summer fires..

Sending positive vibes across the Big Water! Fire has to be the scariest thing I can think of.
That sounds like California in the summertime-it doesn't rain a drop for months. Everything turns gold/brown, fires pop up all over the place & leave the hills black till the rains come & turn them green again.
This is Florida's dry season now, all of the big storms hit in the summer/early fall.
Stay safe!

we have had a few cooler days but unfortunatly 2 of the 4 fires are still burning out of control.

its just gone 10.30am here on Thursday morning and its already 32C (90F) and we have just been advised that another fire has started which is worse than the ones burning from earlier in the week. This one is about an hour from us. No doubt we will start seeing the ash from it.

Temperatures are predicted to hit 42C (107F) today, tomorrow & sunday.

This is the worst year for fires as we have been in drought for a few years (even in the city) and our water storage levels are at an all time low.

I know that sweet Jasmine is suffering from the heat.
I hope that the air quality does not get to bad.

1 fire has been contained although the wind change expected this afternoon is worriesome. Its in a town called Anakie which is down near the town of Geelong (I went to college here)http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/V.../Towns/Anakie/

The other fire which has been going for 5 days is in the Grampians. This is a national park and is a gorgeous place. It is a mountain range. http://www.visithallsgap.com.au/quicksite/ . The fire area is 300km wide (thats about 190miles) Most of the area has been evacuated.

The other fire that began this morning is in The Kinglake national park area. http://www.visitkinglakeranges-yea.c...lake_index.htm

It is this last one that makes this all seem very real to us. Kinglake is about 60km from us (35 miles) so this fire does not worry us. However, we we live in a mountain range area called "the dandenongs".
On one side of the dandenongs on the edge of the hills is the suburb Lilydale... we are on the other side on the edge. Embers are being spotted in Lilydale from the Kinglake fire.
From Lilydale we are about 25 km's but this is through the mountain ranges.
Again I am not worried about this fire as it would have to get through a lot to get to us... but it makes everything very real. It is showing us how quick these fires start and spread.

Chris & I have put our fire plan into effect just in case... The smoke is in the air already and the fire is 60km's away. The northerly winds are strong and hot. There is a real danger in the next few days.

sorry to keep going on about this, but its really playing on my mind today... please keep us in your thoughts if you can

You're definitly in my thoughts Dan, Chris and Jasmine. Also to the rest of our aussie friends and family.

We've been having horrible fires here too, it is so dry.

Oh Dan, you're definitely in my thoughts.

Thank you for that description, Dan. It puts a bit of a 'face' on it. It's so hard at this distance to have any real sense of the impact on our DownUnder friends, except to know that fire is always very scary, and they are a serious problem for you every year. Thinking of you all, and hoping and praying that these fires can be controlled without too much damage, and without endangering you and yours.

Oh that's awful! Please be careful and stay safe everyone over there! I will be praying for you all!

Good grief Danielle when you told me about the national parks i didn't realise how big!. Thats awful

Keep staying safe all of you and make sure you check in with updates

Praying for every animals and persons saftey.

Oh my goodness!

I hope it cools down for you all soon and the fires don't spread!

Stay safe! I'm thinking of you all over there!!

You, Chris, Jasmine and the boys continue to be in my prayers.

How are things going Dan?

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

How are things going Dan?

Click to expand...

thanks for asking Karen. Thankfully the rain did come, brief to start with but helped to get everything under control. The fires are completely out now and our weather has been cooler.
Unfortunatly a few lifes were lost, but thankfully not too many. Alot of property was destroyed as well and it burnt through over 100,000 hectares of land.
It was an eery feeling last weekend to go down the street and see fire trucks stationed everywhere and to fall asleep with the sirens going off through out the night.

The summer isnt over yet but hopefully our fire risk is over.... but unfortunatly we never know what the heat will bring....

Thankyou everyone for your thoughts & concern

I'm glad you posted - I was getting quite worried about you

Thanks for the update, Dan. Glad the danger is over.