Defenbaker ...to add to what has already been explained in relation to fires jumping roads/rivers/etc the wind behind the firefront is horrendous, it's not just an ordinary, sedate flame such as you would see in your fireplace or even a backyard fire. I read a few days ago where a firefighter said the roar of the fire approaching him, was deafening at first he wasn't sure what was making so much noise, until he realised it was the fire itself.
Currently, I live 20klms from the Mega fire and two weeks ago I found dozens of charred leaves/twigs/etc on the driveway and in my yard. The wind/dust/smoke that day had been horrendous, but any of these had the potential of starting another fire 20 klms from the main firefront...so a bitumen road is NO barrier. This one fire has burned in excess of 506,000 hectares and increasing each day.
Some years ago we were in the local RFS (Rural Fire Service), one of their tankers was stored at our house as we had reliable underground water connected to a petrol-powered pump and easy access in an emergency....NO electric-powered pumps during fires because if/when the power goes out, you can't access the water...anyway, the local RFS brigade, with many others, were called to fight a huge bushfire over an hour from our local area.
DH (and his unit) left home not knowing how long they would be gone, so I slept in the car listening to the CB radio for the 5 days and one night around 2am, there was a frantic call stating their 'firetruck had been over-run by fire and all the men had been incinerated along with their truck'. Under normal conditions the radio signal would never have reached our home, but the atmospheric conditions weren't normal due to airborne smoke/dust/etc.
I knew I couldn't contact other families until I received official confirmation, so after daylight I phoned the local police expecting them to have info by now, nothing, and they promised to get in touch asap but because those on the firefront didn't expect anyone beyond approx 5klms to hear the radio message, they didn't update the police.
Two days later DH arrived home, starving, thirsty, blackened head to toe from smoke and ash, totally unaware I had been preparing his funeral.
As I sit here typing this it's been announced that four more people are missing in the fires and the residents in Mallacoota are still on the beach so they are discussing evacuation by sea.
NEVER have the bushfires been as bad as this year, it's just devastating on so many levels and they still burn!