On Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:19:04 +0900, "David Savage" <[email protected]> said: > And the news that arsonists are responsible for some of the fires that > lead to deaths is enraging a lot of people. >
Yeah - unfortunately a large number of summer fires are started by these morons. And they're almost impossible to catch in the act. Having said that, dry lightning strikes are responsible for many outbreaks as well. I was amazed at how readily this can happen when a lightning strike set a large tree alight in our back paddock a couple of years ago. The resultant fire took hold incredibly quickly. Had the lightning not been followed by heavy rain after about 10 minutes, I shudder to think what might have happened. Cheers Brian ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Brian Walters Western Sydney Australia http://members.westnet.com.au/brianwal/SL/ > > 2009/2/11 Paul <[email protected]>: > > Hi, > > > > I'm in Melbourne and the whole thing still seems a bit surreal at this > > stage. I was at a family members house on Saturday, it was so hot, the air > > was thick with smoke and wind was unbelievably strong. Some of the areas > > hit are only a 30 minute drive from the central business and are pretty much > > the outer suburbs of Melbourne. > > > > I can think of the two other PDML members of the past who live in Melbourne > > and from memory they weren't in any area affected. > > > > Paul > > > > [email protected] wrote: > >> > >> ---- Anthony Farr <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> I'm in Sydney, which is safe. The fires near here didn't get very bad. > >>> Melbourne's summer climate is much more arid than Sydney's, so fires > >>> there > >>> are more frequently close to the flashpoint at which vapourised > >>> eucalyptus > >>> oil in the atmosphere will explode into a fireball. Sydney's blanketing > >>> humidity usually suppresses the combustibility of the atmosphere around > >>> the > >>> fire front. > >> > >> I'm finding the news pics we see here decidedly odd. You will see an > >> aerial shot of maybe a dozen dwellings, all razed to the ground. Around > >> them are numerous, perfectly flammable trees that have not, apparently, > >> been > >> touched. In another shot you will see large areas of woodland reduced to > >> grey ash, with nearby dwellings apparently untouched. > >> > >> > >>> > >>> There is a Melbourne pdmler whose been in lurk mode for a good while, his > >>> name escapes me, but I think he's a city boy so should be safe (I hope so > >>> anyway). > >>> > >>> Regards, Anthony > >>> > >>> > >>>> > >>>> -----Original Message----- > >>>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > >>>> > >>> > >>> ann > >>> > >>>> > >>>> sanfedele > >>>> Sent: Monday, 9 February 2009 3:18 PM > >>>> To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>> Subject: are all our Aussies ok? > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> I'll take our iciness to fire anyday -- hope everyone is safe > >>>> > >>>> ann > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > -- -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love email again -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
