16 December 2009

Bushfire warning system fails first test

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=407111

Victoria's bushfire warning system has failed its first major test since Black Saturday, with the website that relays vital alerts to residents crashing.
As Victoria endured its worst fire day so far this summer, at risk communities relying on the Country Fire Authority (CFA) website for advice were left in the dark.
The CFA has blamed technical faults by a service provider for the glitch, which resulted in the page that displays warning messages crashing.
It has promised a full investigation but it is little comfort for residents in fire prone areas who spent the day on tenterhooks as the mercury soared to 40 degrees celsius in some parts of the state.
Mt Clear resident, Jeanette, is sandwiched between state forest and bushland in central Victoria.
Eight months pregnant and with a three-year-old son at home, she was relying on the website to keep her family safe.
'I am really disappointed. I thought after Black Saturday, the CFA would have got it right by now. We rely on them for emergency information to save our lives,' Jeanette said.
The CFA has launched a full investigation but said community safety was not compromised.
'The CFA website has been functioning all day. The site has not 'crashed' but the feed of warning messages was interrupted,' CFA chief executive Mick Bourke said in a statement.
He said technical faults with one of the CFA's service providers forced it to revert to issuing fire warnings manually.
Victorian Police Minister Bob Cameron said websites could not be solely relied on and urged people in bushfire prone areas to get out or listen to the radio.
'The best source of information is by radio, but also what we do encourage with people is not to be in those areas on those days if that is their fire plan.'
An extreme fire warning was issued for the Wimmera and Western District regions on Wednesday.
A total fire ban was declared across the state, except for Gippsland, as the temperature topped 40 degrees in northern Victoria, with strong winds.
The CFA responded to 119 fires, none of which provided major concerns. The largest was a 30-hectare blaze at Apsley, in the far west, that destroyed two old hay sheds.
'There's been a real effort to get fires out quickly before they start and to date that's been achieved,' CFA deputy chief officer Steve Warrington said, adding that the website failure was not acceptable.
'We're not happy about it, we're going to do a full investigation. It's just not acceptable,' he said.
A cool change is expected across the state on Wednesday night after a high of 40.5 in Walpeup in the state's northwest and 39 in Melbourne.
A total fire ban has been declared in the northeast district on Thursday, while extreme fire ratings have been issued in the North Country and North East regions.

15 December 2009

NSW Rural Fire Service - update


Current Situation

A number of fires continue to burn between the townships of Bundarra and Barraba.

The fires have burnt around 19,500 hectares of bush and grass.

Fire fighters will work overnight to protect isolated rural properties and homesteads as required as well as continuing to construct containment lines as conditions allow.

Significant lightning activity was recorded in the area this afternoon. Lightning is believe to have caused a number of new fires which firefighters are currently monitoring. 

Residents and visitors to the area are urged to remain vigilant and report any new fires to Triple Zero (000) immediately.

Weather tomorrow is expected to reach 31 degrees, variable winds gusting to 25km/h with the possibility of further afternoon thunderstorms. 

Advice


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10 December 2009

Park Ranger died while fighting bushfires in New South Wales after a string of incidents

The incident was the third in 24 hours involving aircraft being used to fight about 110 fires burning across NSW, caused mainly by lightning strikes and fuelled by extremely dry bushland.

On Tuesday, a helicopter operating at a firefront about 40km south-east of Tamworth suffered engine malfunction, causing the aircraft to land heavily. The pilot suffered minor facial injuries but the helicopter was extensively damaged.

At Bathurst about 7pm on Tuesday, two helicopters clipped each other in heavy smoke and landed safely, one aircraft sustaining minor damage. There were no injuries to personnel.



http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/3146786/Ranger-dies-in-bushfire-chopper-crash#share
http://www.stuff.co.nz/lightbox/world/australia/3145462/?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=560&width=640

No let-up for our firefighters | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers | Lismore Northern Star

Another smoky day ahead........

No let-up for our firefighters Northern Rivers News Local News in Northern Rivers Lismore Northern Star

08 December 2009

Hot week ahead!!

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06 December 2009

It is beautiful world

A beautiful world


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