hunting area being destroyed by fire.

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day, I'm safe but I have friends whose homes are under threat right now. I live in the part of Queensland that is suffering from the flooding. I grew up in a part of Victoria that is burning right now. The fire burnt past some good friends about 8 hours ago (midnight local time). They and their timber home servived. friends live at, S 36 25.5 E 146 55.0 'Bruarong', for those who want to look it up. (Google earth) Another good site that shows IR satellite/fire image is http://sentinel.ga.gov.au/
Many other friends still in the path of the fire as it travels south and east.
Oficial death toll at 9:30 am local time 108 and expected to rise considerably.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Our hearts go out to you.
Such a horrific disaster with far too many lives lost.

 

[SilentHitz]

I said a little prayer after seeing this on the news...sad loss of life.

I haven't heard anything on the acres destroyed so far, and not familiar with Australia. Any word on how it started?

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day. The fire is called the 'Beachworth' fire and I have found another web site witch should short cut to the area. I expect the fire to the right to spread into thick forest and steep hills. http://sentinel.ga.gov.au/Overview/VIC6.shtml This is where I spent my teenage years, learnt to shoot and hunt so I can picture the area in my mind very clearly.

 

[sserdlihc]

I have been watching the news about the wild fires in Australia. I hope that you are staying safe. My father always said that when he was in the navy, some of the nicest people in the world were Australians!! Again, stay safe brother!!

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day, 4:30 pm local time 130 dead and still counting.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day, 5:45 local time 166 confirmed dead. Still counting.

 

[luvsasmith]

WOW. The loss of life, both human and animal, without good cause is horrific. I am so sorry for you and the others experiencing this tragedy. I will keep you all in my prayers.

 

[shortwave]

Watched the fires on our news. Its hard to put into words the heartfelt sorrow for such loss`s. Please know our prayers are with you and yours... Shortwave.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day.the death toll has been steady at 181 for about a day now. Still about 80 people missing. Estimates say about 1,000,000 native animals dead.

 

[globemaster3]

I'm glad to hear you are OK. I hope they can gain control of it soon. The loss of life is terrible and I read this thing is moving at almost highway speeds, increasing the devastation and reducing people's ability to get out of the way. Is that true?

 

[shortwave]

Watched the devastation again tonight. Showed the vast area of the fires. Also showed ranger who captured a kuala bear with burnt paws. He had it treated and bear will live. Thoughts and prayers.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day shortwave, the 'ranger' is just one of the many volunteer firefighters. He took the video to show his daughter. If you see the footage of the koala with it's paw in the mans hand, he had water dribble into his palm and the koala was just trying to relieve pain from burnt paws. They are actually marsupials not bears.
I have been out with the local emergency services helping with storm and flooding issues in my area. Our area fire danger is from April through to November (our 'dry season').

 

[shortwave]

SKULLANDCROSSBONES65, Keep your strength and faith.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day. They are getting on top of the fires now. Only a few burning in pretty rough country.
The death toll has hit 201 as they start to search through house remains. Still many people missing and the toll is expected to rise.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
Hopefully we might get some updates from somebody closer to the fires.

 

[butta9999]

Thanks for starting this thread skulls. i am only some 50km from the closest fires burning. Most of the country i hunted in for deer is now gone probably along with the deer.

Not to mention the loss of life and peoples homes. I have a cousin who lives on a property near Buxton, his house gone but he still alive.

A mate from work who lives between Healsville and Yarraglen the fire came to within 400m from his property.

An estimated 1,000,000 native animals have perished in these fires.

I think the Wilsons Prom fire is still out of control, a quarter of the prom has been wiped out.

We have had a smoke haze in melbourne for 1 week now. Sometimes you have to leave the house locked up otherwise everything reeks of smoke.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day butta, have you tried a google earth search on the coordinates I posted. There is still good shooting in that area.

 

[butta9999]

No but i will, is it an up to date image. I know some of the images are old from google earth.

Im gonna wait till the weather gets a little cooler then i might venture out.

They say now that 10's of millions of animals have perished in the fires. I would think that a lot of the Sambar would have gone too.

The death toll now for human life is now 208 and still climbing.

We are expecting temperatures in the mid to high 30's this week too, not good.

 

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day butta. I've hunted on lots of property within about 80 km (strait line) of this point. most of the hills are state forrest, so google earth and street view will give a good indication of what is around.