Giant fire near Sydney may take weeks to be put out

[rooster59]

Giant fire near Sydney may take weeks to be put out

By Lidia Kelly

 

FILE PHOTO: The haze from bushfires obscures the sun setting above the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, December 6, 2019. REUTERS/John Mair

 

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A giant blaze that has blanketed Sydney, Australia's largest city, in a hazardous smoke may take many weeks to put out, fire services said late on Friday, with the whole region fighting nearly 100 wild fires and expectations that the worst is yet to come.

 

While common in Australia during the hot summer, which begins in December, bushfires have begun much earlier this season, blamed on soaring temperatures, dry winds and suspected arson.

 

The most recent blaze north of Sydney, burning across 335,000 hectares, or 830,000 acres, has caused the cancellation of many outdoor weekend activities as smoke and ash have lingered over the city.

 

"These will take many weeks to put out - and only when we get good rain," the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in a statement late on Friday.

 

Wildfires have killed at least four people and destroyed more than 680 homes across eastern Australia, according to authorities.

 

Although the heat and wind eased a bit on Saturday near Sydney, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told Australia's Sky News television that it was going to be "another tough day for everybody involved."

 

Some 2,000 firefighters have been deployed to fight 96 fires throughout the state, whose landscape has been parched by three years of drought. Only about half of the fires were contained.

 

"People are nervous and they have a right to be," Phil Koperberg, founder of the Rural Fire Service, said, according to The Sydney Herald Morning. He warned that with the forecast calling for more dry conditions and more heat, "the worst is yet to come."

 

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-07

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[digger70]

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Giant fire near Sydney may take weeks to be put out

It's shocking with all the fires . Some ( most )could have been avoided as everyone knows, one can thank the Greenies for that. On an other note would it be possible for Thailand and Australia to work together on the  Rain Making (cloud seeding)? but then there must be clouds first. some times one doesn't see any clouds for months in summer, so forget that Idea. ????

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, digger70 said:

It's shocking with all the fires . Some ( most )could have been avoided as everyone knows, one can thank the Greenies for that. On an other note would it be possible for Thailand and Australia to work together on the  Rain Making (cloud seeding)? but then there must be clouds first. some times one doesn't see any clouds for months in summer, so forget that Idea. ????

Damned Greenies. Standing in the way of paving over the forests and bush.

[digger70]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

Damned Greenies. Standing in the way of paving over the forests and bush.

No one want's to do that. What the people want is that they can control burning off the excess Fuel  every couple yrs( like they use to do before the Greens interfered) in the undergrowth and make proper Fire breaks so that If there's a Fire it can be stopped  instead of burning Thousands of Hectare that they can't control. ????

[bristolboy]

32 minutes ago, digger70 said:

No one want's to do that. What the people want is that they can control burning off the excess Fuel  every couple yrs( like they use to do before the Greens interfered) in the undergrowth and make proper Fire breaks so that If there's a Fire it can be stopped  instead of burning Thousands of Hectare that they can't control. ????

Just one tiny problem with your assertion: it's untrue. Nothing to do with "greenies" at all. The lack of burning was because it got hot and dry too fast to be safe to do it in the opinion of the presumably knowledgeable dept. of Forest Fire Management:

Prescribed burning debate rages as Australia finds there's no time to burn going into peak fire season

 

"There is a lot more to prescribed burning, also known as controlled burning, than just lighting the match as a changing climate and environment poses new challenges for fire authorities.

Deputy chief fire officer with Forest Fire Management (FFA) Victoria, Darrin McKenzie, said autumn burning this year was particularly challenging and the state only managed to achieve about 30 per cent of prescribed burning programs.

The bushfire season ran into early April and most of the 66,000 hectares of prescribed burning the state managed to achieve was condensed into a two-and-a-half week window."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/is-the-prescribed-burn-window-closing-in-australia/10236048

 

The article goes on to say that New South Wales and Southern Queensland were in the same situation.

[digger70]

12 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Forest Fire Management

They were stopped by the Greens . We always use to do the control burning in Winter  so there's no problem not to dry . You will have to dream up an other excuse ,You not doing very good ,I know first hand . Have you been there or are you just Reading and listen to what someone said?

Anyway if you from Bristol that says a lot.

[jack7106]

Best wishes and good luck to all the rural fire service volunteers and their families. Thank you very much for a wonderful effort????????????

in relation to national parks and forests, you cannot even get into half of them for four-wheel-drive and recreational pursuits as all the fire trails have been blocked and therefore it is impossible to do back burning????????

[jjarmstrong]

I worked as a botanist for the forest department in Victoria in the 1990s. My job was to map the forests and determine which areas were ready for harvesting.

 

If you are looking for scapegoats, forget the "greenies" and look directly at the politicians. At the camp where I was based there used to be a Summer staff of sixty which the government had cut back to nine a few years previously. The minister at the time went on television to say that we didn't need all these men sitting around waiting for a fire to start which showed that he had absolutely no idea of what went on in his department. He stated that if there was a fire, men could be airlifted in.

 

Every day the men had been going out keeping the access roads clear but with only a handful in charge of around 60,000 hectares, it became impossible. In my job, we came across fallen trees blocking the road which we had to clear almost every day.

 

The next year, there was a massive fire. The smoke made it impossible for the helicopters to get the men in and most

of the access roads were blocked by fallen trees. The fire turned 30000 hectares of prime forest into an ash bed.

 

Did the politicians learn anything from that? What do you think?

[stevenl]

13 hours ago, digger70 said:

They were stopped by the Greens . We always use to do the control burning in Winter  so there's no problem not to dry . You will have to dream up an other excuse ,You not doing very good ,I know first hand . Have you been there or are you just Reading and listen to what someone said?

Anyway if you from Bristol that says a lot.

Your hatred for green is blocking your overall vision.

[digger70]

7 hours ago, stevenl said:

Your hatred for green is blocking your overall vision.

You ask any farmer station manager/owner and forestry department worker .It's got nothing to do with Hating the Greens  (but it does help) .It's what Right , You look what the Aboriginals been doing for hundred of years  . The set the example of saving the forest and the western planes by just doing the controlled burning It also starts new growth for the bush animals within days. anyway I have enough of you're post as I can see from them that you don't even know anything about This procedure and Australia . Amen  

[stevenl]

44 minutes ago, digger70 said:

You ask any farmer station manager/owner and forestry department worker .It's got nothing to do with Hating the Greens  (but it does help) .It's what Right , You look what the Aboriginals been doing for hundred of years  . The set the example of saving the forest and the western planes by just doing the controlled burning It also starts new growth for the bush animals within days. anyway I have enough of you're post as I can see from them that you don't even know anything about This procedure and Australia . Amen  

Time for you to properly read jjarmstrong's and bristolboy's posts. Never mind his origins.

[digger70]

5 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Time for you to properly read jjarmstrong's and bristolboy's posts. Never mind his origins.

Yea for sure one said blame the Pollies ,thats <deleted> the greens Made the pollies to make that call .The greens infiltrated in the politics  . So you speak from hearsay ,haven't got any proof ,forget  backing up the posters ain't going to work for me

[stevenl]

2 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Yea for sure one said blame the Pollies ,thats <deleted> the greens Made the pollies to make that call .The greens infiltrated in the politics  . So you speak from hearsay ,haven't got any proof ,forget  backing up the posters ain't going to work for me

There is no point in any discussion if people are not listening to others.

[digger70]

10 minutes ago, stevenl said:

There is no point in any discussion if people are not listening to others.

So Why aren't you listening to the people who know and speak the Truth? 

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, digger70 said:

So Why aren't you listening to the people who know and speak the Truth? 

So far I have listened to you and others here. Others have made valid points and countered your arguments. In response all you have is profanity and saying you won't listen to them.

 

So who is listening and who is not? That is a rhetoric question btw. Have a very good evening, as I said, this time clearly addressed "no point if you're listening".

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, digger70 said:

So Why aren't you listening to the people who know and speak the Truth? 

 

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

So far I have listened to you and others here. Others have made valid points and countered your arguments. In response all you have is profanity and saying you won't listen to them.

 

So who is listening and who is not? That is a rhetoric question btw. Have a very good evening, as I said, this time clearly addressed "no point if you're listening".

I don't understand why stevenl prefers independently verifiable sources over the claims of an anonymous member of thaivisa.com

[Ventenio]

13 hours ago, jjarmstrong said:

I worked as a botanist for the forest department in Victoria in the 1990s. My job was to map the forests and determine which areas were ready for harvesting.

 

If you are looking for scapegoats, forget the "greenies" and look directly at the politicians. At the camp where I was based there used to be a Summer staff of sixty which the government had cut back to nine a few years previously. The minister at the time went on television to say that we didn't need all these men sitting around waiting for a fire to start which showed that he had absolutely no idea of what went on in his department. He stated that if there was a fire, men could be airlifted in.

 

Every day the men had been going out keeping the access roads clear but with only a handful in charge of around 60,000 hectares, it became impossible. In my job, we came across fallen trees blocking the road which we had to clear almost every day.

 

The next year, there was a massive fire. The smoke made it impossible for the helicopters to get the men in and most

of the access roads were blocked by fallen trees. The fire turned 30000 hectares of prime forest into an ash bed.

 

Did the politicians learn anything from that? What do you think?

how many firefighters protested, complained, made their voice heard?  They were afraid of losing their job and likely only said something when it didn't matter.  we need to speak up to avoid these things....at least try.

[sunnyboy2018]

3 hours ago, stevenl said:

There is no point in any discussion if people are not listening to others.

That cuts both ways but like all eco extremists it assumes your view, and only your view is correct. Whatever the cause of this catastrophe the Australian authorities seem to be third world in their lacklustre response.  If this were Thailand this thread would be full of foreigners,  especially Australians  criticising the Thai authorities.