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Australian bushfires

219 replies

Theknacktoflying · 29/12/2019 18:34

Is anyone else absolutely floored by the info coming from Sydney that almost 480 million animals, birds and reptiles have died.

The loss of human life, the loss of homes and habitat is quite something.

What a way to begin 2020

OP posts:
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Dowser · 29/12/2019 19:13

Over 1000 koalas
I still haven’t got over the death of little lewis
Rescued by a lady who heard him crying
He was so badly burned he was pts
😢

Downunderduchess · 29/12/2019 19:20

I live in Sydney near the Blue Mountains, it’s shocking. We have had constant smoke since the beginning of November, the fires have not abated, have had ash falling in my yard. So much destruction and so many habitats destroyed for our wildlife. Our volunteer firefighters are amazing. The government less so. It’s so dry, no rain for ages, we are on further water restrictions . It’s dire.

Sallycinnamum · 29/12/2019 19:25

We have friends in Oz who are seriously contemplating moving back to the UK as the summers have become almost unbearable.

Her DH is Australian born and bred and he's really concerned about how bad it's got with the heat and lack of rain in the last decade.

I hope you get some much needed rain soon downunderduchess.

FlibbertyGiblets · 29/12/2019 19:26

The news, footage, photos, all v grim - and the scale is unimaginable.

I'm so sorry Duchess. It sounds so awful.

Downunderduchess · 29/12/2019 20:05

It is grim that’s for sure. It’s predicted to reach 41 degrees at my place today and 45!!! tomorrow. Those temperatures are unbearable, our Australian summers are getting ridiculously hot. Those temps are bad news for firefighters.

PaperFlowers4 · 29/12/2019 20:10

It’s utterly devastating. Those poor animals.

There was Gondwanan forest destroyed as well, which has been around since the dinosaurs. It won’t regenerate back the same. It really feels like this is the beginning of the end.

MaitlandGirl · 29/12/2019 20:13

@Downunderduchess we’re in the Hunter and get all the smoke from the fires by you. It’s bad here, so must be bloody awful with you.

Stay safe and good luck.

NotYourTypicalNerd · 29/12/2019 20:36

This is the size of the fires overlaid on the UK for comparison. MY family are caught up in it. Devastating. They all have fire alert apps on their phones. Outside play has been cancelled, asthmatics are being advised to keep indoors. Horrible. And SCOMO...well. Glad to see Canberra has cancelled the NYE fireworks to redirect funds not already spent.

Australian bushfires
Downunderduchess · 29/12/2019 20:43

@PaperFlowers4 exactly what I’ve been thinking.

cushioncovers · 29/12/2019 20:50

My heart goes out to all the people and animals affected by the fires. I keep thinking about it. The picture showing how big the fires are overlaid onto a map of the U.K. is shocking.

ajandjjmum · 29/12/2019 20:50

Just dropped DS off at the airport for his return flight to Sydney. Sad He's been quite surprised at the impact the fires have had on the city when the wind is in a certain direction. Thinking of everyone directly affected.

Downunderduchess · 29/12/2019 20:58

Each of those blue squares represents an ongoing fire & that is just the east coast.

Australian bushfires
NotYourTypicalNerd · 29/12/2019 21:23

Another way to put it in perspective, these fires have destroyed nearly 10M acres.

The Amazon fires were around 2.2M
The California fires were around 1.9M

And the season is nowehere near over :(

BlackeyedSusan · 29/12/2019 21:51

It's horrendous. Shocking.

Shesalittlemadam · 29/12/2019 22:05

It's like the whole country is being wiped out.....

I personally would not have wanted my son to go back there @ajand

Ozgirl75 · 29/12/2019 22:35

Just a perspective from a Sydney dweller. It’s awful, truly awful for the people who are directly affected by these fires.

But apart from a few smokey days (probably 5 or 6), here in Sydney itself we haven’t been affected at all. My son is asthmatic and he’s had to play inside a couple of times, but the rest of the time it’s been fine. It’s going to be hot tomorrow, but we’ve only had 1 other 40 degree day so far (not unusual for summer) and the rest of the time it’s just been hot and sunny.

Ozgirl75 · 29/12/2019 22:42

I promise it’s nothing like the whole country is being wiped out. It is awful for those directly affected of course but most of us are just going about our lives as usual.

MiseryChops · 29/12/2019 22:47

Oh no, I knew about the heat wave and the fires but didn’t consider the huge numbers of deaths :-(

It’s so sad.

maxbabi · 29/12/2019 22:52

My sister is in adelaide and lives in lobethal. She was evacuated along with many others, she was lucky her home survived. In a small community 86 homes gone! She knows about half of them, one family (her boss HT) has 6 kids lost everything. The heat that day was 44° with crazy winds. No rain predicted until Easter. Yet there is no climate emergency!!! It's horrible wildlife, horses all gone.

Cluckyandconfused · 29/12/2019 23:09

I’m about 15 mins from the Brisbane CBD and although we have had a lot of smoky mornings over the past few months it hasn’t really effected us much. My parents are two hours north though and they’ve had one night where they were on notice to possibly evacuate and a few homes have been lost in a suburb close by. The general consensus amongst people I know is that bush areas have been poorly managed and there isn’t enough funding. A lot of the fire fighters out west are actually unpaid volunteers and some have been killed. The PM took a vacation to Hawaii which was pretty shocking but he did eventually come home early when the public outrage became too much.

ChinookPilotsGoVertical · 29/12/2019 23:14

My old company commander lives in Oz & is a volunteer firefighter. The volunteers are doing amazing work and it's good to see PM Scott Morrison acknowledge the efforts being put in.

NotYourTypicalNerd · 30/12/2019 01:25

Crazy :(

Australian bushfires
RedRedBluee · 30/12/2019 01:50

Terrible that they’re apparently going ahead with New Years fireworks display.

When air conditions in Sydney are already that hazardous they do not need all that extra pollution. The stupidity of humankind.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 30/12/2019 01:57

Its very bad indeed, but the whole country isn't being wiped out, that's ridiculous hyperbole! I'm in Perth, and its nowhere near as badly affected as the east coast, we've had a few fires but nothing like the same scale. The firies are doing incredible work, but the only reason the useless ScoMo has done anything for them is because he is trying to save his own political skin, he deserves no praise. I don't envy the people having to make the decision about the Sydney fireworks though, whatever they do will be wrong and anger a lot of people!

BrokenLogs · 30/12/2019 02:07

I agree with @Ozgirl75

It is devasting for those affected, but it has always been part of summer here in Aus. I grew up in the bush and had this at least every second year.

The country isn't being wiped out, but it's been a long time since the earth cleared itself and now the population is so much more, it's very dangerous.

Stay safe to all those affected.