Melbourne Bushfires 2009

This link is to the Herald Sun newspapers in depth coverage of the tragic Melbourne bushfire season of February 2009, generally called Black Saturday, after the day they began

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/indepth/section/0,,5018723,00.html


This is a copy of the chatbox archive over the same period, where I kept firends informed of fire updates.

[00 04/12/08] @ Garry : just trying out the new chat box, what do ya reckon ?
[16 04/12/08] de locke : Awesome! A chat box
[21 04/12/08] de locke : So who's online?
[12 08/12/08] @ Garry : I'm here hehe
[09 12/12/08] PhiLL : hi?
[09 12/12/08] PhiLL : anyone in here?
[09 12/12/08] PhiLL : *-*
[09 12/12/08] PhiLL : kk
[13 15/12/08] @ Garry : yeah I'm here Phill
[13 15/12/08] @ Garry : I think everyone is winding down for the Christmas/New years holiday break,
[13 15/12/08] @ Garry : We get no sense out of anybody in Melbourne until after all the christmas break up parties, christmas with the family, summer holidays and big party New Years Eve. Everyone just vegetates (becomes a vegetable until the first or second week in January.
[13 15/12/08] @ Garry : Do you guys do the Christmas thing in Brasil ?
[01 25/12/08] tristan mitch aka tiger : the 25 th ?? well here its the 24 th so merry christmas everyone
[18 23/01/09] Vonschwarz : hello?
[21 26/01/09] de locke : Anyone online?
[05 27/01/09] ...Lynxx... : I Be RePiNg ...AHS... NZ
[15 28/01/09] @ Garry : Hey tristan I'll swap you some of that iceland snow for some melbounre heatwave, it's 41c today and next 4 days, lowest at night 25c-30c. Just put the snow in a box and throw it in the water.
[15 28/01/09] @ Garry : it'll find it way down to melb sooner or later
[16 28/01/09] de locke : yo
[16 30/01/09] @ Garry : arrrrghhh 3 days of 43C heat, only 30C at night --- but the cool change is a comin, just around the bend
[16 30/01/09] @ Garry : btw I meant to say some of that Iceland ICE not snow, 40C heat turns my brain to mush
[17 30/01/09] @ Garry : 45.1C !!! it's just peaked at 45C...thought it was hot - sorry nothing else to talk about in this weather in Melbourne hehe
[16 14/02/09] @ Garry : Haven't been around much because of the bushfires in Melbourne at the moment, nearky 200 people have died - burned alive. And I'm in the Ash Wednesday 1983 fires area, I fought the fires then, we call them firestorms, because they vapourise the eucalyptus oil in the gum trees and they explode like bombs. It's sh*t scary stuff. The worst looks like it's past but it's not over until we get rain next week.
[14 15/02/09] @ Garry : The fires are now 'conatined' meaning they have burnt a parameter around the fires so it can't spread but it's still burning. The Police have arrested a suspected fire bug for 3 fires and many deaths, and a class action has been launched against the govt for negligence and a singapore power company that did not do good maintanance. A powerline can down sparking on the ground and started the fire which killed 100 people in just 6 hours
[19 15/02/09] @ Garry : we've got an Urgent Alert fire warning of a near by fire in the forest about 2ks away. Lots of sirens, helicopters etc it's very windy which means embers get blown around - sleepless night coming up
[19 15/02/09] @ Garry : Preparing for evacuation
[20 15/02/09] @ Garry : The fire looks like it was a fire bug set near the puffying billy. It's still on high alert for ember attack more updates http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25057605-661,00.html
[21 15/02/09] @ Garry : The fire has been downgraded, which is a relief, but we are still on ember alert, they can float for klms and start fires a long way from the source.
[13 16/02/09] @ Garry : The fire is under control now, but we're still on fire watch especially with a firebug on the loose. Many people have publically threatened to shoot or kill firebugs on sight. Things are still very tense.
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : We have a new fire, I have been evacuated, but we're back home to fight ember attack, it's very smoky and still dangerous - I am loading all my archive videos for the MSO dvd doc into the car - they are irreplacable. we have neighbours also staying to fight and will leave if it gets much worse. But safe for now. Power is on the whole area is still blocked by Police
[21 23/02/09] de locke : hey garry
[21 23/02/09] de locke : hope all is ok
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : hey how's it going ?
[21 23/02/09] de locke : yeah not to bad
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : I've just got back from town
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : I've just been meeting with Millie from holland
[21 23/02/09] de locke : cool
[21 23/02/09] de locke : the site has been doing well lately
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : yea it's not back
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : bad that should be
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : it's really smopky here
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : smoky, can't see properly
[21 23/02/09] de locke : has the danger passed or are you still in harms way?
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : Gonna keep loading stuff, but I'll be here all night
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : the wind could change
[21 23/02/09] @ Garry : got a ph call
[22 23/02/09] @ Garry : still hear, still okay, the fire is going a different direction because of the wind, but the winds can change again and the fire can come back, so we've got neighbours keeping watch if embers fly back. We're all taking shifts tonight keeping watch
[00 24/02/09] @ Garry : fire has been downgraded, but still on ember alert
[12 24/02/09] @ Garry : Main fire is contained but spot fires are cropping up around us from ember attck
[23 24/02/09] @ Garry : fire is finally under control -- sleep time now
[23 24/02/09] Mimey : wat
[23 24/02/09] Mimey : oh nvm
[20 26/02/09] @ Garry : Hi mimey, yeh I''m leaving updates here, we've got bush fires where I live in Melbourne. It was really nice and quiet a few minutes ago. The sun was setting it's a balmy 23C with gentle breeze, paradise, then the fire siren went. The siren is a WW2 air raid siren. Dunno if you've seen the Time Machine, where there is paradise garden etc then the sirens go. It feels surreal it sends a shiver up your spine. So....here we go again
[02 28/02/09] @ Garry : ahhhhh, the cool change has come and our fire alert has been cancelled, whew. In fact the govt has been getting off it's lazy arse and doing some fuel reduction clean ups, and all the fires have been minimal today. A quite simple equation we worked out in cave man days - less fuel = less fire
[02 28/02/09] @ Garry : btw, is ok to keep chatting here.
[02 28/02/09] @ Garry : goddam spoke too soon, it's 2:15 am and the fire siren has gone off again...groan
[05 01/03/09] Prog : Prog
[17 02/03/09] de locke : sup
[17 02/03/09] Dan2009 :
[18 02/03/09] tipster360 : hey anyone there?
[21 03/03/09] @ Garry : We Got Rain !! - Being cold and wet never felt so good. It's rain straight from a tropical cyclone (hurricane) across 3000kms of desert, then super chilled withcold winds direct from the south pole. It then dumps on Melbourne. This is what happenes when jet streams collide --ahhhh bliss, and leaks in the roof I forgot about
[21 03/03/09] @ Garry : So this signles the end of the fire season and summer and all the fire alerts. Nothing stays alight after a dump like this, we get floods instead

Well the fires are out in our area, it's been soaking rain for days and 13-15C here - freezing !!! So nice to be cold and wet again.

But we've just had an earth tremor. Sounded like trucks going past and the whole floor and walls were shaking. Thought it might have been a tree come down. They do this after such extremes of weather.

Earthquake 4.7, it turns out, epicentre about 50 ks away. No drama's tho

Things are begining to regenerate already with the past 3 days of rain, even in burnt out areas.

Only the fire resistant trees and plants survive in fire areas, and it's suddenly like spring here. Green shoots coming out of dirt that has been bare for 10 years. All it needed was a little water and it's spring with a healthy looking winter to come, cold and wet like we used to have.

Melbournes weather reminds us where we are on the globe, at the edge, next stop south pole.

We are caught between two major jetstreams which flow around the southern hemispshere.

Here's what happened on Feb 7 2009, known as Black saturday. The jet streams collided. Suddenly we have air coming from the tropics super heated over 3000kms of desert, combining with icy air direct from the south pole. And that's directly over Melbourne.

Usually they collide over the southern ocean, but at the change from El Nino, to La Nina cycles every 3-4 years the air gods have a turf war in Melbourne skies.

Which may help explain the Shuffle. It's part of Melbourne's character all this extreme change is just normal to us, and it's reflected in the dance.

Sat 7 feb 4am the air is super heated over the desert.



By the end of the day the jet streams collide and the turbulance fuels firestorms with wind gusts up to 150 kph. These are literally fire hurricanes. Fueled by winds of the newly developed Tropical Cyclone (Hurricane) Freddy, it's a blast furnace. The eucalypt gum oils evaporate in the heat and the tree canopies explode like petrol bombs spreading sparks and embers. It's quite truely hell fire, seen it first hand in Ash Wednesday. But fortunately it was stopped about 1 klm away.

There were no houses lost this time in our area. We saw what survived from Ash Wednesday, and for the past 25 years we've repeated it. Ritually burning off excess forest floor fuel at the end of everywinter to herald the begining of fire season. LESS FUEL = LESS FIRE it's something we learned in caveman days, but forget in modern urban cities.

The burning off reminds us what fire can do. You smell of smoke and you remember summers like this.

The earthquake was small and we get them every 3-4 years, as our geologists say is caused by...

Stress in the Indian Australasian plate, on which the Australian continent sits, increases gradually as the plate moves northeast by about 7cm a year.

So watch out Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia and New Guinea, we're coming for a visit

We just had another earthquake. But this time the shock waves went from west to east, my computer moniters were wobbling around on the desk. No damage tho.

Yeah I felt that!! Was quite exciting for about 5 seconds lol

Congratulations gentlemen. We are the lasting survivors of yet TWO earthquakes!