Fires in Junee, NSW

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 09:33 PM

Well no doubt some of you have seen and heard about the fires currently ravaging my hometown at the moment. It's been a bit of an interesting day, I couldnt get home due to blocked roads, had to circle around the town, finally got in where it was 47 degs and black as night from the smoke, and after a drive around it seems that around 8 houses have been destroyed by the fire, as well as hundreds of acres of land both in and around Junee. We've lost our block of land and had flames around 500m away from our house, as did some of my rellies, but thankfully we havent lost any of our homes or posessions.

As Im typing this there are still some 30 or so fire trucks running around town, and mrs b2tf's parents place which is around a half hr away is very close to being overrun by fire.

The Monty · 01-01-2006, 09:45 PM

Thats no good man. Hope everything goes well for you.

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 09:47 PM

#Russ#Es# · 01-01-2006, 09:50 PM

Hope you stay safe overnight. I know how scary the threat of a bushfire can be...we lost a hayshed (full of hay) on the farm a few years ago...Alot of people underestimate the power of a fire unless they are affected by one themselves.

Hopefully the weather will be favourable over the next few weeks to lessen the chance of more fires.

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 09:53 PM

davocol · 01-01-2006, 09:55 PM

Geez, I know the place. I have been there about 15 times, my girlfriends Dad lives there, just got hold of him and he has said he is ok which is good. Hope everything goes well mate, it's a nice little town.

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 09:56 PM

Oh and I should add - have a guess how this damn fire started. Some inconsiderate (not even going to try typing what I want to say) threw a ciggy butt out the window along the highway outside of town. So I hope they're happy - one firie in hospital with burns to 60% of his body, and numerous houses gone. Well done whoever you are.

rodderz · 01-01-2006, 09:56 PM

Hopefully you, your friends and family are all ok Austin, along with no more damage to property

This time of year is certainly very dangerous for fires particularly if the vegetation and topography allows it. After seeing the aftermath of Canberra a few years back it shows just how dangerous it can be

LUXO_8 · 01-01-2006, 09:57 PM

austin, hope you guys stay safe and out of harms way. within 500m from your house is damn close....
i saw it on the news and had forgotten we have a far amount of members from in and around teh wagga surrounds.... kinda hits home a bit more to see those pics....
sucks to read how it was started, karma is a biИch..... they'll get whats coming to them mate....

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 10:01 PM

Thanks guys, we should be ok. Just went out the front and can hear helicopters dumping water on it, hopefully it wont go for much longer. Bit of a cooler change coming through now and we may even get some rain out of it.

MO · 01-01-2006, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

Oh and I should add - have a guess how this damn fire started. Some inconsiderate (not even going to try typing what I want to say) threw a ciggy butt out the window along the highway outside of town. So I hope they're happy - one firie in hospital with burns to 60% of his body, and numerous houses gone. Well done whoever you are.

OK whilst I appreciate that there has to be an explantion for the start of the fire....IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY to have been started by a cig butt this is the most commonally used excuse/reason when there is no other obvious cause...its highly likely it was started by a piece of glass magnifying the sun.

Or more to the point(if there were no storms around)by some idiot deliberately lighting the fire!

BA Bakes · 01-01-2006, 10:38 PM

Hey Aust,

I just got home from running the airbase for the fixed wings aircraft bombing the fire. Spend the day pump 10's of 1000's of litres into them, plus we have sent a crew out, second shift about to swap in the next 15 minutes. I probably be out there tomorrow, if you see a Forest Hill truck give us a wave.

I should point out that there is no official cause of how the fire started at this stage.

Hope all you family's is safe mate. Take care.

cheers,
Luke

Psycho Chicken · 01-01-2006, 10:41 PM

How could anyone possibly suggest a cause this early on?

MO · 01-01-2006, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

How could anyone possibly suggest a cause this early on?

Exactly.

b2tf · 01-01-2006, 11:04 PM

Ok, if thats not the case then im happy, just going off what was being said. There is a point on the highway where the fire looks like it has started, and i guess it's just jumping to conclusions. Anyway, point is, its not over yet.

Luke I saw a Forest Hill Tanker at the end of my street tonight filling up from the hydrant, didnt see you there though.

mr2 b2tf's house is surrounded on all sides apparently, so it will be interesting to see if its there in the morning. She and her family are safely out of there though.

ten[A]cio[U]s · 01-01-2006, 11:11 PM

Not good to hear Austin.. I hope that all turns out well. One of my mums friends house has it right behind their back fence and her parents have it nice and close too.. Best part is that noone has been hurt yet but still terrible to hear man.. All the best.

Matt

MO · 01-01-2006, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

Ok, if thats not the case then im happy, just going off what was being said. There is a point on the highway where the fire looks like it has started, and i guess it's just jumping to conclusions. Anyway, point is, its not over yet.

Luke I saw a Forest Hill Tanker at the end of my street tonight filling up from the hydrant, didnt see you there though.

mr2 b2tf's house is surrounded on all sides apparently, so it will be interesting to see if its there in the morning. She and her family are safely out of there though.

Fair enough Austin..but you know the story about what you read and hear.....anyway I hope you and yours come through unscathed and please clear all the ИИИИ from around your houses to lessen the chance of it hurting you..clean out gutters and everthing within 30 mtrs of property.

Fill every possible container with water,including the bath and kitchen sink and have your house hoses ready to kill embers and sparks.

Good luck

Bucknaked · 02-01-2006, 07:31 AM

Good luck Austin.

**Mechan1k** · 02-01-2006, 07:59 AM

The fires have eased in other areas though .... Woy Woy and the F3 were blocked off as well .... thank goodness for the rain early this morning up this way to help keep the fires at bay.

We have hi temps at Kurrajong yesterday (near Richmond) .... had 49.5 deg in the shade (some much for the supposed 44 deg that was mention for Richmond.

I had a thermometer in the sun against the back shed to see what it was like .... thermometer exploded at 60 deg C.

Our house air conditioner in house decided it was too hot to work ... so that didn't work till 10pm last night. I went out in the ute for a drive ... at least that air-con was working perfectly.

bprint xr8 · 02-01-2006, 09:43 AM

Glad to hear that your ok Aust.

How did things end up with Mrs b2tf's property?

big_pete · 02-01-2006, 11:17 AM

hope everything is ok

ill be passing through today on the train

02-01-2006, 04:06 PM

THANKS for the pics B2TF my mother is up here in carins spending x mas new years with me. Last night on the ABC it reported that there where fires in the township and monte cristo was burnt. she lives near the catholic church and immedatly went into panic mode. rang all the neighbours in the area ( even the ones she doesn't like ) trying to get someone to tell her if the house was all right. she couldn't contact anyone even after ringing the police and they told her it was all right. This morning she was packing madly and ringing airlines looking for a flight home. i decided to kill some time while she was running around like a chook with her head cut off and I came across your post i showed her the pics of the wetlands and john potts drive. she is now a lot less worried even though the fires where about 100 meters from her place.

If i had been smart i wouldn;t have shown her the pics and she would have jumped on a plane and left me alone D"OAH

b2tf · 02-01-2006, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJPOWER

THANKS for the pics B2TF my mother is up here in carins spending x mas new years with me. Last night on the ABC it reported that there where fires in the township and monte cristo was burnt. she lives near the catholic church and immedatly went into panic mode. rang all the neighbours in the area ( even the ones she doesn't like ) trying to get someone to tell her if the house was all right. she couldn't contact anyone even after ringing the police and they told her it was all right. This morning she was packing madly and ringing airlines looking for a flight home. i decided to kill some time while she was running around like a chook with her head cut off and I came across your post i showed her the pics of the wetlands and john potts drive. she is now a lot less worried even though the fires where about 100 meters from her place.

If i had been smart i wouldn;t have shown her the pics and she would have jumped on a plane and left me alone D"OAH

Hehe, not a problem. I can assure you Monte Cristo is still standing and untouched, no houses lost in that area, but blocks burnt out. I'll have some pics of it up in a sec.

thanks to all who SMS'd and emailed, i must admit i have no idea who half of them are from but I really appreciate the thoughts.

mrs b2tf's house was, it turned out, smack bang in the middle of where 2 fire fronts were set to join, but it's still standing and hasnt copped any damage as far as we know.

LUXO_8 · 02-01-2006, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

mrs b2tf's house was, it turned out, smack bang in the middle of where 2 fire fronts were set to join, but it's still standing and hasnt copped any damage as far as we know.

damn...what are the odds hey..

lucky!

b2tf · 02-01-2006, 08:22 PM

some more pics i took today......

This one (above) is a shot of the side of the road into town, this is around 500m away from where you actually start to hit houses etc.

Still smouldering, plenty of spots like this still around.

Heading out of town, houses all around this area though. You can see them in the back.

Scary stuff, you can see just how close the fire got to homes before it was luckily stopped.

Shot of the area where our block of land is.

This was the Junee Wetlands, which are practically in the middle of town. Not the first time they have burnt out but very scary to see, mainly because the main street and a lot of homes and businesses are about 5 mins walk from this spot.

Another shot of the wetlands.

This used to be the boardwalk through the wetlands - all gone now.

Another shot of one of the new estates in town.

**Kingsley** · 02-01-2006, 08:41 PM

Great shot's. Thanks. Geez it was close. Glad everything's ok though. Must've been horrifying.
I'll must congratulate the firefighters and volunteers for doing such a great job fighting these fires on the what must've been the worst type of conditions. Thanks guy's and girls. Also condolances to those who lost property and pocessions. Also condolances to the family of the volunteer who passed away giving his time to help others. Also wishing a speedy recovery to the other individual who was so badly injured fighting the fires yesterday.

clontarf_x · 03-01-2006, 12:22 AM

Please remmber this is a joke,

but for the new estates, quick an easy way to clear the area for development :P

but in all seriousness I feel sorry for you guys over east, your fires are shocking!

Josh_XC · 03-01-2006, 01:12 AM

glad to hear u and ya family is safe man.

banarcus · 03-01-2006, 08:54 AM

Saw the news last night watching dumb sheep getting burnt and watching those gun cropdusters bombing the flames with precision. Gotta say it was hot everywhere in NSW, the hottest day I've ever experienced.

MO · 03-01-2006, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banarcus

Saw the news last night watching dumb sheep getting burnt and watching those gun cropdusters bombing the flames with precision. Gotta say it was hot everywhere in NSW, the hottest day I've ever experienced.

Are you for real..........