Australia Bushfires Deathtoll reaches 173

[[THANATOS].Pommiewog]

I will never understand those that deliberately start bushfires.

[[THANATOS].Metal]

That's a shame. We get fires every summer in the southwest. Usually because some dumbass doesn't know how to keep a snuffout in their car.

[[THANATOS].-Hades]

[THANATOS Wrote:.Metal"]That's a shame. We get fires every summer in the southwest. Usually because some dumbass doesn't know how to keep a snuffout in their car.

Same in Cali.

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

australia has a certain danger to their forest fires, like most areas have. cali has the santa anna winds and super cunt grass, australia has the weather, and the eucalyptus trees, with their higher oil content and unique bark, they explode and cause erratic fire spread. some people start them for attention, some for employment, theres a lot of reasons. most of them fucking wrong.

[[THANATOS].Fragaholic]

Sad shit...they are saying it's over 200 now...

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

i've been called to fires caused by powerlines down, burning evidence, kids lighting an abandoned car on fire, garbage dump fires, an eagle shorting out a powerline, a downed aircraft (lucky fucker survived the plane crash, the fire had to burn through his seatbelt to escape the fire, and as we were pulling him out, a grizzly bear walked into the scene). A few fires caused by motorhomes starting on fire, one started by a bear banger, and one bad case when a firefighter tossed a ciggarette.

When a life is lost its tragic, and even more so when its a fire deliberately set. After 14 years fighting fires, i have seen some crazy shit. This is right up there. Tragic.

[[THANATOS].Shiver-]

[THANATOS Wrote:.HaVoC_GT"]i've been called to fires caused by powerlines down, burning evidence, kids lighting an abandoned car on fire, garbage dump fires, an eagle shorting out a powerline, a downed aircraft (lucky fucker survived the plane crash, the fire had to burn through his seatbelt to escape the fire, and as we were pulling him out, a grizzly bear walked into the scene). A few fires caused by motorhomes starting on fire, one started by a bear banger, and one bad case when a firefighter tossed a ciggarette.

When a life is lost its tragic, and even more so when its a fire deliberately set. After 14 years fighting fires, i have seen some crazy shit. This is right up there. Tragic.

A bear banger? How the fuck... (yes, I know what they are)

[[THANATOS].-Hades]

[THANATOS Wrote:.HaVoC_GT"]one started by a bear banger

Really? Or am I reading this wrong... (And yes, I meant that in a sick and perverted way)

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

ya, it was a guy working on a cutblock, a bear came out, buddy shot it at it, flew past the bear, went off on the ground, scared the bear towards the worker and started the fire.

[[THANATOS].Pommiewog]

They are changing the laws here so that anyone caught of arson will get 15 years, and 25 if a life is not (the same sentence as murder)

[[THANATOS].Teo]

seems reasonable. arsonists may not have the intention of murder but they certainly caused a lot of grief here, grief enough for a long sentence like that

[[THANATOS].Metal]

[THANATOS Wrote:.HaVoC_GT"] one bad case when a firefighter tossed a ciggarette.

That's like a guy teaching a gun-safety course shooting himself in the foot.

[[THANATOS].-Hades]

[THANATOS Wrote:.Metal"]

[THANATOS Wrote:.HaVoC_GT"] one bad case when a firefighter tossed a ciggarette.

That's like a guy teaching a gun-safety course shooting himself in the foot.

A shooting/gun safety instructor shot himself in the ass while holstering his pistol recently, forgot who it was but he was a "pro"

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

The zone i started fighting forest fires in has two first nations communities. Very bad scene. Fort Ware way up north of Williston Lake, and Tsey Keh, about an hour south, both have their own problems. With 3 or 4 live in police officers, the law there is very different from the city. People get murdered, and nobody goes to jail*. Alcohol is a major problem. Drugs are a problem. They get government cheques for support. There are a few people doing well, and getting better, but there is still issues.

I have probably dealt with 10 or 15 fires up there. Ran crews made of first nations. During the summer months we have some of them signed up for emergency crews. Fires mysteriously start without lightning or industry working in the area. We call this horseback lightning. They start the fires to get employment. The Ft Ware fire in 85/86 was massive, threatened a few communities as well as hunting, trapping, and fishing establishments. Just goes to show that sometimes the underlying picture is more complex that it seems.

*A man was shot in the ass, twice, by his wife who caught him cheating. Another woman ran over her husband with his truck, repeatedly, because of a dispute. Two brothers that were on a fire crew of mine, one of them stabbed the other to death that winter. A young man went missing after reportedly being pushed into the river. Its a big, fast, cold fucking river. number 6 lol
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Point is arson is one thing, but with forest fires its such a difficult thing to prove. A broken bottle with the sun hitting it the right way, a piece of hot carbon from a train passing by, lightning, recreational vehicles, chainsaws with no spark arrest, heavy equipment going over rocks, downed power line, kids playing with matches, all sorts of crazy shit. Another important fact to remember is some of these people chose not to evacuate or waited too long.
We have an emergency response plan in place that includes multiple agencies, im sure australia does too. Somebody might have shit the bed on this.

but..

Authorities defended their preparations and actions during the fires that swept southeastern Australia on Saturday, saying the extreme weather conditions made catastrophe almost inevitable.

But they agreed that the "stay and defend" policy, under which homeowners remain to protect their properties from fire, needed to be reviewed.

[Spluff]

Actually, it's not a 'stay and defend' policy, it's a 'stay or leave early' policy. The problem that we are encountering is that people choose to stay, and then when the fire is only a few minutes away, change their mind and try to leave.