 days ago and from what I have read the fires are getting worse.
Let’s all do a big Rain Dance!!!!!
His last contact was with Gil on the 3rd
The following message came in overnight from Jim.
(Text message)
Got no words to describe what we have been through. We have so far defended our homes and put out all ember attacks. Conditions horrific, no power, no information with no phones. Jamie Tom Haylee Jemma James & Ruby all safe. All houses still standing. Cannot find the words to describe what has happened down here with the loss of houses and lives.
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The following message came in overnight from Jim.
(Text message)
Got no words to describe what we have been through. We have so far defended our homes and put out all ember attacks. Conditions horrific, no power, no information with no phones. Jamie Tom Haylee Jemma James & Ruby all safe. All houses still standing. Cannot find the words to describe what has happened down here with the loss of houses and lives.
Charlie, I got this in a text 2 days ago. Gil
Edit: oops, Thank you, Nick!
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Fresh messages just arrived from Jim.
Dear family & friends firstly let me say a big thank you for all your kindness and support. Some of you will follow more of what I write than those overseas but I am sending this out to all as we still don't have telecommunications and I get 1 bar on my phone maybe once or twice a day for a minute or two and receive a lot of messages from you. So I hope this message does reach you all. Can my model steam friends please pass this message on same as my photography friends to the boards, thanks. This is now day 7 with no power, land line phones, mobile phones, Internet. Sewers overflowing, rotten garbage left from the evacuations. Our only access to the outside world is an old 1970s transistor radio I dug out of my shed and had some batteries for it. Roads still closed and still cut off. Getting tough to live after a week without power. Radio says still possible a lot longer yet. But compared to all
longer yet. But compared to all those that lost everything they own except the clothes on their backs its nothing. New year's eve was indescribable the fire storm even though we had prepared ourselves was nothing that can be put in words, the flames, the heat, the smoke, the embers, the incredible noise it made. The wild animals on fire screaming, birds falling out of the sky. Around 90 houses completely gone. Three people know deceased. People drove their cars into the Lake to escape the flames and heat. Hundreds of cars have been incinerated. Aluminium boats melted like wax. We would have lost our three family homes if we hadn't stayed and defended. But it's taken a toll on our health and lungs. Saturday was a repeat of new year's eve. 47 degrees 80klm winds and ember attacks from the West, then the nor'east, then the south. The forests are burnt beyond devastation, everywhere we look is traumatic. Roads still closed and
Roads still closed and still cut off. For my o'seas friend January Lake Conjola swells from 300 permanent residents to around 5000 - 6000 with camping holiday makers. All of these people had to be evacuated by police in 50 car convoys to Nowra 80 klms to our north over a few days and nights but hwy being closed repeatedly most of these people sat frightened in their cars for up to 24 hours or more. To finish we are OK, house is full of Ash. Police escorted some trucks in yesterday with fresh food and water and has been passed out to the few residents remaining. Thank you all for your kind thoughts sent through. So very much appreciated, will contact you all sometime in the future when things are better.
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Sounds like he has gone through hell and back
I will copy this to the down under forum
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Jim, This report is a stunner.
You have all our support in getting through this catastrophe.
May God bless and keep you always and give you the strength to pull yourself and your family through safely.
Gil
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I have also placed a link to this page in Steam It Up Downunder.
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A trip to Cerberus and the Gates of Hell.
Just devastating.
Hard to imagine.
All we can do is offer prayers.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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Now it is worse in Lake Conjola where Jim is .
It was on the news tonight on TV
apparently they now have looters .
My opinion and solution for them is barely repeatable .
Now matter how bad things get there is always some lowlife putting the boot in .
Cheers
Dennis
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-b0iv9W6g8
Just saw this - gives some idea of the terrible conditions there.
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.......
Thanks, Larry. Jim and his family have a herculean challenge getting through this thing.
Gil
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G’day all and thank you for the well wishes.
Still not great down here, road still closed to residents only. The army has put truck sized gennys at street corners and after 9 days we have power at Lake Conjola (not all streets in Conjola Park though), which is good, but makes us also very aware that 90 or so houses aren’t there for power to go to.
Incredible to have the internet and information, lived with an old battery tranny and that’s been pretty much our only contact with the outside world.
Mobile phones are still SOS or No Service, we haven’t heard when that will be fixed.
The garbage has finally been picked up after 15 days, they were full of Xmas foodstuffs and NYE foodstuffs and seafoods that never got to be eaten. And also the fridges and freezes full of rotten food, the bins were pretty ripe after that 47°+ day. Also the pump out sewers have been finally pumped out.
There’s a large semi type vehicle today that’s been brought in with hot showers and washing machines for the poor buggers that didn’t get hooked up to one of the army gennies.
There’s not a single tourist here, its eerily quiet. The residents that stayed all look pretty haggard, the ones that evacuated are dribbling back and I think the adrenaline that we have lived off has gone and the reality of the rebuilding problems that the area and the lake are in for in the future when we get rain and toxins get washed in are starting to sink in.
The devastation down here is seriously indescribable. I don’t know how much has been on the news as we just haven’t had any. Cops have been patrolling around a lot for looters, can you f#cking believe that there are looters???? Would it be ok to put a .357 between their eyes?
Hope all are well and looking forward to things improving.
Cheers,
Jim
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Good morning Jim.
We're so pleased you have come through.
Sorry... We have no meaningful words to express our sorrow.
David & Christine.
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Its good to hear from you personally Jim, I doubt any of us can actually comprehend what you've been through , but things sound a bit better & that's a good thing , you description of matters make me think of things I hadn't considered before.
carry on & be safe mate.
best regards, Bruce & Angie.
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Jim, You've made my day!
We are so glad to see you have made it through the worst of it.
What you have experienced is near beyond comprehension.
For me, the only reference I have to watching your last few weeks is the fear of feeling again, the profound horror I felt when I watched the World Trade center come down on one of our friends who is in the U.S. Secret Service and his office was in the first tower that came down. He was also my assistant's husband. I arranged a ride to her Mom's home for her. We thought for sure he was a goner. Miracle of miracles, I got a phone call from him 4 hours later, looking for his bride! He was helping people out of the building and directing them to safety. He was just outside the main doors, heard something, looked up and saw the tower coming down. He was able to run fast enough to escape the falling concrete, glass, and steel. We have been praying you would come though this and I imagine you have been feeling similar for weeks. That is the part I cannot quite get my arms around. Had to be absolute torture.
We are all blessed to still have you and your family with us. We do hope you and yours emerge with minimal or no related health problems. I hope it isn't too early to say let the healing begin.
It may be a while and look forward to one day seeing a fresh picture of kangaroos stopping by your place for a snack!
And, of course... a few good steam-ups.
I believe it is safe to say our entire steam engine community has been pulling for you.
Be blessed,
Gil & Simone
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Well said, Gill.....
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Jim, I hope you and your family have a better day today and things get for you
and your country. I have never walked in your shoes but I feel your pain in what
you are going through. I agree with Gil and that all our steam engine community
is been pulling for you and your family that one-day things will get back to
normal.
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So glad for the good news of prayers answered - hope the rebuilding of your lives and all the others affected goes well.
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Great to hear your ok Jim. I’m sorry for all you’ve endured. Better days are ahead and your community will recover. God bless.
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Somewhat late to the thread but I've been following this on the news as best I can. I don't think any of us who haven't been through it can begin to imagine what it's like but I'm sure you know the whole world is wishing you well and a speedy recovery, in all senses.
I have family living in Nowra and Berry, not far away and also affected. Trying to keep in touch and getting any updates has been a nightmare and a worrying time.
I've been to some of the places devastated and comparing my photos with news shots has left me with no words, it's just awful.
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So glad to hear that you have come through this devastation alive and at least somewhat intact. I've no doubt the stress, anguish, fear and smoke have taken an unfathomable toll on you and your family. Deep sadness felt here for all who have suffered and are still suffering through this tragic and widespread disaster.
A situation like this typically brings out the best and the worst in people, so no surprise that opportunists with a criminal mind, are hard at "work" now. Perhaps best if you only shoot them with your camera as evidence at this point though, as for you to do what they truly deserve would only worsen your own lot at this point.
Please know that our concern for your well being is great. If there is anything I personally can do to assist you at this point, please do not hesitate to let me know!
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Great to read a post from you Jim!
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Glad you are all OK Jim
Dave
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So glad to hear you made it through that ordeal, it is sad to hear that there are those so low as to be looting in such circumstances, however it is certainly not unique to your area. My aunt here in British Columbia related to me that when the RCMP came around to notify them to evacuate they also took any firearms for safe keeping otherwise they would not be there when they returned.
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Jim:
Frustratingly, all we can do right now is offer unconditional moral support.
I once had a 1,000 acre grass fire on my Ranch and I was stunned by the ferocity. Your fires are 1,000x that fire. Truly incomprehensible.
You have an extended family on this Forum that is praying for you and your neighbors.
Charlie
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Glad to see you posting Jim.