Still Burning 1 Month Later

[Brucebubs]

Surrounded by fires again here in Eden.
Just took this picture of my street corner - it's 2.30 pm here.



Here's how it changed on New Years Day.





Ash is steadily falling from the sky but there's no burning embers and no wind here.
Listening to radio again.
Car is packed again.

[saxonblue]

Looking bad everywhere Bruce. The whole escarpment to your west is going up in flames as we speak. You're probably copping the smoke from that if you're getting the same northwesterly we are up here. Looking at hotspots the little village of Wyndham looks doomed. I love that part of the world & know it reasonably well. It's heartbreaking.

Conditions are diabolical up here at the moment. State of emergency declared yesterday. Our monster that started in the Orroral Valley on Monday spotted another blaze in front of it that is crossing the Monaro Highway. It was 2000 hectares Monday, now 40000 and when the 2 inevitably merge it will be closer to 60000 ha (150000 acres). Judging by the winds you're likely getting the smoke from here too. It's blowing away from us atm, for the last 2 days I've been looking at a massive pyrocumulus rising out of it.



That's conditions on my shady front verandah atm. 41 deg C = 105 deg F

[ManyMartinMan]

So sorry to hear it Bruce. The continued presence of the fires is no doubt a great weight on you, your family and even your health. Hopefully you'll get a week of rain sooner rather than later.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

So sorry to hear it Bruce. The continued presence of the fires is no doubt a great weight on you, your family and even your health. Hopefully you'll get a week of rain sooner rather than later.

I've been evacuated once already this year.
This time the fires have closed roads in all directions.
North of Bega highway is OK but the road between Eden and Bega not looking good.
Mick has been copping it bad in Canberra too - worst air quality on earth due to smoke - massive hail storm that smashed through roofing - more smoke - stinking hot high temperatures and now massive fires.

Poor Wyndham - nice little pub and they hosted a few acoustic guitar festivals there too back in the day.

I think I've seen clear blue sky maybe once or twice in the whole of January 2020.

[ManyMartinMan]

I know. I've been watching. I went through the Painted Cave fire in Santa Barbara in 1990. We lost over 400 homes however, the fire was over in a week. Nothing like what you, and Australia, are going through.

[frazervalley]

Sending positive thoughts and I hope things improve soon for you and your family.

[saxonblue]

I took this pic Monday afternoon while riding around on my motorbike probably only 2-3 hrs after the Orroral Valley Fire started. It was ignited by the heat of a landing light of an army helicopter working in the area at the time. The location I took this shot has burned or is burning atm.



By the next day it had grown to 8000 ha (20000 acres). I took these shots Tueday afternoon while walking the dog on a hill just behind home.





The fire was a bit benign for a couple of days but has "awoken" despite bring constantly bombarded with both water & retardant by aerial bombers in that time. Now with these fires & the ones down Bruce's way the RFS (both NSW & ACT) have been stretched beyond their limit again. Couldn't see much today because of the smoke nightfall tells a different story when the fires become visible again. These from a couple of hours ago.

[Bob Womack]

Sorry to hear about your travails, guys. I've been there. Back in the late '70s I lived on a mountain top (the peak of a north-south ridge) with two ridges to the east and west. I remember seeing first the ridge to the west and then the ridge to east begin to burn. And here's the irony: I was a fireman for the fire department on my mountain, actually an engine company commander. We served as mutual aid partners to those two counties, filling their stations and responding to their calls while their companies were out on calls. But right as we were getting ready to respond with our engines we got the call and had to respond to a brush fire on our mountain.

Through various circumstances that led to me saving the life of the lady who would become my wife. But that's another tale for another day.

I just remember that feeling of being surrounded.

Bob

[Mr. Paul]

The scope of these fires is unimaginable. The stress of being on the cusp of evacuation ... again ... sincere best wishes to all involved.

[Brucebubs]

7.00 am and it's a quiet, still morning.
Overcast but the air is clear with that unmistakable burnt eucalyptus smell.
A layer of burnt leaves and debris and ash over everything.
The wind picked up last night but it was short lived.
It was another hot, sleepless night here in Australia.

[saxonblue]

Oppressively hot here last night too, not too bad in the house with the aircon going. Windy now with strong gusts, not good. Stormy sky but they've only predicted up to 3mm. Reality with thunderstorms are they're hit & miss & more lightning's the last thing we need.

[Glennwillow]

I wish all you folks well in Eden and Canberra. I hope all will work out for you.

- Glenn

[Pura Vida]

Bruce and others dealing with the fires. I'm sorry that you're continuing to face such devastation and uncertainty. I hope that more favorable weather comes to the area and allows these latest fires to become contained. Be safe, as always.

[saxonblue]

Some humid air from the north & calming conditions saw things settle down a bit last night. Supposed to be cooling down through the week & even the promise of some reasonable rain for the weekend ahead to give some respite. Hopefully anyway, previous predictions of rain last month failed to deliver anything substantial other than a couple of damaging hailstorms.

[Silly Moustache]

Still thinking about you guys down there!
Just wondering when this situation is going to his us in the Northern hemisphere!
My best wishes to all of you down in Oz.