Hi folks, With apologies for cross posting - Am sending this up date to the list so that you all know what's going on - it seems that you have been getting pretty scary pictures on your TV and just "Sydney" mentioned - to all of you who have been concerned her is snapshot of the situation - We have had very hot long dry spell, very little rain and the authorities were aware that it could be a bad summer here. We now have approx 100 fires burning in various parts of the State extending since Christmas Day with no respite. - temperatures in the high 30c up to 40c with strong almost galeforce winds at times. The main worries have been in the southern area around Sydney and on the south coast. The fire actually "in" Sydney yesterday was probably deliberately started in Pennant Hills park (about 15 min from me) and with strong winds headed down the valley towards Lane Cove and the metro area. There was massive operation to stop loss of property which thankfully has been successful but down on the south coast 12 homes were lost yesterday and people evacuated form Kurragong Heights just west of here in the foothills of the Blue Mts. Last week about 150 homes were lost south of Sydney in the Heathcote and hellensburg area. As far as we know, all people with dog are e OK, some have had to evacuate but have returned to their homes, others are still packed and ready to go if need be. The scale of the organisation is staggering and we all here are just overwhelmed with admiration and gratitude for the fire fighters - at this time about 20,000 fireys and support people are involved. mostly people from the totally volunteer and unpaid rural fire brigades and country fire authorities. We have had them fly and drive in from all over Australia and even some over from NZ. The organisation and skill with which they have worked is amazing and its a tribute to their dedication that some of them have not been home since Christmas Day, many of them are taking their holiday tome to do this and many taking time off work to put themselves in danger and save people- they don't get paid for this. There are dozens of helicopters water bombing and we have one of the big helicranes from Canada operating that can take 9.000 litres of water at a time and which has been directly responsible for saving many homes yesterday when things got so hairy in Sydney. The amazing thing is that no lives have been lost - My 5 acres are bone dry but the area around my house and barn is clear, mowed and raked, and I have the garden and house surrounds as damp as I can make it! VBG To all of you who have been worried, we thank you for your thoughts - the "dog people" are wonderful.
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