Re: [OT]Canberra Firestorm

I hope it is over soon! I've fought them in Montana and
else where.......Really, be safe guys!

Don

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@webone.com.au>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2003 1:18 AM
Subject: [OT]Canberra Firestorm

> I notice that both CNN and BBC are carrying this story.
> We're OK, our folks are OK, and only one of our friends
> is MIA - but probably in one of the evacuation shelters,
> her house was in Duffy, and only one body was found there.
> 
> See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2003/01/18/video/20030118pm_fires.ram
> (This video was taken in the middle of the day, yesterday)
> 
> The experts are calling this a 1-in-200-year fire. Basically,
> a normal bushfire that had been contained suddenly got as
> bad as it could be due to freak weather.
> 
> Tomrrow, the weather conditions don't look too good. We're
> 10 miles away from the nearest fire, which has been contained,
> but we had Firestorms* on Saturday, and when they happen, there's
> not a lot you can do except avoid them. And everyone within
> about 10 miles needs to have a hose ready for the burning
> fallout, like we had yesterday.
> 
> Never a dull moment down here :-)
> 
> * Firestorm - the fires are so bad that they make their own local
> weather, sucking in air from outside areas. Happened in Hamburg,
> Dresden, Rostock, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, but not Nagasaki.
> They're rare down here, and AFAIK this is the first time we've had one
> that's enveloped a built-up area rather than just uninhabited
> bushland. 3 lives lost, about 400 homes burnt, and the Mount Stromlo 
> Observatory gone, Dammit! All telescopes now melted glass and steel.
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/19/1042911265561.html
>