© Matthew Abbott / New York Times / Redux / eyevine
A kangaroo rushes past a burning house amid apocalyptic scenes in Conjola, New South Wales
A kangaroo rushes past a burning house amid apocalyptic scenes in Conjola, New South Wales
Wildfires
Flames bear down on Harrington, some 335kms northeast of Sydney, 8 Nov 2019
Comment: See also:
- Climate change? Nearly 200 people arrested across Australia for deliberately starting bushfires
- Ice Age Farmer Report: AUSTRALIA: Burned on the altar of global warming
- Smoke and deception blanket Australia
- Crikey. Australian military preps for major evac operation from fire-ravaged Victoria
- Thousands trapped on Australian beach by massive wildfire, turning skies RED and raining embers
- 'Uncharted territory': Out-of-control bushfires rage across Australia's eastern regions
Sources
© SUNRISE
Craig Calvert (L) sent this photo to Sunrise on Friday.
Craig Calvert (L) sent this photo to Sunrise on Friday.
"I'm not really into hokey pokey spooky stuff but there's a big devil face right in the fire," he told Sunrise on Friday.
"It's just ridiculous, you won't believe, I don't believe it."
Calvert, from Sarsfield, has "extensive fire experience" and "knew it was going to be bad" when fires approached his property earlier this week.
"We had fireballs coming over, jumping. Some of them were 50 metres to 100 metres across," Calvert told Sunrise.
"It didn't even burn the trees. It was burning the gas on top of the trees - It was almost like white flame."
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)
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)
© NASA GISS
© YouTube/3W-News
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.
- 9yo child admits to arson as dozens of wildfires ravage southeast Australia
- Man struck by lightning bolt and killed while fighting grassfire near Mudgee, Australia
- Too much fuel causes extreme bush fires, not climate change
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.
- Australia's east coast battles more than 100 bushfires
- Australia bushfires merge to form 'mega fire' north of Sydney
- 'Uncharted territory': Out-of-control bushfires rage across Australia's eastern regions
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.
Residents of Mallacoota in Victoria, Australia, prepare for emergency evacuation as wildfires reach the sea-shore
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
Update 19:00 CET
PM Scott Morrison has been visiting townships to 'lend his support'. It's not going too well...
© Reuters / Instagram / @IDASHOPE4STROKE
Tourists and locals attempt to flee brush fires in Mallacoota, Australia, December 31, 2019.
Tourists and locals attempt to flee brush fires in Mallacoota, Australia, December 31, 2019.
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:
- Chile: 200 homes destroyed as wildfires tear through Valparaiso on Christmas Eve
- Australia bushfires merge to form 'mega fire' north of Sydney
- Too much fuel causes extreme bush fires, not climate change
- Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Southern Hemisphere drought connection between Southern Africa and Australia
Flames bear down on Harrington, some 335kms northeast of Sydney, 8 Nov 2019
Comment: See also:
- Chile: 200 homes destroyed as wildfires tear through Valparaiso on Christmas Eve
- Australia bushfires merge to form 'mega fire' north of Sydney
- Too much fuel causes extreme bush fires, not climate change
- Namibia experiencing worst drought in 90 years, over 60,000 livestock perished
Comment: See also: