Several of the TB moderators have been threatened by the current fires in NSW. Thankfully all are OK.
How have your travel plans been impacted by the fires?
Reply to this 11am 23/10: Central Coast of NSW (Budgewoi)
Our local RFS has just sent out 2 trucks and a water-bombing helo has been called in.
Don't know where the fire is but we have no smoke here so the SW wind is blowing it away from us.
Temp is 34C. Gone up 10 degrees in the last hour! Expected to go to 40C before the end of the day.
Humidity 30%!a(MISSING)nd falling. Wind at 20 knots, gusting to 35. Expected to increase.
Doesn't look good. 😞
[Edited: 2013 Oct 23 00:40 - John and Sylvia:18619 ]
Reply to this Please keep us informed, and as you hear from other TBers in the Sydney area...David and Denise, who live on the edge of the bush, and Rachel, although she is likely not affected due to the location of her apartment...come to mind.
Reply to this 4:45pm 23/10: Central Coast of NSW (Budgewoi)
Temp 43C. Humidity 15%! (MISSING)Wind 11 knots gusting to 25.
No fires locally but several further up the coast, the main one at Minmi about 50 Kms north of us.
"The fire is burning in the area of Stockrington Road at Minmi, west of the M1 Motorway and is burning towards Minmi.
Crews are also working around homes in Stockrington Road, Dog Hole Road and Seahampton Road.
The M1 remains closed. Check www.livetraffic.com for traffic information.
For Minmi residents who wish to leave, it is still safe to do so.
Not a good day so far.
[Edited: 2013 Oct 23 05:59 - John and Sylvia:18619 ]
Reply to this To put this in perspective i received this email at 10pm on Thursday 17.10.2013 from John & Sylvia.
They were lucky.
208 homes were lost that day in New South Wales...95 bushfires in the State...34 uncontrolled
John's email:
"You probably weren’t even aware but we nearly got wiped out by a recent bush fire.
We were threatened by the bushfires at Doyalson/Lake Munmorah but the wind changed and blew them away from us. Ours is the Ruttley Road fires
Need for all of you to understand how frightening they are. Many people have lost their homes and/or their businesses. We watched one petrol station explode.
Sylvia’s daughter, Jane, has had to evacuate her property as the fire front at Medowie advances. Hope it turns it out well for them as they have a citrus orchard and vegie farm in the path of the fire.
Have a look at: http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=683 to understand.
Not good today and more fire forecast for the future.
We have other people in the path of existing fires. We pray they will be alright.
John."
Reply to this The major fire is in the Blue Mountains and it is massive, responsible for the majority of lost homes and still burning today 23.10.2013.
While my home was not threatened on Thursday 17.10.2013, I took these pictures from my place which was from smoke from the Blue Mountains fire
Reply to this My thoughts go out to all of you affected by the fire and those poor people that have lost their homes and businesses. My son lives in Sydney and fortunately is far enough away from the fires but we have seen some pictures of the massive clouds of smoke that were covering Sydney earlier in the week. So tragic and such utter devastation.
Take care and stay safe!
Reply to this 8:45am 24/10: Central Coast of NSW (Budgewoi)
Temp 26C. Humidity 25%. Wind from the west, 5 knots gusting to 10. Forecast is for 20 knots southerly change later today.
The Minmi fire has been controlled and the motorway is open to traffic again.
Looks as though today will be a better day.
Reply to this 3.15pm 26/10: Central Coast of NSW (Budgewoi)
Temp 23C. Humidity 31%. Wind from the East, 11 knots gusting to 14 - expected to be 20 later this evening.
No smoke in the air for the first time in a couple of weeks.
All of the fire threat is downwind of us so we don't believe we are in any danger for the foreseeable future.
It seems that Tuesday next week might be the next threatening day. 36C+ is forecast.
Reply to this Thanks again for the report...and especially that you are out of danger for a few days at least. We went through this last year with the Waldo Canyon fire...it got within two miles of our town with mandatory evacuations and packing up our cars...realized what materially was and wasn't important to our lives...not much...so can empathize with what you are experiencing. We hope that your family is safe too.
Reply to this I'm happy to hear that you are all well, I didn't realise how close the fires got to your property, the news centred on the Blue Mountains fires. I'll be thinking of you over the coming days and hoping that you and your families are all staying safe.
In response to: Msg #176584 Reply to this I woke up this morning with the smell of bush fire smoke still in the air from the fires west of us but, in a bizarre reversal of last week's weather, today we were hit by a violent electrical storm.
Roads have been flooded. Strong winds have brought down trees and injured several people.
Power has been cut off to thousands of people across Sydney and the Hunter valley.
Have heard that Europe is also suffering from un-seasonal storms.
It is going to be an interesting summer/winter depending on where you are.
Reply to this
In response to: Msg #176602
Hi Rachael. Glad you are enjoying the Qld snakes. They are more frightened of you than you are of them.
Have you escaped the cyclonic weather in southern Qld?
Seems that it doesn't matter where we go, there is still bad weather!
My family in the UK are all OK, albeit somewhat inconvenienced by the bad weather.
Reply to this Hi John & Sylvia - I was only in Brisbane for a weekend, so back in Sydney at work. We've had all the smoke, it's incredible. Obviously not impacted like you have been (other than feeling like I've just smoked a packet of cigarettes!), and I am happy to read that you and your family are all ok, including those UK based. The weather patterns are very worrying everywhere - but goodness only knows what the summer bushfire season will bring here in NSW. Cross fingers that it is not worse....
Everybody tells me that the snakes are more frightened of me than I are of them and while this may be true (that poor little green thing once he stopped lunging for me couldn't get away fast enough), it stills you a terrible fright, especially when you haven't grown up with them and are not quite sure what to do. I try to remember that they are frightened, but somehow it never helps!
In response to: Msg #176662 Reply to this EPILOGUE
Last Saturday night I spent some time with a gent who lost everything in the Yellow Rock Blue Mountains fire recently (about 100 homes lost in that area).
7 acre property, massive house, 15 collector motor vehicles, massive book collection...lost everything except 2 of his 3 dogs.
Tried to save his home and fought until he could no more.
Was subject of a missing persons report and his swimming pool drained in attempts to find him.
Showed me the photos from his phone of his property and home ablaze and what he found afterwards.
His Corvette and other vehicles in ashes were extraordinary images.
One item was intact when he returned later...a singed text from a single page from a book was found in his front yard...prophetic as to starting afresh...made my eyes water reading it from the pic on his phone.
He has started writing a book of his experience...will be rivetting reading.
Lost everything...lives in a demountable shed with his wife...but the kinship of his local community makes him declare he has never been in a better place.
Reply to this Bless the NSW Bushfire Service...supported annually by our red & white friend
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