WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

philby wrote:The news reported FESA is sending 24 of our finest over there to help.
any idea of who eg frs, bfs support?

Mate if you take the time to read the links provided above you'll see that they're coming from FRS and DEC (specialising in Forest fire fighting.)

131 confirmed fatalities now.

Breaks my heart to read the stories off those who tried to escape from king lake.

Those that left to late died and some of those who stayed to defend also died.

Not having a fire orientated background hopefully they went peacefully im assuming being such a large fire and moving fast that the oxygen/air wouldve been sucked out as it raced through (correct me if im wrong)

Maybe other states can learn from this experience i think when fires coming you simply have no choice you should go end of story but again i dont live in a bush area so dont have any personal experience.

Fatalities expected to rise to 230+ with many people still unaccounted for.

I was listening to 720 ABC on my lunch break and the reporter broke down as a man told here that he had lost all his neighbours and all his possessions.

I cant even comprehend what they are going through right. If they announced that WA would send a Emergency Services Taskforce, Im sure my fellow volunteers, be it VFRS, BFS, SES, VES and even the FRS guys would be trying to do something to help

treeny wrote:Fatalities expected to rise to 230+ with many people still unaccounted for.

I was listening to 720 ABC on my lunch break and the reporter broke down as a man told here that he had lost all his neighbours and all his possessions.

I cant even comprehend what they are going through right. If they announced that WA would send a Emergency Services Taskforce, Im sure my fellow volunteers, be it VFRS, BFS, SES, VES and even the FRS guys would be trying to do something to help

You can do something to help even over here.

You can individually or as brigades donate to the appeal. Meg has posted the details here somewhere. I heard today that they had raised 7 million but that won't make a dent in what's needed.

Send a letter of condolence. Someone will read it and it will help them know you care.

After Canberra, there was a lot of blame, some well placed, some just destructive and ill informed. If you hear any of that, use your knowledge to set them straight. The crews over there are going through unimaginable suffering and they don't need blame heaped on top.

We've got three days of blow up weather coming and it won't help if we're all over there. The Vic crews are going to realise that. If we can leanr from what happened, to ensure it doesn't happen here.

7 million in red cross donations, and lots of food companies have donated 1 million and food. myer and david jones are donating vouchers, gov't put in 10million and more. i think they said the total put in for the fires in all the appeals and support efforts is topping 20,000,000.

Hi all - more info on donations

To donate to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund:

* Visit www.redcross.org.au
* Phone 1800 811 700
* Any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch
* Any Bunnings store
* By direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund - BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797

I made my donation at ANZ today

Two of my Brigade's Members have been asked to prepare to go to Victoria. They have filled out and submitted the EOI forms re intra & interstate deployment. Manager phoned them today and told them to get prepped just in case.

its good to hear that we are still putting in for intra/interstate deployment. i didnt know the sign up had been and gone.

A fax came out for those wanting to be available for deployment. Was in Nov/Dec some time.

156 now confirmed dead. 2304

Both TootToot and Fastlane commented on a Victorian bushfire alert website. Incident Alert has been running since 2005 and has sent out significant number of emails and SMS.

People do not rely on this site, this is one facet of the arsenal they utilise on hot days, ABC radio being the top resource. As a background, the site has a significant base of volunteer firefighters who can find out about fires that are just out of their area that are becoming a concern. One brigade has signed up all active members to the service.

The majority of users set up their alerts for their own road, near by towns and larger fires for the region. I would like to take you through one of the smaller fires (link below) reported on the day, well after Bunyip, Narree Warren and Kilmore fires were reeking havoc. The ABC radio, excellent as it was, could not report on the smaller fires until they grew in potential. At one stage there were 935 reported fires in the list.

Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9&t=h&z=15

At 15:42, a passing brigade vehicle reported the smoke sighting and the first string of emails and SMS were sent out at about 15:52 for a small Grass fire at UFTG to locals and residents in areas near by who may have not known about the incident. The fire was at the base of a National Park hill and a wind change was due.

At 16:04, the fire triggered an internal Incident Alert flag and became "large". This then sent SMS and emails to a larger number of locals and people in the region. People knowing that a large fire, based at the base of the Dandenong's could then re-evaluate their fireplan. Had they not received the details then the ABC picked it up later and telephone trees relayed the information so the site just improved the information velocity.

This event has not finished, another two towns are under threat and the hot weather returns in a couple of days. I personally went through Ash Wednesday and that pales compared to what occurred on Saturday.

Please TootToot and Fastlane, before casting aspersions, contact the site in question before posting information on the web.

Ewen
Incident Alert

just a quick update before i go to work

173 confirmed dead

winds still blowing and lightning strikes expected to start more fires.

wish i had paid more attention to the intra/interstate deployment when it came around.

I wouldn't hesitate to accept an EOI to go in a contingent of VFAS members to assist - if the opportunity was there.

G