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Old 3rd January 2020, 17:03   #11
SCP440
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A friend is out there at the moment staying in Sydney, some of the pictures he has sent me of the smoke and black fallout are shocking. Apparently just opening a door allows a lot of black dust into the building and going outside when the wind is blowing it towards Sydney can make even breathing hard work.

The fires near Sydney are only about a 20 min drive away from the centre and if the wind direction changes there is danger of the Sydney suburbs being affected.

We might complain about our wet weather but I think I would prefer that to what is going on down there.
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Old 3rd January 2020, 19:38   #12
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No great believer in what the media come up with but what has puzzled and horrified me if, if, its accurate is the picture of Oz that accompanies the ITV new items which shows Australia with a mass of red blobs presumably fire sites all over the country. Or is it just more NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD-NAUGHTY WORD- to alarm everyone? Are there fires all round the coast line of Australia? That's awful lot of fires. But whatever they all have my sympathy and best wishes and from my experience of the Aussies it will take more than this to beat them. Chris.S.
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Old 3rd January 2020, 19:57   #13
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Hope Liam had his fine refunded! I certainly hope those who were ordered not to create a fire break and lost their property all get to sue the pants off the ignoramuses who interfered.

On the question of regeneration after fire, I used a roofer's gas torch to thoroughly destroy weeds on my patio. Two months later, they were back looking greener and stronger than ever. Had to rake out all the joints and re-mortar in the end! The weeds seemed to thrive on the tops being burnt off.
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Old 3rd January 2020, 21:50   #14
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How dreadfully ironic that those people who by their protestations on Climate Change, are a major factor in the deaths of people, devastation, and smoke contamination of the air immeasurably worse than what they claim was destroying the planet.
If the fire breaks were in place, such catastrophic events would have had so much less impact.

I hope they can live with themselves. They plead they are the saviours. I'm afraid they are not.
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Old 3rd January 2020, 22:29   #15
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Unhappy bush fires

g,day everyone, first off that fireman liam as far as I am aware did get his money back newspapers were full of it and to avoid court action it was settled, as for all those fires are they genuine or fictional? I can say they are all there
its not fake news, if you have never been to oz you cannot comprehend the size of the place from where I live (south queensland) its 1600km to cairns,
and you are only 1/2 way to the top of the state, to Sydney its 1200km
, each state here runs like a small country independent of each other state but under the control of the federal government (scott morris) who by the way is not doing yhat great a job, latest news is that the big choppers cant get in due to the smoke there are up to 10000 people trying to leave, that's the problem with one road in one road out and that road is blocked, boats are the onlyway out and the navy are there, doing what they can, the premiers (bosses) of Nsw and Victoria state will make a lot of political capital from this, as they are doing a very very good job and being seen doing it, not so the prime minister who literally booed out of town yesterday, but the worst is coming this afternoon, i shall continue at a later date
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Old 3rd January 2020, 22:37   #16
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Good luck, hope things get better for you guys & girls over there.
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Old 10th January 2020, 14:03   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverlike View Post
In case of pine woods flamed seed cones are projectiles in which case 250 yards is nothing for them. They will flame all around ...
In 2011, at the family wine farm in the Western Cape, South Africa, we were hit by a wild fire which came to us from our neighbours who had been doing a controlled burn to take out the pine woods and water thirsty vegetation. As you said Pine trees germinate in the wind and the growth from them can easily spread. On the morning of the fire on our neighbours property the wind got up and so did the fire. We called the fire brigade to them and 13 fire engines attended. The fire jumped over the engines and came at us fast and furious. Because of our location, the fire brigade helicopters came too late. In the final analysis, we had to save ourselves and return later. The fire brigade sent us a bill to pay for the helicopters (3 of them) at $1000 each per hour. Eventually the insurance company settled with them. We were threatened with being credit blacklisted unless we paid up, so we had to hold our nerve until the underwriters agreed to pay out to the fire brigade.

It took us 3 years - 4 years to rebuild the house and the farm. The house is rented out and the money is reinvested back into the farm and the mountain. Clearing the firebreaks and keeping them cleared, costs us £5,000 per year using men and machines. Its too dangerous to have a 'controlled burn'.

I sincerely hope the Australian government helps those in need and those who were not insured. My heart goes out to the victims.

This month in South Africa it is usually very hot and the risk of bush fires is high.



Ariel photo fire 16 April 2011
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



Ladder
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



after the fire
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr
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Old 7th February 2020, 07:57   #18
macafee2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gate Keeper View Post
In 2011, at the family wine farm in the Western Cape, South Africa, we were hit by a wild fire which came to us from our neighbours who had been doing a controlled burn to take out the pine woods and water thirsty vegetation. As you said Pine trees germinate in the wind and the growth from them can easily spread. On the morning of the fire on our neighbours property the wind got up and so did the fire. We called the fire brigade to them and 13 fire engines attended. The fire jumped over the engines and came at us fast and furious. Because of our location, the fire brigade helicopters came too late. In the final analysis, we had to save ourselves and return later. The fire brigade sent us a bill to pay for the helicopters (3 of them) at $1000 each per hour. Eventually the insurance company settled with them. We were threatened with being credit blacklisted unless we paid up, so we had to hold our nerve until the underwriters agreed to pay out to the fire brigade.

It took us 3 years - 4 years to rebuild the house and the farm. The house is rented out and the money is reinvested back into the farm and the mountain. Clearing the firebreaks and keeping them cleared, costs us £5,000 per year using men and machines. Its too dangerous to have a 'controlled burn'.

I sincerely hope the Australian government helps those in need and those who were not insured. My heart goes out to the victims.

This month in South Africa it is usually very hot and the risk of bush fires is high.



Ariel photo fire 16 April 2011
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



Ladder
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



after the fire
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr
thank goodness for insurance. not sure I'd know where to start to rebuild

macafee2
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Old 7th February 2020, 11:18   #19
KWIL
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Not just flood related.

Not enough houses, too high demand on NHS, roads over crowded just too many people.
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Old 15th February 2020, 06:40   #20
Gate Keeper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macafee2 View Post
thank goodness for insurance. not sure I'd know where to start to rebuild

macafee2
Thank you for those thoughts....

We had a battle with the insurance company as they said we were under insured. Eventually when they agreed to the amount for a payout, it was capped and we had to rebuild in accordance with the restrictions they set, we had to keep to the original footprint of the buildings. We had to get 10 quotes from 10 different builders. It took us 3 years to rebuild everything and we have insured everything up so there will be no more arguments next time there is a fire and a claim. Here are some photos of the rebuild. We are hoping to fly to South Africa next month to do the fire breaks. The property is 14 miles east of Cape Town.



atrium upstairs
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



atrium chimney
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



new build atrium
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



master en suite
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



Landscaped. Some of the rocks were too big to remove, so we left them in.
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



New drive
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



garden
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



Though the vines...
by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr
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