Remembering Black Saturday Bush Fires, Feb 7th 2009

[Shut Up Legs]

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/s...remembers-black-saturday-20150207-138mo5.html

What I remember from that day is searing heat and gale-force winds.

I was living in St Kilda (an inner-city Melbourne suburb) at the time. The temperature in St Kilda reached 46.5°C, and the winds were gusty and gale-force. A very nasty combination for bush fires. I can't even imagine what it must have been like in places like Marysville and Kinglake, which were both destroyed by fires and even now are still recovering. In late 2010 and early 2011 I rode my bicycle to both these places, and the impact of the fires was clearly evident.

This is one of the disadvantages of living in Australia. Yes, we have nice weather most of the time, but the heat and winds can sometimes result in some very destructive bush fires.

 

[Keith Oates]

Stunning Photos, but the damage that is done by the fires is a very big problem for the people who's property was destroyed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yes, a great deal of property was destroyed, but even worse is that 173 people died: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires
That's how bad these fires were: some people couldn't get away from them in time.

 

[Mo1959]

Yes, a great deal of property was destroyed, but even worse is that 173 people died: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires
That's how bad these fires were: some people couldn't get away from them in time.

That's awful. These poor people. I am not sure I could live in a country that has the possibility of such major weather extremes. Puts our wee bit of snow and ice and heavy rain that we complain about into perspective!

 

[Hill Wimp]

Worthy remembrance, i have friends who were living not too far away at the time who would send me pictures from their back garden of the dreadful smoke clouds. They were evacuated for a few days but thankfully lost nothing however friends of theirs lost their home in the fire.

 

[dodgy]

Stunning Photos, but the damage that is done by the fires is a very big problem for the people who's property was destroyed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

We're quite lucky in the UK, though we spend a lot of time moaning about our climate, it is at least not *that* extreme, though in recent years I've noticed Atlantic storms getting much more frequent and also stronger.