Australian Bushfires! (1 Viewer)

[The General]

Victorian Police along with Australian Federal Police and the Army are moving through affected areas searching for and trying to identify bodies.

Entire families are being found in amongst burnt out homes or in burnt out cars as they tried to flee the flames.

One grizzly scene showed four cars which had collided with each other in their attempts to escape. The cars were in a pile all wrecked and burnt out.

In the latest update eight more bodies have been found.

The death toll has now reached 181.

I am flying to Thailand tomorrow for a holiday with the girlfriend which we planned months ago. I feel guilty leaving the country at a time like this.

 

[damian]

It really is a terrible tragedy. The police suspect arson. That is even worse.

 

[lancer]

Mass murder on a horrendous scale. This is a tragedy for everyone involved. I hope the perps are caught and dealt with accordingly, which is what in Australia? The scum who started these fires deserve nothing better than a death penalty. My sympathy is reserved for the victims of this crime and heres hoping that the fires are contained soon and recovery can begin. -- lancer

 

[4th Hussar]

My understanding is that Australia does not have the death penalty. One article I read inferred the maximum penalty for murder was 20 years. If that is true I would hope it is 20 years of busting rocks in the outback. arson even in relatively unpopulated areas is extremely dangerous and deadly.

 

[1879fanatic]

My understanding is that Australia does not have the death penalty. One article I read inferred the maximum penalty for murder was 20 years. If that is true I would hope it is 20 years of busting rocks in the outback. arson even in relatively unpopulated areas is extremely dangerous and deadly.

Wow, the maximum penalty for being murdered is 20years? Sounds lenient.

 

[Rob]

And its not only those who have lost their lives.There are also many with terrible burns who are not expected to make it.Twenty years doesn't sound enough to me.

Rob

 

[marco55]

If the fires are arson and they catch who did it he/she or should I say it should be given 20 years for each death and additional time for those hurt.
Mark

 

[OzDigger]

My understanding is that Australia does not have the death penalty. One article I read inferred the maximum penalty for murder was 20 years. If that is true I would hope it is 20 years of busting rocks in the outback. arson even in relatively unpopulated areas is extremely dangerous and deadly.

Australia doesn't have the death penalty and the term of a "life sentence" varies between the states. However very serious criminals such as serial killers can in effect be imprisoned for the term of their natural life, aka never to be released, there are currently 72 people in Australia serving such sentences.

There is to be a Royal Commission into the fires and deaths which will no doubt result in stricter building codes and tougher penalties for those caught starting bush fires.

 

[The Military Workshop]

A terrible event and still there are many fires burning.
I think the main reason so many have died (the toll is likely to go well over 200) is the speed at which the fires were spreading.
One reporter who lived in the area said he could see the fire in the distance and guessed he had about an hour before it arrived. 2 minutes later his house was gone.
The distressing part is hearing about the families found in their cars and homes.
God help any arsonist caught. Hopefully any who do end up in jail will be treated to some prison justice as no doubt there will be prisoners who had family affected.
Arson in general has been treated too leniently and I think this event will turn the page on how judges sentence in the future.
Best wishes to all those in the affected areas as well as in the flood areas up north.
Brett

 

[Rob]

These people need to go to prison for a long time.Can hardly believe what i've been seeing on the tv,our thoughts are with all those suffering in Australia today.

People are asking why this has happened and i've just read in todays paper that green campaigners are being blamed for putting pressure on the government not to clear forests in some areas.This quote from a resident of Strathewan;

' I was told by the Greenies that i mustn't touch this twig or that stick because a mouse might want to live under it,well to hell with the mouse,people are dead and so's the mouse'.

Rob

 

[Canadian Samurai]

Rob, of all the people to blame for this tragedy, I think they picked the wrong tree to bark up (pun intended). If people ignore the "Greenies", which they mostly do anyway, we'll be having much worse fires than this in the future, all over the world. You only have conditions for a fire like this when you have historic droughts, and the finger points back at our environmental negligence for that problem. Beyond changing the climate on a global scale, our clearing of forests all over the world is leading to less water being retained in local ecosystems. It just runs off into the sea. So yeah, go right ahead and clear even more trees and watch the droughts intensify, the deserts expand, the brush fires multiply, and your agricultural economy collapse.

I agree with Combat that the only real way to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future is to begin re-evaluating how many people that part of Australia can actually support safely and sustainably, given the increasingly arid conditions. It's just like the New Orleans disaster - the most illogical thing to do is to rebuild in the same place, 'cause it's gonna happen again. And again.

 

[Rob]

Yes i only posted that as an example of the fraught atmosphere and angst thats going on over there right now.I've no idea if it stands up or not,i just thought it was quite a quote from a resident who'd lost everything.

Rob

 

[Canadian Samurai]

No I did find it to be an interesting comment. Thanks for sharing it. As usual when something out of our control occurs, everyone searches for other people to blame. It's humanity's way of trying to keep an illusion of control over a nightmarish situation.

God bless all those affected. Courage for Australia.

 

[Rob]

No I did find it to be an interesting comment. Thanks for sharing it. As usual when something out of our control occurs, everyone searches for other people to blame. It's humanity's way of trying to keep an illusion of control over a nightmarish situation.

God bless all those affected. Courage for Australia.

Yes thats true indeed.This has been terrible to watch,i can't imagine what it must be like to be on the ground there.My wife and i were saying last night that we have no comprehension what it must be like to watch your house burn and then try and flee for your life.As you say CS,god bless them and help them at this awful time.

Rob

 

[OzDigger]

Rob, of all the people to blame for this tragedy, I think they picked the wrong tree to bark up (pun intended). If people ignore the "Greenies", which they mostly do anyway, we'll be having much worse fires than this in the future, all over the world. You only have conditions for a fire like this when you have historic droughts, and the finger points back at our environmental negligence for that problem. Beyond changing the climate on a global scale, our clearing of forests all over the world is leading to less water being retained in local ecosystems. It just runs off into the sea. So yeah, go right ahead and clear even more trees and watch the droughts intensify, the deserts expand, the brush fires multiply, and your agricultural economy collapse.

I agree with Combat that the only real way to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future is to begin re-evaluating how many people that part of Australia can actually support safely and sustainably, given the increasingly arid conditions. It's just like the New Orleans disaster - the most illogical thing to do is to rebuild in the same place, 'cause it's gonna happen again. And again.

Bush fires have been a major factor in Australian ecology for thousands of years so you can't really say there's any global warming or similar recent theories in play here. Like the perfect storm this is one of those freak, but natural occasions, when the winds blew strongly and from an unexpected direction.

Bush fires, or wild fires as they are technically termed, occur in every environment in Australia, so it's pointless to make people move. However they should reduce the danger by banning timber dwellings in forested areas, but who will pay for that. For example if your house is made of timber (as most of them were) the insurance company is unlikely to pay for reconstruction in a less flamable and more expensive material such as brick.

 

[Combat]

These are disasters waiting to happen. Build cities on earthquake faults, flood and fire areas. Sooner or later you are going to have a tragic situation. Once people move into those areas there really is no perfect solution. You can't relocate the entire population of San Francisco, but we all know they are going to get it one day when the big one hits. It's not a matter of chance, but certainty.

 

[binder001]

Our hearts go out to the people of Austrailia. The citizens of the US think very highly of the Austrailians. Please keep us informed if there are any relief funds or appropriate charities.

It's hard to think about the speed that the fires must have had as they propagated. That had to be scary for anyone involved. I have two sons and several friends who are volunteer firefighters so my heart also goes out to the many fire service personnel who have been involved. Helicopters make good news video, but most firefighting is still a brave person going out to "put the wet where the red is".

Gary B.

 

[OzDigger]

These are disasters waiting to happen. Build cities on earthquake faults, flood and fire areas. Sooner or later you are going to have a tragic situation. Once people move into those areas there really is no perfect solution. You can't relocate the entire population of San Francisco, but we all know they are going to get it one day when the big one hits. It's not a matter of chance, but certainty.

Every environment has potential for natural disasters. You forgot to mention areas affected by volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis (every low lying coastal area), and of course heavy snow and ice storms etc. You can't beat nature and you can't escape from it, the best you can do is take measures to reduce the impact of a natural effect.

 

[The General]

Am currently in Thailand. Can any of my fellow Aussies tell me what the official death toll is?

 

[theBaron]

I heard in the news this morning that a suspect has been arrested for the arson charge.