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Smoke and deception blanket Australia

We've been hearing much fake news about the Australian bush fires supposedly having been caused by man-made climate change. Yet it has emerged that Australian authorities were warned years ago that poor land management practices were in fact escalating the risk of devastating fires, according to an expert.

Forest fuel level highest in 1000 years

In 2015, bush fire scientist David Packham warned of a "huge blaze threat" and urged an "increase in fuel reduction burns".

"Forest fuel levels had climbed to their most dangerous level in thousands of years," wrote Darren Gray here in 2015. Today the public is being misled by climate alarmists and the media on the real causes of the devastating bush fires now taking place.

In fact NASA data shows that the area burned by global wildfires dropped by 25% since 2003, according to the Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)

Temperature Trends Australia
© NASA GISS

Fire

Aussie police say arsonists & lightning real cause of bushfires, NOT climate change

firenado australia 2020
© YouTube/3W-News
Authorities in Australia are working on the premise that arsonists and lightning strikes are to blame for bushfires that have devastated numerous areas of the country, not "climate change" as many global warming alarmists have claimed.

Since November, the fires have struck various regions of the state of New South Wales, destroying thousands of buildings and killing at least 22 people.

Despite the fact that bushfires are not uncommon in Australia, the severity of the damage led numerous climate change alarmists to blame the disaster on man-made global warming.

Comment: Common sense. The Aborigine populations knew this, and conducted yearly rotating burns of their hunting grounds to keep fuel from accumulating and to attract game to the new vegetation.


Fire

Australia wildfires: Tens of thousands stranded while attempting to flee

bushfires australia sky red
Visitors who were told to evacuate a vast area along the NSW south coast before even worse fire conditions return stuck for hours in gridlocked traffic

Tens of thousands of people remained stranded on Thursday evening while attempting to flee bushfire-ravaged areas of the south-east Australian coast - having earlier been urged to leave before the return of extreme and dangerous weather conditions.

The mass evacuation of communities in New South Wales and Victoria is among the largest ever emergency movements of people in Australia. The numbers fleeing the bushfire crisis remain unclear, but are expected to compare to the 60,000 people who were flown out of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in 1974.

Visitors told to flee a vast evacuation area along the NSW south coast reported sitting in gridlock for up to 10 hours after responding to the order to evacuate, as further outbreaks of fire and sheer weight of traffic blocked escape routes north of Ulladulla and near Cooma in the Snowy Mountains.

Comment: RT adds more on Morrison's tone-deaf PR swing through one ravaged area:
The official started his visit to Cobargo walking up to a local woman, casually asking "How are you?" and then forcing her into a handshake - and that was when all the PR stunt flopped.

"I'm only shaking your hand if you give more funding to our RFS [Rural Fire Service]," the visibly reluctant woman told the PM.


Morrison was promptly swarmed by locals afterwards, who asked him a bunch of quite reasonable questions about very low number of fire engines that responded to the fires, lack of relief and so on - that he did not answer, however.


The PM aimlessly roamed the street with a bunch of other officials, including the natural disasters minister David Littleproud - and their silence only angered the locals further. One man urged the official to get out of town, telling him that his electoral prospects now look quite bleak in a profanity-laden rant.

"You're an idiot, mate. You really are. You won't be getting any votes down here buddy... No liberal votes. You're out son. You are out. Goodnight Vienna. Bye. Go on, p**s off."

Pelted with further questions about those who died in the fires and the many who've lost their homes, the officials ultimately retreated to their car - without so much as a goodbye.



Fire

Crikey. Australian military preps for major evac operation from fire-ravaged Victoria


Comment: It's 'climate change', sure, but there's nothing your govts can do to stop it...

At least they've found a productive use for the military.


australia wildfires mallacoota
Residents of Mallacoota in Victoria, Australia, prepare for emergency evacuation as wildfires reach the sea-shore
Plans to evacuate thousands of stranded residents from fire-ravaged communities in Victoria are underway; Australian navy ships are anchored offshore as air force vehicles brave the acrid smoke to evacuate the sick and elderly.

At least 18 people have died throughout the current bushfire season in Australia. Eight of the victims perished in the country's southeast on New Year's Eve, while 17 people remain unaccounted-for in Victoria State.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has declared a seven-day state of emergency and the fire service have created a roughly 200km-long "tourist leave zone."


Comment: Videos are emerging of the destruction some of these wildfires left in their wake:


What else is known, so far (summary courtesy of The Guardian):
  • The NSW government declared its third state of emergency, beginning on Saturday and running for seven days
  • The Australian Capital Territory has declared a state of alert
  • There are extraordinary delays and traffic jams on the roads out of South Coast regions, after authorities told all tourists and some residents to leave areas today and tomorrow
  • There are now four 'leave zones for tourists' and/or residents in Snowy Monaro, Shoalhaven, Batlow/Wondalga, and South coast
  • Evacuation orders were made for Kosciusko National Park, where the Dunns Road fire is taking hold
  • Exits were hampered by high crowds, road closures, and fuel shortages
  • Some service stations ran out, while others limited people to 50L of gas
  • Victorian authorities also urged people to leave the alpine and East Gippsland regions before the weekend
  • There is a total fire ban for NSW on Friday and Saturday
  • The Choulas Navy ship can take 500-1,000 people, but they will have to climb up a rope ladder to get aboard
  • Limited evacuations by air will be organised for elderly and infirm people
  • The conditions are predicted to be extreme in South Australia on Friday, with temperatures in Adelaide of 42C and 45C in the regions
  • Fire chief Mark Jones said the concern was already existing fires. "There are millions of sparks out there ready to go tomorrow if they break containment lines."
  • The prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, attended the funeral of firefighter Geoffrey Keaton, who died in December while fighting the Green Wattle Creek blaze
  • Some $21m in commonwealth disaster payments has so far been paid to fire victims in NSW
Is this scale of disaster-by-wildfire 'unprecedented' for Australia?

Update 19:00 CET

PM Scott Morrison has been visiting townships to 'lend his support'. It's not going too well...





Fire

Best of the Web: Thousands trapped on Australian beach by massive wildfire, turning skies RED and raining embers

Tourists and locals attempt to flee brush fires in Mallacoota, Australia, December 31, 2019
© Reuters / Instagram / @IDASHOPE4STROKETourists and locals attempt to flee brush fires in Mallacoota, Australia, December 31, 2019.
Thousands of people have been forced onto the beaches in Australia as massive bushfires hit popular holiday resort towns.

Holidaymakers have fled into the water as the blaze moved into the Victorian town of Mallacoota in New South Wales on Tuesday morning.

Wildfires are now burning across the country's two most-populated states in what has been described as "apocalyptic" scenes.

Two are now confirmed to have died with five others still missing and feared dead with "significant losses" to property.


Comment: See also:


Sun

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Southern Hemisphere drought connection between Southern Africa and Australia

bushfire_sydney
Flames bear down on Harrington, some 335kms northeast of Sydney, 8 Nov 2019
With all the talk of droughts and fires sweeping the Southern Hemisphere I found a connection to solar activity and drought cycles, which are with wildfire cycles. The connections between Southern Africa and Australia look as if its solar driven the changes. I will let you decide. Do you think this information is on the right track?


Comment: See also:


Fire

Chile: 200 homes destroyed as wildfires tear through Valparaiso on Christmas Eve


Comment: Again!? Valparaiso has been hit by major wildfires for the fourth time in just 5 years...


Chile fires
Houses burn during a forest fire at the Rocuant hill in Valparaiso, Chile, on December 24, 2019.
At least 200 homes have been destroyed after forest fires swept through a residential area in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso on Christmas Eve.

Hundreds of firefighters struggled to control the fast-moving blaze, which continued into Christmas Day and was made worse by dry weather and strong winds. Military units and helicopters were deployed to help battle the flames and residents were evacuated to shelters. The government regional leader of Valparaiso Jorge Martinez Duran said in a news conference on Wednesday that it is believed the fires were started intentionally.

Chilean Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said in a post on Twitter that authorities were working to investigate and "there will be no impunity" for those found responsible. Images show dozens of houses completely destroyed by the flames and residents tried to salvage any belongings.

Comment: Jan 2017: Huge wildfire burns 100 homes in Valparaiso, Chile

Mar 2015: Thousands evacuated due to raging forest fire near Valparaiso, Chile

Apr 2014: Update: Final toll from devastating Valparaiso fire in Chile: 12 dead - 3,000 homes razed - 8,000 people homeless


Fire

2 firefighters die as wildfires in Australia rage on - death toll rises to 8

Firefighters, many of them volunteers, are battling around 100 fires that have encircled Sydney amid drought and record-high temperatures
© Mick Tsikas/AAPFirefighters, many of them volunteers, are battling around 100 fires that have encircled Sydney amid drought and record-high temperatures
The deaths of the two volunteer firefighters brings toll from the bushfires that have ravaged east for weeks to eight.

Two volunteer firefighters died while battling blazes around Sydney, authorities said on Friday, forcing Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison to cut short a holiday in Hawaii that had fuelled public anger at the government's response to the crisis.

Australia has been fighting bushfires across much of its east coast for weeks, leaving eight people dead, more than 700 homes destroyed and nearly 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of bushland burned.


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Australia's raging bushfires intensify: Sydney engulfed in 'extremely' hazardous smoke

sydney opera house bushfires smoke
© AP Photo / Rick RycroftThick smoke from wildfires shroud the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Hot dry conditions have brought an early start to the fire season.
The air quality in Sydney, Australia, continued to deteriorate severely Tuesday as about 100 bushfires burned in New South Wales and strong, north winds sent more smoke into the city.

According to a report by AP, the air pollution in some parts of the city was 11 times worse than a 200 reading on the Air Quality Index, the threshold considered "hazardous," due to fine particulate matter being released by the burning fires. Fine particulate matter consists of microscopic solids and liquid droplets in the air that can be inhaled and even absorbed by the bloodstream.

Comment: Australia bushfires merge to form 'mega fire' north of Sydney


Fire

Australia bushfires merge to form 'mega fire' north of Sydney

australia wild fires 2019
© ReutersThe blaze was burning across 300,000 hectares within an hour's drive of Australia's largest city
Several Australian bushfires have combined to form a "mega fire" that is burning out of control across a swath of land north of Sydney, authorities said, warning they cannot contain the blaze.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers on Friday said "there are probably more than eight fires in all" that have merged to form what has been dubbed a "mega fire" in an area of the national park forest.

The blaze was burning across 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres) - with a front roughly 60km (37 miles) wide - within an hour's drive of Australia's largest city, which was again subsumed in a soup of toxic smoke.

"There is just fire that whole way," said Rogers, who added that firefighters could do little more than get any residents out, protect property and hope for an end to fire-friendly dry and windy conditions.