Tonight the Dandenong Ranges are no longer visible from our house. The smoke is thick in the air and it is hard to breath. It has even managed to work its way into the house. They warned us that the eastern areas of Melbourne would be affected by smoke. We feel too far away but we’re not. I feel like life has stopped still inside a blazing furnace that is hell… that is Victoria. Even those who aren’t affected by the fires themselves are affected by the horror of what has happened in the last week.
Last Saturday we were shocked by the smoke that billowed across the sky from the fires in Kinglake. A week later we are still stunned by the devestation of our state. How can the state rebuilt, how can those people affected by the fires move on? When the fires are still blazing.
What started with me reading the paper for news of what is happening at the beginning of the week is now me crying at the heart-breaking stories of people losing homes, pets and loved ones. But it is also about the heroes. Even if they don’t know they’re heroes. The guy who saved the family of five from an approaching firewall, the young man who lay on top of his 94 year old great uncle as the firefront passed and burnt down their house, even the firefighter who saved Sam the koala… especially the firefighters, many of them volunteers battling and inferno so hot the stats give you goosebumps.
Average bushfire:
Short distance spotting 50-100m (spotting = where embers, burning leaves and branches are thrown in front of the fire)
Long distance spotting 1-2km
Energy expelled 10,000kW/m of fire
Flame Height 10-20m
Proximity to flames up to 80m
Black Saturday:
Short distance spotting 1-2km
Long distance spotting 15km
Energy expelled 60-80,000kW/m of fire (equivalent to 500 Hiroshima atomic bombs released at once)
Flame Height 50m
Proximity to flames up to 200m (making it difficult for the firefighters to get close)
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