Re: OT-CHAT: Oz fires?

Hi Linda

They were extreme around Canberra (the Capital in ACT) about 500 homes and 4
lives lost. Northern EasternVictoria has fires in the alpine region of all
places. The whole of South Eastern Australia is on extreme alert for this
weekend with a forecast of high winds and temperatures of about 40C or more
(about 105F plus)  The last few days of cooler weather have enabled  the
fires have been brought under better control, but this weekend could well
cause the to flare again. Plus there are always the arsonists who can't
resist a new challenge or the idiots who have now idea of fire safety. There
are still people who use welders outside or use slashers on  areas with a
few rocks on complete fire ban days, to say nothing of those that decide to
burn a bit of rubbish. One spark is all it takes.
We are in fairly open farmland, rather than bush but our fire plans are
better organised than they have ever been before.
The fire risk is so extreme this year because
A, there hasn't been a major fire in SE Aust for about 20 years
B, the last few years have had good rains so there is a high fuel load in
the bush, pine plantations and on private properties.
C, For many parts of Aust this is the worst drought for 100 years so
everything is tinder dry.

So even if we get through this weekend safely we've still got the rest of a
hot dry summer to get through. El Ninos cause extreme cold and floods in
your parts of the world and extreme drought and fire risk in ours. Even so I
think I'd rather our climate than yours. I saw a bit of the US Today show
this morning. The North East weather looks horrible.

Colleen Modra
Adelaide Hills
South Australia  Zone 8/9

www.impressiveirises.com.au
colleen@impressiveirises.com.au
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Mann" <lmann@volfirst.net>
To: "iris- talk" <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 4:54 AM
Subject: [iris] OT-CHAT: Oz fires?


> Apologies for not knowing where anything is in Oz, but are wildfires
> near any of you?  It sounds really bad.
>
> --
> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
> Updates on migrant whooping cranes:
> http://www.savingcranes.org/whatsnew/Class2002FloridaMain.asp
> American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
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