General Chat

Sylvia,

There were more devastating bush fires in Victoria in 2009 in which over 170 people perished.

As for the regeneration of the bush, yes, it is amazing. Many of the plants have adapted to the conditions and if you wish to propagate them for domestic gardens, especially from seed, they need to be activated by smoke or heat.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the wildlife, which takes a little longer to become re-established

I'm glad you were safe!!



What I find amazing about Australian fires is the regeneration of the Eucalypts.


We drove through the Grampians NP in Victoria in late September 2006, about 9 months after a major fire in January of that year.


We're both trained botanists............... and neither of us had ever before seen anything like the re-growth! I think it's officially called epicormic bud growth ............ not sure what you call it.

Epicormic buds are buds all along the stems and trunks of the trees that remain dormant until the crown of the tree is killed.


But it was absolutely amazing!



I also know about the devastation ....................... my cousin's daughter and her family lost their house and most of their possessions in a bush fire near Mt Macedon in Victoria in 1983, which killed a lot of people. My second cousin and her family were lucky to escape with their lives.


We, of course, have the same thing here ................. only it's the undergrowth under pine trees, and the tinder-dry pine needles that provide the "fuel"

No need for apologies, Wend :-)

Not adversity then. Good.

No problem ,night again or good day :-)

Apologies, Barbra. I was typing when you posted so have only just seen your kind words :-)

Hardly adversity Wend :-)

Now, just to the North East of Perth there is a real bush fire raging with people being advised to evacuate their homes, at a place called Bullsbrook. Apparently it was started be a spark from a train.

I've seen at first hand the aftermath of some of the fires in WA: not a pretty sight

Hello Allan glad to read you are alright ,All the best to you & yours Barbra :-) x Goodnight

Good for you Allan - humour in the face of adversity :-D

lol Wend: i have to inflict my weird humour somewhere :-D

Pleased to hear you're still with us Allan xxx

Many thanks EOS.

The fire yesterday turned out to be a mionor one by most standards and was quickly brought under control. The water bombers were used to help those on the ground bring the blaze under control, and then stayed around to ensure that there were no flare ups. After the bombers left, a small 'spotter' plane was in the air for about an hour or so just to keep an eye on things

Dear Allan

Hello


Hope you and our OZ cousins and friends are safe.

Keep in touch where you can.


All of you, do take care and don't take any risks.
Lots of good wishes
Elizabeth
xx

totally agree, Sue. :-)

Even within one State there can be extremes: whilst the SW of WA has had one of the hottest summers on record, the North West has experienced planty of rainfall and now the recent cyclone, which fortunately missed the major populated areas but battered the small community of Pardoo. :-(

That sounds typical, Allan :-(

The extremes of weather are amazing but then we are an enormous country.

Take care :-)

Scozz, Sylvia

I have an aquaintance who used to work for the Dept Of conservation and land management (CALM) before it was merged with The Department of the Environment.

He was a Forester and said that before he retired quite a few years ago there was a programme to burn 20,000 hectares of land on a rotational basis. This is now down to 2,000 hectares a year, and some areas haven't been touched for over 20 years.

Scozz I also read on the news about a tree in NSW (I think that's where it was) which fell on a house demolishing it. Two years previously the owner of the property on which the tree grew (next door to the one demolished) had written to the council asking for permission to remove the tree as it was only in 200mm (8") of soil.

The Council denied permission and instead placed a heritage listing on the tree so that it couldn't be touched!

The Shire/Council where we live have a"green" policy. I'm all for being green, but you have to be sensible with it!

We're not allowed to burn off, not allowed to cut down trees (even in our own gardens) without permission ~ which costs money ~ they don't care that the trees may be dangerous or damaging a house.

The only time there's a lapse of this law is after storm damage. We've had some (lots!) of storm damage this month, and the sound of chain saws fills the days :-D A good way of getting rid of those dangerous branches that the storm didn't get;-)

If we could figure out how to chainsaw the undergrowth we'd be happy ;-)

Allan


do take care!


the same thing re banning burning of the underbrush happened here ................ with exactly the same result. Fires break out more often, and are much worse because of the dry underbrush.

we also get candling, which is similar to what you get with the Eucalypts ...... the flames jump from pine tree to pine tree and spread very rapidly.


There is also the problem of the urban encroaching on the wild ................ housing developments built right up to forest margins, without sufficient clearing space left within the development's boundaries.

Allan ~ I wish I could send you some of our rain!!

I hope you and yours keep safe!! <3

Blue sky today (first time for over a week), but more rain expected tomorrow.

I've got the washer going!

Australia is sure getting a mixture of weather. :-(

Suzanne, the appropriate dept used to have prescribed burns each year to reduce the fireload in the under-storey. These took place all over the South West where there are many tree plantations. However, ue to complaints from Perth residents about smoke and haze affecting the City, these burns have been cut right back, with the consequence that the severity and frequency of bushfires in this region have intensified.

Prescribed burns can also get out of control, which is what happened last year in Margaret River