Fantasque Time Line

Casus Frankie

Ceci n'a rien à voir avec la FTL... sauf que cela arrive à nos "amis électroniques" australiens. Lors de nos échanges de mails avec eux, Loïc et moi avons vu soudain les incendies de forêt faire irruption. Voici. Je ne traduis pas, je pense que tout le monde peut lire. C'est impressionnant.

mark bailey wrote:
>Franck and Loic
>I have just been informed that one of the main gamers has been
>deployed with the ACT Volunteer Bushfire Brigade to the ongoing
>disaster in Victoria (126 now confirmed killed, home losses heading to 1,000, 3500 square kilometres burned out and the main fire front is 80km across).
>So, right now, other things take precedence.
>Shane, FYI 100 firies [firemen] left CBR [Canberra] this AM for VIC [Victoria state] and are on the lines now. Another 100 are prepping, and thousands are pouring in from all other states. So VIC is getting back the helping hand she has so freely given in the past (not the least to the ACT in '03, of course).
>The sheer scale of this thing is amazing. It makes Ash Wednesday [Mercredi des Cendres, dernier grand épisode d'incendies en Australie] look like a tea party. I have spoken to Shirley (Coburg), she's OK from the heat but naturally she's worried about her brother, he runs the old folks home at Yackandandah (it's in the gunsights right now according to her) and he's organising the evac of 49 elderly and infirm.
>Not fun times at all.
>Mark

From: Shane Rogers
> YAK??? Oh shit, they're not in the sights mate, they're crowing the muzzle, but an OAP's home would be well clear by now. So far me and mine are cool, but a mate has lost two colleges from work, two more sucessfully defended their homes and another is locked down in Yea.
> Am I reading between the lines correctly here?
> The official advice changed today from "implement your personal fire plan and monitor the radio" to "If you can see smoke evacuate immediately. If you see fire stay and defend your home as best you can."
> 'stay and defend your home *as best you can*' is VERBATIM. Now is it just me, or is this saying - 'If you can see fire you are dead and we'd like it if you didn't block the roads with your burned out cars'
> If I'm right those are hard hard words mate. Hard words I never thought I'd be hearing at home.
> I'm glad Shirly is good, Coburg is as safe as houses.
> shane

mark bailey
> Things look to have eased overnight but the Beechworth fire front is still running free, things went very bad yesterday when it crossed the Yackandandah-Dederang Road about 20km SE of Beechworth. Bastard also crossed the Kiewa River between Running Creek and Coral Bank (what's that, about 20km further south?) and as you say that puts Yackandandah and Beechworth in the muzzle of the gun. Let's hope the wind does not strengthen. As I said to Shirl, after pregnant women and women with infants and toddlers, and hospital's patients, the OAP will be No.3 on the evac list.
> I know Shirley's OK in Coburg, but obviously she's very worried about her brother. Glad you and yours are good.
> The local response here in the ACT has been phenominal, the Red Cross Blood service has shifted to 24/7 and still cannot cope with the blood donors, the 2 local radio stations who started orchestrating clothing/toys/non-perishable foods thought they'd fill 4 containers yesterday, they filled 7, and they have just asked people to stop bringing goods in as they have enough at 0830 this AM for the 10 containers they could get hold of overnight. So they thought they'd fill 4, and it's been 17, all in 36 hours.
> The local clubs made a cash donation of $50,000 and said that they'd spend $20,000 on canned/dry food, the local wholesalers said they'd match that $ for $. Just here in the ACT I thinkl $3,000,000 has been raised by public donation.
> My daughter spent last night going through her clothes and sorting out sets, bagging them up marked 'girl 10/11/12 years old size Y'.
> Everyone is doing what they can.
> I think you are right on the emergency broadcasts. If that's verbatim, it cannot mean anything else. I never thought I'd hear such words. The defences are not holding and we have the best defences there are. At least it is realistic and tells people the reality. This may go on for 2-3 weeks according to my brother (20 years NSW RFS in Saltash, he's 53 so now he drives the tanker-truck).
> 174 killed so far, 2 towns destroyed, and a lot of areas yet unsearched for corpses. Never thought I'd see something worse than Ash Wednesday.
> Mark

Casus Frankie

Subject: From France
Hi Mark and Shane
Would you mind if I post your mails on the French FFO Forum ?
I think that's the best thing I can do to show the people here how it is "really" in Australia.
Frank

Mark wrote
I have no problem with that.
One small request is that it is possible to donate to the relief effort at :

http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm

And for Catholics who wish to donate via the Society of St Vincent de Paul
https://www.vinnies.org.au/onlinedonations/index.cfm?state=vic&appeal=63

If these could be posted too?
Thanks: Mark

Indeed
Loic and Frank[/b]

loic

J'ai simplement déplacé le sujet dans la section forum
_________________
On ne trébuche pas deux fois sur la même pierre (proverbe oriental)
En principe (moi) ...

Casus Frankie

From: Shane

Well I spoke a little soon, Geoff lost one of his oldest mates with his wife at Kinglake, he used to live four doors down the hill and mark, I can see the fires from where you parked your car.

You're guys (ACT) seem to be operating out of Beechworth, its a lovely town, great bakery, and I don't need to say the assistance is greatly appreciated, what goes around comes around as you well know. The overnight seacat from Tassie was booked out with appliances, and I hope to hell they don't need them at home, cos sending them here is a hell of a risk with the delay in any possible return.

Just to give a little background here, and obviously Frank you can post this wherever you like, Saturday was a 'perfect storm' in terms of fire conditions. We have a climatic model for rating the fire risk and a forecast of 100 points on that scale is considered a day of Maximum Risk, and sees all the the services put on alert and full precautions imposed. Well Saturday was predicted to hit about 150 points, on the day it reached between 250 and 300 points. Record high temperatures on top of eleven years of drought.

Fire is simply a fact of life here, 3 years ago (IIRC) we lost something like 25% of Denmark, that was a bad year but not a disaster by any means, I can't remember exactly how many people died that year but it was less than ten - the last count I heard was 174 but the Coroner has hired a couple of refrigerated containers, the present public estimate is 250 or so. The fire was ferocious yes, but all big fires are, the problem here was its SPEED, at times certain fires reached over 80kph across country and were throwing spot fires (caused by burning debris carried by the wind) up to 20km ahead of the main fire front. The fire literally out paced the flow of information, so the first people knew of the immediate danger was the fire reaching them. Under those conditions survival is a matter of chance and even the best prepared could die.

Speaking personally, my frustration is simple, I don't want to donate goods or money, I'm doing both and giving blood to boot, and I don't want to make sandwiches either. I want to grab a hose and help, but living where I do, there is no existing path for me to do this. Granted this is not a new feeling, I get it every year at this time, so I've had an idea and I'm speaking to some people I know in the media to see if I can get it floated publicly. Hows this Mark. CFA (RFS etc) Auxiliary units in urban areas that are purely there to bulk out the force. We have a declining rural population, drawing units from across the state and country leaves areas vulnerable, while dumping all the load on a very small portion of the population, and I can't believe there's not more people like me out there. So why not put it all together and raise volunteer city units, that don't have to worry about their homes and have a much wider recruiting/fund raising base. They don't even need their own vehicles, because without a local area to protect they are mostly going to be operating as relief crews - so it comes down to a scout hall and some overalls.

17 containers - fuck me, there's no words. I think if I had to sum things up here, I've got to mutilate Dickens

It is the worst of times, it is the best of times.
The way people are responding makes me proud to be a human being.

shane

From: Mark

Oh shit, I had hoped that you'd not have to face this. Helping your uncle Geoff cope has to be your short term goal.

Auxiliary city-based CFA and RFS units - I'd be in with bells on. There will be a million weird and wacky suggestions going to the top of the tree, so the idea will get lost in the noise. So going to the various ministers with this idea is not going to work - central governmetns are incompetent, inefficient and too damned slow. SO do it from the bottom of the tree, at the local volunteer level, make sure it works first and spread it grass roots.

If it is an auxiliary, then it fits within the unpaid volunteer ethos of the entire Rural Fire Service. So it could link to their training and above all it allows people with appropriate PRIVATE vehicles to play. I'd be perfectly happy to adapt my own diesel Hilux to the purpose at my and my 'groups' private expense. SO if you got 4-5 blokes, one has a vehicle and maintains it properly, and the 'group' funds the PPE and fire equipment to CFR/RFS standards...

And all that needs is RFS/CFS formal approval and quality control so that untrained people are kept away, they being a danger to themselves. SO it connects to RFS/CFS standards, procedures, training and callout requirements. Nearly everything would be done at the local level, and to hell with the government, they'd catch up in due course, always a day late and bumbling along behind.

For example, in the Tassie model, with the front-line volunteers deployed to Victoria (perhaps for a month) this 'urban RFS auxiliary' would be moved into their reaction slot.
Why the hell not?
Mark

From: Mark (again)

Mate
How about over the next couple of weeks you and I sort out a draft proposal on this RFS urban auxiliary. We'll need to anyway to clarify our thinking.

How about we then take it to our local RFS/CFA boys and get their opinions. Once we have that sorted - which might take a while - we either hand it to them or give it a public airing via media (perhaps Tim bLair/Andrew Bolt - as journalists - might assist) or some other means.

Above all else, it has to be calm, rational and well thought through and costed.
Mark

Casus Frankie

02/23/09 03:16:23
The fires are close to Shane's father's town. He lives in Blackwood, and has access to a refuge with an exceptionally good water-barrier defence system. The town is under the smoke penumbra and is probably under moderate ember attack from the Muskville-Hogan's Road fire. The wind indicates that the town is probably going to be OK with a little luck and if the fire does not spot too badly.
Mark

(ember attack : "attaque de braises" : ce sont des coups de vent emportant des braises, qui peuvent faire d'un coup progresser l'incendie)

02/23/09 22:32:51
I have talked with Shane today. His father lives in a place that is a disaster waiting to happen, so Shane was up most of the night in case he was needed.
A wind-shift at about midnight took the fire away from the Blackwood area where Shane's father lives, which is very good news.
ON a sadder issue, my daughter (13) has just realised that one of her primary school friends from when she attended Holy Family Primary School (Parish school, where our Church is) was the son of the Canberra-based firefighter killed in Victoria. His funeral was today, in the Parish Church.
The fires in Victoria are very much ongoing and remain very dangerous. This situation may continue for some weeks.
Mark