Melbourne fires

[joepee]

Aitch,

I have been meaning to check and see if you were okay. I did check in a while back and saw no fire topics.

But... you and your son and your safety have been on my mind. Tell me about your experiences and whether you were unscathed. I think everyone there must have been affected in some way.

Hope all is well,

joepee

[gregga41]

Joe,
A topic in "The Others" section, entitled "It Was So Hot Here Last Week" has most of the info you seek. As Aitch will confirm, he's fine, although the fires did come a tad close.
Just to update, long awaited rainfall has finally arrived, and has almost halted the bushfire threat. Up until last night there were 4 serious fires still burning in the outer-Melbourne and Victorian country areas. Firefighters from interstate,as well as New Zealand and the U.S.A have been able to return to their respective home stations. 210 people died and nearly 2000 homes destroyed.

[beatlefreak]

Just to update, long awaited rainfall has finally arrived, and has almost halted the bushfire threat.

That's great news!

[johnallg]

Just to update, long awaited rainfall has finally arrived, and has almost halted the bushfire threat.

That's great news!

Yes, that is really good news. I too was wondering how things down under were going. Thanks for the update, Greg. Now starts the rebuilding.

[ozover50]

Thanks for your concern, Joe.

Luckily all of us Melbourne forumites were not in the vicinity of any of the major fires..... I may have been closest at about 30km. Darren Trott has certainly been heavily immersed in them but from an insurance and victim assistance aspect.

As Greg has said, there were still four going as of Tuesday but solid rain over the last two nights may have pretty much doused them.

It seems the governments have worked out the assistance packages for those affected - both the insured and uninsured so hopefully the rebuilding process is virtually under way. A number of people still can't go back to where they lived because some areas are still off limits - they are being treated as crime scenes due to suspected arson.

Most of the recommendations from the last bushfire Royal Commission were not implemented or completely ignored so let's hope some sensible stuff comes out of this one and the governments act immediately. There is no doubt that as many lives would not have been lost had the previously recommended early warning system been implemented but it wasn't due to governments not agreeing on whose responsibility it was. Sad but true.........