Australian/New Zealand Peas and the fires

I keep hearing horrific stats about how many acres have burned, hoe many homes have been lost, how many animals have died etc. How will they/you guys deal with it I wonder...it seems so utterly overwhelming!

I can’t imagine the fear and loss that people are facing as a result of these fires. I saw a heartbreaking photo of a tiny boy receiving a metal after his firefighter father was killed. I hope everybody can stay safe and that this will end soon.

Is any rain forecast? All I've seen is the expectation of another difficult day tomorrow

The images I've seen are nightmarish--red skies, people evacuating to the beach because there is no other place to go. How can anyone even breathe? I hope they can contain the fires soon.

my eldest DS lives in Sydney - he tells me not to worry, but I do.

He works on building sites, and every so often, the site is closed down due to the smoke, and the unsafe working conditions/air quality

I just saw an aerial map (Bloomberg) and the whole continent (but for a small western portion) www.yahoo.com/news/australia-wildfires-quickly-end-leader-130000462.html is ringed in wildfires. Absolutely terrifying. I can't imagine the devastation Australia is experiencing. The numbers are horrendous. My heart goes out to all of our Aussie friends.

Thinking of the Australian peas. It's hard to imagine how big these fires are.

It's horrific. And whilst Aussies are generally really good at pulling together in a crisis, and certainly people will donate generously and continue acts of selflessness to help those in need, it feels like we're also spending a lot of time arguing over whose fault the fires are. Mainly along climate change lines. I don't think anyone can argue any more that this is part of the normal cycle in Australia.

I feel quite overwhelmed by it all and I'm abnormally indecisive. I have money to donate, but there are so many places that need it that I don't know where I want to donate it. I want to do something with my business in support but don't know how to do it without looking like I'm trying to use the situation for marketing purposes. We're supposed to be going on holiday tomorrow to a small beachside area. It's an hour and a half from the major fire front and it's not heading in that direction, but part of me feels we should cancel and part of me feels like they need people to still go and support their local economy.

That was so poignant...it brought tears to my eyes

It's an absolute nightmare on the east coast with no end in sight. I know a handful of people who are on alert but not under direct threat at this stage.

I'm in Western Australia so we are ok at the moment. That said we had a dreadful time 3 weeks ago where we nearly lost our home. I mentioned it on the previous thread about the fires. The weather was hot and windy and the fire just couldn't be controlled. I was evacuated for a week and DH was trapped at home during that time, which was a nightmare. The firefighters did an amazing job to mostly steer it around the properties. One house and business was lost on the first day and the only other damage was to fences. We were extremely lucky.

It's heartbreaking for the wildlife. We are rural so get lots of kangaroos etc in our garden. The new joeys all seem to have disappeared since the fire which makes me very sad.

Watching the news from NSW and VIC makes me realise how lucky we were but also makes me feel for them even more than just seeing news on the TV. I have a rough idea about what they are really going through.

We are in the Westernport area of Victoria so no fires here. The first load of evacuees from the Mallacoota area have arrived here by ship this morning. HMAS Cerberus Navy Base begins at the end our street and I understand that some of them will be housed there and others a couple of towns over in Somerville. Our community has really stepped up with offers of assistance. Our local vet clinic is sending down a vet and nurse to assist.  As we are close to the water a haze has settled over the down and there is a strong smell of smoke. But we are so lucky we haven’t experienced an fires directly.  We are in Bush
land and have had to evacuate on a couple of occasions previously and it’s pretty scary. My thoughts really go out to those in the middle of it all and the wildlife loss is just devastating.

Thank you for your thoughts. Where I live we are safe and well away from any of the fires but we know many people who have had to evacuate their homes or where they were holidaying. Just before Christmas my brother in the Adelaide Hills was evacuated and our planned family gathering at this place on the 21st had to be relocated. They are safe now but still on a "watch and act".

The scale and devastation of so many parts of the country is unfathomable. Fires are joining and are not defendable. Firefighters (many volunteer brigades) have been working crazy hours for months.

This is also the busiest time of the year for many of the areas. It is our summer holidays so towns near the beach that may have a usual population of about 1000 people may have 10x that at this time of year. 

I don't know of one person who doesn't have someone they know affected. The scale is so heartbreaking

We have had forest fire smoke haze here before several times, but the closest fire was 40 miles away and it was awful. Sorry Peas that are dealing with this I hope you have rain, and blue sky again soon.

admin can we please pin this one to the top? I’m sure many more Peas want to help.