<font color="red"> I am very interested in the Bushfires in Sydney and Shoal Haven...
I will be posting updates on them here, if they are requested for certain areas, as they become available.

I would apreciate it if anyone could help me and post updates here as often as Possible...
I myself am looking for updates in Warronga and Wentworth Falls.

Also, I ask that noone tries to make any Jokes about this matter, as it is serious. Any jokes made in this thread, especially those which relate to the bushfires, will be regarded as spam, and reported to Ziroc and/ or the GD Mods.
This will also go for any jokes which may be directly insulting to certain people. So remember this thread is for updates on the Sydey and Shoal Haven Bushfires ONLY and I will delete the thread once they have been stopped. </font>

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SookmaCook:
<font color="red">Also, I ask that noone tries to make any Jokes about this matter, as it is serious. Any jokes made in this thread, especially those which relate to the bushfires, will be regarded as spam, and reported to Ziroc and/ or the GD Mods.
This will also go for any jokes which may be directly insulting to certain people. So remember this thread is for updates on the Sydey and Shoal Haven Bushfires ONLY and I will delete the thread once they have been stopped. </font><hr></blockquote>

Don't worry about jokes or whatever...I'll take care of that. It's not a joking matter, you're absolutely right. Also, no need to delete the thread, it's our record of what we talked about. ;)

The most dangerous spots are on the South Coast (near Sussex Inlet) as well as spor fires jumping containment lines around the Hawkesbury region. Here's a little map.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/04/g...otsgraphic.jpg

Here's the view that a LOT of people have had from their backyards of fire approaching their homes.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/04/graphics/fsnap3.jpg


This is what the sunsets have looked like here in Sydney. Beauty, to be sure, but we don't all need to be reminded of how deadly beauty can be.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/04/graphics/fsnap7.jpg


Here's a list of the accused so far:

• Allan Pascoe, 19, charged with lighting fire in ACT. Arrested December 26. On $800 bail to reappear in court this month.
• Three 15-year-olds caught lighting three small fires at Shellharbour at December 27. Let off but may have to face fire victims.
• Man, 20, charged with lighting fire on railway line between Fairfield and Carramar. Arrested December 27. On bail to appear in court this month.
• Man, 49, charged over backburning in Wallaby Lane, Taloumbi, on the mid-North Coast, on December 28.
• Two boys, 9 and 10, lighting matches at Yarrawarra Oval, near Heathcote, on December 28. Cautioned.
• Man, 24, from Abermain, charged over lighting open campfire in bushland at Waterfall during total fire ban on December 28. On bail to appear at Sutherland Local Court.
• Man, 22, charged with lighting three fires at Armidale on December 29. Bail refused.
• Man, 18, charged with lighting fire next to community centre at Erskine Park on December 29.
• Two youths, 14 and 16, arrested for lighting small fire in Cumberland Street, Cessnock, on December 29.
• Two boys, 11 and 12, arrested for lighting a fire in reserve at Henning Road, Raymond Terrace, on December 30.
• Man, 21, charged with lighting fire in parkland at South Penrith on December 30.
• Two boys, 10 and 12, caught setting fire to woodchips at Kitchener, near Cessnock, on December 31.
• Youth, 16, arrested for setting fire to bush south of Pelaw Main, near Cessnock, on January 1. Fire burnt out several hundred hectares of scrubland.
• Three boys - one 12, two 13 - arrested for lighting fires on cycleway at Raymond Terrace on January 1.

You have to wonder if they are all in coloberation(sp) with each other, I mean lighting all the fires over the same period, or whether most of them are just copying the first ones to do it. Maybe they just do it for attention, or for a real hate of something...?

Anyway it is a great shame to lose all that bush, in a national park as well.

<font color="gold"> Thanx for that Memnoch, and ok, i wont delete the thread once the fires are over since u requested that I dont.
As far as I can see though, there is one thing we CAN be glad about (luckily), I just remebered that most of the native trees in these forests are fire- regenrative, meaning that fire HELPS them... and it will get rid of alot of the weeds too...
So the main problems are ofcourse Loss of Property, and Loss of our native fauna :( .
But thanx for the info... ill add some myself tommorow if u dont beat me to it. But at least I know thatstarting this thread wasnt in vain, ill get the info i want, while at the same time providing others with info they might want, which is why i started this thread.
But thanx again Memnoch (3rd time this post i think...).</font>

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SookmaCook:
<font color="gold">
As far as I can see though, there is one thing we CAN be glad about (luckily), I just remebered that most of the native trees in these forests are fire- regenrative, meaning that fire HELPS them... and it will get rid of alot of the weeds too...
So the main problems are ofcourse Loss of Property, and Loss of our native fauna :( . </font><hr></blockquote>

I'm glad you mentioned that. Fire is actually a very important part of the Australian environment - it's a question of when and how much. Much of the reason why these bushfires are so destructive now is because backburning hadn't been done effectively in the last few years.

Fire has a major influence on the Australian environment and has shaped many of the plant communities we have here today. It's been an important part of Aboriginal life for thousands of years - being used for cooking, to make hunting easier, to attract animals, to protect foods such as yams and to "clean the country" before the hot dry weather comes.

Here's a cool poem that was said by Bill Neidjie of the Bunitj clan, one of the Aboriginal traditional owners of Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.

<font color="red">
This earth, I never damage.
I look after. Fire is nothing, just clean up.
When you burn, new grass coming up.
That means good animal soon,
might be goanna, possum, wallaby.
Burn him off, new grass coming up, new life all over.
</font>

I learned all of the below while I was in the Northern Territory earlier this year. Fascinating stuff and amazing that the Aborigines knew it thousands of years ago, but we're only learning it now (in the last twenty years or so).

Fires lit by Bininj/Mungguy (Aboriginal clans) as they travelled to different parts of the country created a patchwork of burnt and unburnt areas. These fires were lit between Yegge and Wurrgeng seasons (May-Jul) when the weather was still fairly cool and humid. With the arrival of non-Aboriginal people, the Bininj/Mungguy population decreased. Many people died of disease, others moved off their land to towns and settlements. With fewer people on the land, less burning was carried out, so hot, late dry season wildfires became more common. These hot fires were often large and destructive, changing the distribution of plants and animals.

Since the 1980s, Bininj/Mungguy and park managers have worked together to reduce the number of hot fires at the end of the dry season.

Most burning takes place in the early dry season (May to July) when conditions are relatively cool. These fires are generally of low intensity, and of little risk to humans and most animals. Damp areas, left over from the wet season (Jan-Apr) help to break up fires and create a patchwork pattern of burnt and unburnt areas.

Like I said, amazing what the old fellas knew way back then. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]

<font color="gold"> Dont have anything to add, so just bumping this up from wherever it was hiding. </font>

Even though I live in New Hampshire (USA), I've been watching the news to stay up to date on these fires. Really ugly.

I saw Memnoch's list of people. It seems really scary to me that even when there's an ongoing brush fire that there'd still be idiots that would do stupid things that just makes matters worse.