Hot Rods Australian Hot Rod Brothers check in.

I'm not familiar enough with the population centers of Australia, but I do know that the country is being devastated by raging wildfires. Our thoughts and prayers are with our hot-rodding brothers there. Check in here and let us know if any of you have been directly affected by these disasters.

 

I see on the news where thousands of people have fled their homes and made their way to beaches in an effort to escape the flames. So very sad.

 

Best Wishes To My Friends Down Under And These Strong Folks Will Survive...

 

As Don said, hope all are brothers and sisters are safe down under during this horrible event. Thoughts and prayers sent.

 

Prayers for you all, good luck.

 

I've driven through some of our fire areas since the fires started and the devastation hasn't been seen on the scale ever in Australia.

Sure we've had big events in smallish areas (bigger than some US States!) but nothing like this.

One fire just west of Sydney (our biggest population centre) has been burning for over 7 weeks and is still out of control.

Lost a few Firefighters and members of the public as well. Plus hundreds of homes, businesses and facilities.

Fortunately I live in suburban Sydney and the closest two fires got within 4 miles of us before being extinguished.

 

We are thinking of you Aussies this side of the ditch.
We are getting the smoke all the way over here so we appreciate how bad the fires are.

 

Putting things into perspective; lives, property and livestock have been lost as well as flora and fauna being decimated. Lots out there on FB and news. DAMN DRY and HOT, not a lot of water and weak politicians at state and Federal level. Too little too late, no back burning was allowed which happened previously, hence significant fuel loads in the forests etc. I understand that there are plenty of shots from space showing the smoke over HUGE areas of land mass down here. Most fires are being fought by trained fire fighters and local volunteer brigades with some international assistance as well. Only recently was it reported that the military (ADF) was deployed to assist with evacuation and some food drops to isolated areas. Search & rescue -v- search & recovery?

 

My Dr. is in Sydney visiting his family. Should be back on Jan. 9th

 

Hopeful Thoughts for all affected...devastating beyond words...

 

I live at Nowra on the southcoast ,bout 2hrs sth of Sydney . Its as bad as you can immagine .No rain to speak of for so long that small townships are trucking water in and my lawn is dead and crispy .The air is bad with smoke, the sun is red and faded .Fleets of small turboprop planes ,old Hueys and a cuppla converted airliners are working feverishly daylight hours .

 

I'm babysitting our daughter's property at a place called Temora, about 4 hours drive south west of Sydney. We are probably a 2 to 3 hour drive from the closest fires but this morning the smoke haze was like a dense fog, visibility down to 200 metres (200 yards). When I opened the doors the smoke detectors in the house went off. Scared the shit out of me.
A lot of areas are without power and therefore internet so there might be a few members who are unable to check in.

 

................Oh my God! That is some scary stuff. Thoughts and prayers go out for you. Be safe.

 

I'm out in central Vic at the moment, fires out here are not as fast moving as those in the east of the state. So while they are close we are safe.

Because many areas are so hot and dry it feels like a spark is all it would take... Our friends in pockets of Melbourne are being evacuated because of new grass fires sparking up but so far Melbourne and surrounds have yet to be truly affected.

There's bound to be a few hambers affected by these fires. And there are Hambers who are firefighters or CFA (volunteer fire fighters in regional areas) who are working hard to save homes and lives.

If the fires are close to them they may not see this post for a while.

 

Thanks for checking in. All my best to everyone there.

 

Just watched a vid from AutoExpert TV and he said the minister from Wales for emergency preparedness, David Elliot, went on vacation to Europe. Nice, but he's going to cut his visit short.
Not really my style with all the swearing, but for those interested, tune in at the 11:00 minute mark.

 

Worst scenario possible, way too many factors involved on fires of that magnitude. Just stay safe over there friends. Everything can be replaced but you.

 

Thank you to those from down under who have checked in. You are all in our thoughts. Can not even imagine what some of these people are going threw. Very scary to say the least. I am reminded of a line in the movie Backdraft, (Fire is a living thing, It breathes, It eats, and it hates.)

 

May God protect our brothers down under

 

Do all you can to stay safe!
It's hard to comprehend the inferno that is raging down there.
Best hopes and wishes for all.

 

We have had the smoke here and had days of wind like I have never seen before. I have seen the weather patterns and now aware smoke from our fires have made it across to NZ. It is a humanitarian issue now with the Navy set to take in aid and evacuate many. The vessel the Navy will be using is usualy used to help other countries. The bad days forcast will be the 4th & 5th of January.

I am an Ex Firey and Ex Fire Tower opperator so I can say the weather we have had I have never seen before. I am set up here with my own Fire unit and power along with a back up generator hoping I never have to use it.

I even had a snake issue in my works the other day as it was so hot it found a way to get inside. Luckily it found a mouse trap and I was able to get rid of it.

 

My heart goes out to everyone there, HOTFR8 . Hoping for the best outcome for you..........Don.

 

Luckily for me at this point of time the worst of the fires are well east of me. I am in Central Victoria and the worst of the fires are over on the East Coast. I have this website I can check on >
https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/ and you can see from that what is going on. I know a few Street / Hot Rodders over on the East and my concerns are for them given all we see on our news coverage. They keep telling us the 4th & 5th will be bad days again just like the 1st January.

We have had a fire bug in the area and he will if caught get the same treatment Ryan gives spammers on the forum.

 

Best wishes to all you guys!!! Hopefully it will burn out or you can get some help from nature! Lippy

 

I've had reports that the phone network, internet and power is out in much of the area shown on the map link I posted earlier.

 

It’s very very bad, all I can do is check fire fighting equipment and see what happens. People missing and dead, hoping for the best working towards the worst . I’m a fairway from the biggest fire front (depending on conditions, could be a week before it gets here but fires ahead of it are the worry)

 

I live on the NSW north coast, Grafton in the Clarence Valley.....we have had bush fires all around this area for the past 2-3 months of varying intensity, lives and property have been lost in areas out of town., the closest any have come have been maybe 8-10kms away .......it has calmed down around here over the past 2 weeks however other areas especially around Sydney and the NSW South Coast are now unfortunately taking their turn at being affected by these fires.................its been a dry winter which has only been worsened by the fact that spring and now summer have also been quite dry and amid all the discussions about who/what /when is to be blamed on the ground the fire services are doing their level best to cope .............our sincere thanks and thoughts go out to all of them...........Andy Douglas

 

This is my area, I’m the red dot,the blue things are fires most of which are heading my way, north, black bits are burnt out land. A new one has just popped up 18miles from me so that’s a worry.

 

Stay safe over there, we have a horror weekend coming up as well. Hope no fires are lit. Have a good plan and be ready to bail out in time. Hard to fight fires this big.