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Australia brush fires

Mavic Mac

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Just a note to the members from Australia - prayers go out for your safety in this dangerous situation.
 
i second those sentiments wholeheartedly stay safe everyone
 
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I’m sure I share all Australians thoughts when saying thanks for keeping the country in mind.
It’s been an awful start to the fire danger season for many places around the country, and only a third through summer, so hope our great firies (with help from those from other countries like the New Zealand, US, Canada, and maybe others) out there can get in top of them soon.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, but don't get the idea the whole country is burning. It is actually only a relatively small area mainly in the South East of a very large continent.
 
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I was at a family gathering this weekend and some family were over from Aus and they mentioned "escaping the heat".... yeah :O
It's terrible at the moment :(
 
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Small area? 10,000,000 hectares, 1/3 the size of England! 26 people dead, millions of stock and wildlife killed.1771 homes lost. There are still hundreds of fires out of control! Perth is a long way from the fires Bushie.
 

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Not long got back from a 4 week tour of Australia, what a great place absolutely loved it, the devastating fires are sickening, the destruction is heart wrenching, I hope the Australian people affected by this recover quickly.
 
Very sad to see 3 US firefighters killed today in their water bombing C-130.

 
very sad news indeed im sure all our thoughts are with their families and loved ones
 
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Even with great rain over many parts of the country, we still have some problems areas around ACT / NSW in particular.

This video popped up on my youtube feed tonight, from 4th January.
It's 3 minutes real time of an Australian bushfire, taken from the dashcam of one of the fire trucks.

 
Thanks for the thoughts people! Here in WA we haven’t copped it nearly as bad as over east. But still too dry last year.
Be good to have some automated drone fire monitoring system to detect new fires fast! In the old days here, they actually used to have manned fire-lookouts in high trees. Google Gloucester Tree for an example! Been up some, they’re kinda scary to look down and think you’re in a tree, not a building! Are those ants eating into the trunk??
I would like to see a solar remote drone station, two or more drones or automated battery exchange. One goes up, high and stationery (out of earshot) or flys a circuit with thermal imaging, sends data then swaps, continuous. Also could be that if base station gets too toasty or something or someone tampers with it they fly to a predetermined alternative location. If a fire is spotted it’s jumped on really fast by the local brigade. Drone could also report vehicles in the forest - unfortunately a small percentage of our fires are started by nutters...
 
Still plenty of active fire towers in VIC.


Satellite data is a great tool but, at best its 30 minutes to an hour old before its published. It also requires a large energy signature to be identified as a high probability fire. Fire towers and skilled observers could identify a new fire long before the satellite information appears. The best protection is from a variety of sources and maybe drones can be one of the tools.

I once detected a new bush fire (unattended campfire) when flying back to Shepparton and reported it back to the airport. The fire tower operator in Mount Wombat 50km away was able to correct my road name and pinpoint the exact location for the CFA.
Mount Wombat.JPG
 
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It’s a bit dodgy today. It is 40C (104F) here at the moment. New fires have started posing risks to towns and people previously in the clear.

The closest fire to us is 80km (50 mi) from where I live. That distance is largely National Parks, so we are not quite out of the woods yet. Hopefully we will get some rain in the next few weeks to cool and drench.

I’ll happily not fly for a few weeks if it means we get a handle on the fires.
 
It’s a bit dodgy today. It is 40C (104F) here at the moment. New fires have started posing risks to towns and people previously in the clear.

The closest fire to us is 80km (50 mi) from where I live. That distance is largely National Parks, so we are not quite out of the woods yet. Hopefully we will get some rain in the next few weeks to cool and drench.

I’ll happily not fly for a few weeks if it means we get a handle on the fires.

Wish we could send some of the rain we got last night through to ACT / NSW region, it's dire there again.
This is the first rain we've had in maybe 8 - 10 weeks, and a good dreiching it was too.
Reduced a lot of risk on Eyre / Yorke peninsulas, and this is going through to many parts of Victoria too.

I see a fairly likely chance Canberra just got a douse, not much up Yass way though.
Maybe tomorrow you'll get something, supposed to drop to 36 and shower or two.
Good luck with some rain.
 
Sounds like some of our members "from down under" may be getting some relief ?


SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Much of Australia's wildfire-ravaged east coast was drenched on Friday by the biggest rainfall in almost 20 years, dousing some of the most dangerous blazes and providing welcome relief to farmers battling an extended drought.
 
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