Tassie Fires - Anyone swaggers caught out

[Black Diamond]

Tasfire must have taken all the good ideas back with them as the CFA site shat itself yesterday.

There are very few properties in general that are fire ready.

Tell me about it. It was down randomly down today as well. We got caught out in SA heading for Portland. We had planned to detour on a road that was open in that area (so we thought) and got caught out as the site was down and the road had been closed after the last time we checked while it was up   so we spent a day chasing our tails.
Stay safe everyone down there

BD

[achjimmy]

Tasfire must have taken all the good ideas back with them as the CFA site shat itself yesterday.

There are very few properties in general that are fire ready.

I watched a doco on the aftermath of the ViC fires and the families. Tragic as it was, what I could not belive was that they allowed some of those families to rebuild there homes simalar to before. One where the grand kids and others pershied was a raised timber home exposed around the piers and it was rebuilt the same! The RFS would have a fit in NSW if you tried to build that. They override the council in the blue mountains and can demand a block be almost striped of trees prior to approval for building. They have rules on slope of block, no continous canopy, asset protection area etc etc. as they are asked to risk there life to protect it so they should have a say that it is built with a reasonable chance of survival IMO?

[D4D]

...what I could not belive was that they allowed some of those families to rebuild there homes simalar to before.

Dunno about that, anywhere near Marysville they have been really hard on the new building code which is why Marysville will never be the same.
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/new-home-and-high-hopes-for-black-saturday-survivors-20130104-2c80o.html

[cruisindub]

Fark!?!

Yep,  I'd second that!

We've just had a nice afternoon of rain, still didnt stop the relentless hot wind early enough in the day. 

[DannyG]

I watched a doco on the aftermath of the ViC fires and the families. Tragic as it was, what I could not belive was that they allowed some of those families to rebuild there homes simalar to before. One where the grand kids and others pershied was a raised timber home exposed around the piers and it was rebuilt the same! The RFS would have a fit in NSW if you tried to build that. They override the council in the blue mountains and can demand a block be almost striped of trees prior to approval for building. They have rules on slope of block, no continous canopy, asset protection area etc etc. as they are asked to risk there life to protect it so they should have a say that it is built with a reasonable chance of survival IMO?

I tend to agree a bit with what your saying.

As a nation we are learning as each major bushfire is done and dusted and as we saw in Tassie we now have far better warnings in place than we did in the past, so luckily there is little to zero loss of life but from an outsider looking in there seems like so much more could be done to help prevent loss of property.

I hate to start a debate on this because without the knowledge needed to fully understand the practical side of it I could be way out of the ball park but geez we have some fuel in the undergrowth in our bush in Tassie. I realise some areas dont have the fire breaks etc to safely do this but surely once a fire has been through an area it is the ideal time to set up the planning for future burns and make sure the redevelopment of an area is as safe as possible to handle a fire.

Once again, I really dont have enough of an idea as to whats involved in making our bush safer but maybe we should look at how the aboriginals have done it for years??

[Sicilianmama]

Fark!

:0

[Bird]

This is still good news at the moment.

The Tasmanian bushfires are still fatality-free after a police search of one of the state’s worst-hit towns.
It is still far too early to confirm that that is not the case. But we have to brace ourselves for the fact we may locate one or more deceased.
Police searched 335 properties in and near Dunalley, a village on the state’s east coast, but have not found any bodies.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/police-begin-grim-search-for-fire-victims-20130106-2cb6o.html#ixzz2HFTvO33n

On the RFS can demand clearing land in Blue mountains, this is proof that Victorian Councils and Gov (Greens) are stupid. Blokes house was a rare one in the area still standing, but the council wont admit he was right to clear the land.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/fined-for-illegal-clearing-family-now-feel-vindicated-20090211-84sw.html

Yet someone was arrested for Arson in Dandenongs on weekend.. WTF was she thinking?

[Bird]

So is this the result of no burn offs and stuff? I don't remember any large bush fires in Tasmania for a long time. Any Tassie swaggers know when the last large fires were?

Tasmania's destructive Tasman Peninsula bushfire turned for the worse again on Tuesday, threatening homes around the Eaglehawk Neck area.

Pushed by gusty winds, the fire which began burning six days ago, was impacting directly on the area, and an emergency warning was issued by the Tasmanian Fire Service.

The area consists of dozens of long-held family holiday homes, and a scattering of costly new residences set amid bushland and sea cliffs facing the Tasman Sea.

Local people were urged to evacuate to the peninsula's main town, Nubeena, with winds forecast to strengthen in the area in a cool change, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Meanwhile police said a preliminary search of 557 houses in the fire-affected area had uncovered no dead. Of these, 110 properties were destroyed or damaged, many of them in the town of Dunalley.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/tassie-bushfire-worsens-threatens-homes-20130108-2ce1n.html#ixzz2HLenB39p

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/family-take-refuge-from-flames-in-sea-20130108-2cdts.html

[Mace]

Last big fires in Tasmania were 1967 i think.

http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/getdoc/a0840c4d-9afa-461b-884f-fbfb0c008b06/RSCH.030.001.0122.pdf

[Bird]

Last big fires in Tasmania were 1967 i think.

http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/getdoc/a0840c4d-9afa-461b-884f-fbfb0c008b06/RSCH.030.001.0122.pdf

so harsh as it sounds, well and truly overdue unless their hazard reduction plan is worlds best practice, not that people deserve to burn, lose houses etc.. you cant have no fires for 40+ yrs and not expect there to be insane amounts of fuel on the ground..

[dazzler]

So is this the result of no burn offs and stuff? I don't remember any large bush fires in Tasmania for a long time. Any Tassie swaggers know when the last large fires were?

I live in the area that the worst fires tassie experienced in1967.  The fire rating wasn't even extreme from memory.  There was a big wind and no real fire fighting capabilities.  Our place, that dates back to the 30's was one of the only remaining places in our area. 

Fuel reduction burns may have their place however it is far more technical than most realise.  Speaking only for my area of Tasmania the advice from experts, not greenies mind you, is that many of the gullies in particular should not be burnt as it changes them from 'wet' forest to 'dry' and then far more prone to burn.  Much of Tassie has a very low Haines Index so you want to keep the forest moist.  See here;
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/models/?lt=wzcountry&lc=aus&mt=gfs&mc=haines&mso=0&mh=0&focus=mh

Much of Tas is still 'very low' with only the east coast being 'low'.  This may explain why we dont get the fires tearing across country like they do on the nth island.

 If you look at Dunally for example it has been destroyed by ember attack not direct flame/heat.  Clearing trees from your property, as the fella did for 100m around, increases both ember attack and wind speed.  He was lucky he was able to put out all the ember ignitions otherwise it would have gone too. 

Take a look at some of the areas where houses have been lost down the Tasman Peninsula, the tops of the trees are still green and its only the grass that has burnt.

Forests will burn, houses will burn, regardless of what you do.  The important thing is that people live and can find shelter.  This still hasn't been addressed and needs to be as a priority.