Fire 7/2/2009

The driest January on record was followed by at least 3 days when the temperature exceeded 40°C (104°F in the old money). This turned the pastures in this area into the Australian summer brown for the first time time since we have been here, crisp and very dry. 

A few days later, some dry thunderstorms started fires in the Bunyip forest 30km west of us. To top it all, Saturday 7th became the hottest on record for our part of the world with a temperature of 47°C (116°F) in Melbourne, accompanied by very strong northerly winds (80-100 kph).

This whipped up the fire in the Bunyip forest to our west and soon spot fires were spreading rapidly to its south, cutting the main highway and threatening farms and towns. Worse followed especially to the regions north of Melbourne with fires with radiant heath higher than the Hiroshima bomb and gale force winds, killing over 181 people (count as of today 11th). Fortunately there were no fatalities in our region. 

Later on 7th, the fire in our area generated its own weather with uplift into the stratosphere resulting in cyclonic winds driving ash mixed with water horizontally with the sky as black as night. Late in the day, a cold front passed through, dropping the temperature but turning the fires to the north west towards  us. The sequence of pictures about will give you some feel for the progression on the fire and the weather. 

I should emphasise that the closest the firefront came to us was 10-15 km but I hope I never come closer to a big firefront for the rest of my life. 

The fires are still burning and will continue to burn until we have heavy rains which is unlikely for weeks at best.

The rules have changed. no longer are big fires defensible. It is a case of get out well beforehand or die. Any global warning sceptics left?