There are stories that many died trying to tackle the fire when defending their homes! I can understand and sympathise those who died fleeing the fires, but those that died trying to tackle the fire are just plan stupid!
I guess it would have been the last mistake they made.
Shiv – Yes it was typo – should have been ‘plain’ – not ‘plan’ – well done for being smart enough for spotting that! have a cookie!
Discovery: Your auntie made a bad call and suffered for it – even thou you made that story up just for some attention – I can see that ‘losing’ runs in the family.
H – 50 miles per hour! LOL are you some kind of a spastic? – where did you come up with that bag of shite?
I suppose the Short Answer is to many Trees surrounding Towns and Houses so cutting off their Line of Retreat.
They will have to Plan things better in the Future. Australia is a very Hot Dry Country Prone to Droughts.These Droughts are getting Worse with Rain not coming for Years in some Places. They have an awful Lot of Trees mainly Eucalyptus which contains an Oil which Burns Fiercely.
So Authorities will have to make sure that there is a Firebreak with nothing to Burn in the Vicinity of Towns and Houses,which means not having trees around your House.
It looks like it is the Fault of Global Warming Affecting Australia,everything is Drying up.
I hope they Catch those Responsible for Lighting all those Fires they deserve the Death Penalty.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:17 am
i guess they didnt wanna see there stuff go up in flames, its a terrible story though
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March 6th, 2010 at 5:04 am
Plan stupid?
Is that the same as plain stupid?
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March 6th, 2010 at 5:47 am
The fires took hold so quickly that I suppose it is just human nature to try and protect your own property. As you said people were killed fleeing from the fires, so perhaps these people thought well if I am going to killed by the fire I will do my best to beat it for a while.
Its very sad to see on the news and I have a lot of sympathy for them all.
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March 6th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Are you aware of how quick fire spreads? the fire crew and police could not keep up with the fire to warn people.
People were running, people were fleeing. Id appreciate if your incapable mind did not judge people. Wouldn’t you run if you saw a fire coming? do you think you’re smart? smarter than other people who were running as well? You aren’t. You just have never had to face a tradgedy like that. Please donate to the vic bush fire funds to say sorry.
I lost my auntie, who was helping an elderly neighbour at the time. Does she run and let the old lady burn, or does she continue to help and pray for them both. She did the right thing. She tried to save someone. She did her best.
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March 6th, 2010 at 6:26 am
the ones that tried to tackle the fires did so because they were given orders by their government that in case of fire try to tackle it so they did!
no stupidity just following what they were told to do.
RIP
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March 6th, 2010 at 6:59 am
imagine you are in your home with your family at meal time, when all of a sudden a huge ball of flame 50 feet high and travelling at 50 miles per hour, leaps out of the trees close to your house and immediately the house catches fire, you didn’t even know the fire was in your area.
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March 6th, 2010 at 7:14 am
Perhaps if you saw everything for which you’d worked going up in flames, you’d try to do something about it. I am sure no-one thought the fires would destroy everything so quickly. Even some people who tried to escape by car were killed by the fire.
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March 6th, 2010 at 7:58 am
I suppose the Short Answer is to many Trees surrounding Towns and Houses so cutting off their Line of Retreat.
They will have to Plan things better in the Future. Australia is a very Hot Dry Country Prone to Droughts.These Droughts are getting Worse with Rain not coming for Years in some Places. They have an awful Lot of Trees mainly Eucalyptus which contains an Oil which Burns Fiercely.
So Authorities will have to make sure that there is a Firebreak with nothing to Burn in the Vicinity of Towns and Houses,which means not having trees around your House.
It looks like it is the Fault of Global Warming Affecting Australia,everything is Drying up.
I hope they Catch those Responsible for Lighting all those Fires they deserve the Death Penalty.
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March 6th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Residents had been told to either remain in their property or try and escape – either way, they were at risk. Normally, they are expected to remain at their property and await rescue. It was impossible to predict whether it was best to stay put – in which case it would be natural to try and defend your home – or outrun a four storey high wall of flame travelling at 50 mph.
It’s so easy to call these people stupid from the comfort of your own computer. Get some compassion!
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March 6th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Hm not very nice that question
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March 6th, 2010 at 9:57 am
The fire was so intense even people fleeing in their cars were burnt to death.
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March 6th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Much the same reason that Americans died in California fires.
People choose to live in beautiful wooded locations and in a bush-type environment.
The reason so many Australians have died is through a combination of factors, heavy load of fuels – dried leaves, branches that have accumulated over several years lay on the ground; the very high ambient temperatures (It is high summer here) and changing winds which allowed ferocious fire-winds to race across the landscape.
People in many cases left it too late to evacuate their homes. Many died trying to escape when they crashed their cars into other vehicles as they tried to drive through heavy smoke due to low visibility. Some vehicles drove off the road into gullies and were unable to reverse out.
The fire swept over their vehicles and they had no chance. I don’t want to use more descriptive terms here. Winds that were blowing in one direction changed and went in different directions and people who thought they were safe suddenly became caught up in raging fire storms.
There is now talk about building fire-proof refuges in small community locations so that in the event of a bush-fire, people would have a safe place to take shelter in. One family I read about had built a concrete bunker and sheltered in it and were saved. Their home was burned down.
One of the many problems with bush fires is that due to the strong winds caused by nature and the fires themselves, burning embers which can be quite large are blown for miles ahead of the fire and can easily set more bush fires and even break through windows and set other homes on fire.
You really can’t call people who try to save their homes stupid for the reasons I outlined above, especially when people can see at a distance the wind is blowing the fire away from their homes.
When the wind changes, it then becomes a time of great anxiety for home owners, do they stay and try to protect their homes using water hoses or just get out?
In some cases one home in say 20 or more was left intact! A childrens swing didn’t have the paint blistered, yet the house was burnt to the ground!
Some men sent their wives and children away, they stayed and died, some managed to save their homes. Many died trying to escape.
Sadly, it is believed that some of the fires were deliberately set by arsonists. These are individuals who for some perverse reason get some kind of pleasure from lighting fires.
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Media, TV and Newspapers.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:33 am
As I have a son in Melbourne I watched pretty much all the news reports on the fires and distinctly remember that the residents were advised to stay and keep there houses safe but the whole thing just got out of hand and the speed of the fire took everyone by surprise and even those fleeing in cars ended up surrounded by fire and perishing.That’s why there are shots of a group of cars together in a tight area.They’d obviously been surrounded in all directions.
Are you out on bail?
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March 6th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
what a top bloke you are eh!
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March 6th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
The temperature here last Saturday was 49c (yes 120farenheit) and the winds were blowing at 120km. Combine this with a drought that has lasted almost 10 years, no rain for the previous 9 weeks and arsonists chucked in for good luck and you have the answer as to why.
So many people said they had little or no warning that the fires were coming so fast. Those that tried to outrun it in cars soon found out that they couldnt. Many died from staying to save their homes and when they caught fire they moved outside in an attempt to flee but, of course being surrounded by fire, many had no hope.
Its understandable how many people overseas are totally ignorant of what happened…you probably are only getting snippets on the news but for us who live here and experienced the weather conditions of last weekend, also familiar with these places that have been left totally obliterated, we are closer to the facts. Of course there is a solution for ignorance but arrogance usually goes hand in hand with ignorance, as we are seeing by the OP here. Hey Dingo do you think arsonists are a fun crowd to have over at a bbq as well?
Oh bugger there goes extra points I suppose and Ruby, you are wrong… the government didnt tell them to stay and fight for their property….its an individual’s decision to stay or flee.
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