WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Im in Melbourne at the moment, visiting family, close to kinglake, and can tell you although overcast and cold - fires are still going well...

We have a family friend who's neighbours house was burnt to the ground last night, complete structural loss - very sad to see..

We've seen the heli-tacs non stop flying over the house at where we are staying, including the Ericsson SkyCrane - unable to take pics, but yeah alot of resources..

G

ABC acknowledging the role of the media in the incident and accepting that some people may not actually want to be filmed photographed etc. But some do.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 488481.htm

itd be awesome if fesa had a map like that.

Its good to see they are doing there job (media) but what about the Fire fighters that have been out there non stop. What about the fire's going on at the front. Surely there is more to show us in regards to the big picture.

Its also interesting to note how the IMT team are not letting out to much information at the same time. I saw on Sunrise this morning "mel" interviewing a RFS group captain and he had no idea what was going on. Nice to see the same old thing goes on. BUGGER ALL INFO BEING PASSED DOWN. I have mates from NSW that are down on a strike team. All they are doing is standing around for most of the time and then get told to go put out a stump or two. Nice use of resources. If the fire was here in W.A. it would have been out by now. Just goes to show how the operation is been run at the moment. They have so many resources that just are not being used at the moment its increadable.

As for the conditions that were on the day and the fire danger meters, its very interesting to learn about what they had and what happened. As for the fire fighters here learn from their mistakes, the conditions and take it all in. We have had the last 2 days being a Total fire ban and nothing. Our little friends are waiting quietly to strike once again in the west. The bush here is ready to burn. Look at Kings Park. It is tinderbox dry and its going to catch a lot of people unaware.

Have a listen to NEws Radio - 558 AM - in the evenings they are relaying ABC Melbourne and every 10 - 15 mins they are speaking to Incident Controllers who are passing on information plus having fire warnings. Don't always believe what you see on TV as being gospel.

Helitak_670 wrote:I have mates from NSW that are down on a strike team. All they are doing is standing around for most of the time and then get told to go put out a stump or two. Nice use of resources. If the fire was here in W.A. it would have been out by now. Just goes to show how the operation is been run at the moment. They have so many resources that just are not being used at the moment its increadable.

What a load of rubbish. You obviously have been there and understand the situation to make this very rash comment.

First of all, if the same situation had have happened here, WA would not have been able to handle it at all. Cast your mind back to Pickering Brook. This fire was only about 26,000 ha in size and it took a major effort from WA resources and time to extinguish it. Now this fire is only small, and is only one fire, compared to the many fires burning in Victoria (there is currently about 360,000 ha of burnt uncontrol fires at the moment). How stretched was the resources around Perth during this fire?

I would guess you don't know the terrain and weather conditions that are current for these fires. Most of the fires are burning in areas where even billy goats dare to go. It is very difficult to get into these areas. Coupled with the extended drought (DI of 10 in most parts of the state), temperatures of only 25 degrees with moderate winds are greateing extreme fire behaviour. Basically it is too dangerous to send crews in. However when the fire does pop out into accessiable areas crews need to be ready to go. Also crews need to be ready for the real threat that still exists in many towns.

Believe me, there is only so much you can do. The areas where most of these fires are burning (the great dividing range) is very inaccessible, old growth mountian ash country. Once fires become this size in these areas, it is very difficult to safely control and extinguish.

Agree 100% observer. Disappointing that someone from here feels the need to make an uneducated comment like that - it reflects poorly on the rest of us.

Found this good map based resource from via Google;

http://mapvisage.appspot.com/fires/FireMap.html

Shows the location of all the fires in Victoria since the weekend. Clicking the 'flag' shows their status. As with Google Maps it's zoomable.

One question that could be raised is, Could this be a terrorist attack?

Something to think about.
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx ... ame=550864

slipknot wrote:One question that could be raised is, Could this be a terrorist attack?

Its been mentioned on overseas new sites and also a small reference on one off "those sites" as strange as it seems dont need bombs or planes to commit a terrorist act.

becuase there was another one lit this afternoon closer to melbroune dispite everything thats happened.

In the next few weeks and months you will probably hear all sorts of reasons and theories about this awful tragedy. That is a normal reaction to something so painful and beyond understanding. People need answers and sometimes the answers they come up with make little sense to someone else or contradict the most likely explanation.

If there is no interference and the coroner and other agencies are left to do their job, those answers will come, but they will take time.

In the meantime, hypothesising about what might or might not have happened probably wont help anyone and sort of trivialises what those affected have gone through and still are.

dlcat1 wrote:If there is no interference and the coroner and other agencies are left to do their job, those answers will come, but they will take time.

In the meantime, hypothesising about what might or might not have happened probably wont help anyone and sort of trivialises what those affected have gone through and still are.

Agreed 100%. First off let the current fires be extinguished, then let the Coroner and Royal Commission do their/its work before spouting theories or opinions on how things should be done.

Helitak_670 wrote:Its good to see they are doing there job (media) but what about the Fire fighters that have been out there non stop. What about the fire's going on at the front. Surely there is more to show us in regards to the big picture.

Its also interesting to note how the IMT team are not letting out to much information at the same time. I saw on Sunrise this morning "mel" interviewing a RFS group captain and he had no idea what was going on. Nice to see the same old thing goes on. BUGGER ALL INFO BEING PASSED DOWN. I have mates from NSW that are down on a strike team. All they are doing is standing around for most of the time and then get told to go put out a stump or two. Nice use of resources. If the fire was here in W.A. it would have been out by now. Just goes to show how the operation is been run at the moment. They have so many resources that just are not being used at the moment its increadable.

As for the conditions that were on the day and the fire danger meters, its very interesting to learn about what they had and what happened. As for the fire fighters here learn from their mistakes, the conditions and take it all in. We have had the last 2 days being a Total fire ban and nothing. Our little friends are waiting quietly to strike once again in the west. The bush here is ready to burn. Look at Kings Park. It is tinderbox dry and its going to catch a lot of people unaware.

So I am guessing you are over there now offering your expert advice on what they have done wrong and how to fix it..........................Yep thought so!!!!!!!!!!

P.S Mel and Koshie rock and they can save the universe